This is a transcript of Ramji Raghavan’s podcast: Learning from the Mavericks: A Tribute to Ramanujan. . . . I first learnt about the self-taught mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in Nehru’s Discovery of India. Less than a decade later, in 1987, Ramanujan invaded my thoughts again, in the form of a New York Times article, “An Isolated Genius Is Given His Due”. I felt proud as an Indian and also deeply touched by Ramanujan’s tragic and compelling life story snatched away so cruelly at the young age of thirty-two, almost as if it were conveying the romance of an unrealised promise. Then PBS TV in America brought out a fascinating and absorbing documentary called “The Man Who Loved Numbers” through interviews with Cambridge dorms and Mrs Ramanujan in Madras. The film explored Ramanujan’s all too brief life and extraordinary contributions to mathematics. It ended on a rather wistful note. While Ramanujan’s chief collaborator Hardy would be remembered through a plaque in Trinity College, Cambridge, there was no plaque or any other form of remembrance or acknowledgement for Ramanujan, whom Hardy and Littlewood had ranked among the greatest mathematicians in history. Just imagine that. In 1989 on a visit to Madras, now Chennai, over a cup of tea with my uncle, K Padmanabhan, I mentioned the PBS film on Ramanujan. To my great delight and marvellous surprise, my uncle offered to arrange a meeting for me with Mrs Ramanujan. After dinner that very same evening, I was led into Mrs Ramanujan’s modest home in Triplicane. A frail old woman, ninety years old, with bright liquid eyes and a sweet smile, hard of hearing, welcomed me. As we sat down, I couldn’t help but notice in that small and crowded space, a magnificent cast of Ramanujan I was told was made by an American sculptor and gifted by a group of international mathematicians. It was an arresting presence, almost as if Ramanujan was there. That his presence was shining through the bust and dominating the room, his deep penetrating eyes seemed to be staring into a faraway realm, almost privy to secret knowledge beyond the reach of us mere mortals. Mrs Ramanujan spoke about her husband as if he had just passed away a few weeks ago. It was surreal. With tears in her eyes, she said, “for him, it was just numbers, numbers, and numbers.” Almost in wonder, rotating her fingers, she said in Tamil: Kanaka, Kanaka, Kanaka . Numbers, numbers and numbers. And then she added, rather sadly, no one remembers my husband anymore. No one comes to see me. Only you and a math teacher from England, of Indian origin, have visited me in the last eighteen months. I was overcome with a sense of sorrow. As I stood up to leave, I presented her with a traditional gift of a saree and some fruit. I then leaned towards her and held her hand gently — I still remember the hand, the bluish-green veins on her light skin — and told her, “You should consider yourself lucky, very fortunate, for having had the opportunity to love and care for your husband — a man who will go down as being one of the greatest mathematicians in history and as one of the greatest Indian heroes.” A wonderful, almost grateful, smile lit up her face, almost like a young girl being complimented. As I walked out of her house, her foster son led me to a shop on the sidewalk that was selling some fine looking watercolour paintings of Ramanujan. I bought a few of them — one of them showed a young Ramanujan in pigtails with a picture of the goddess Namigiri in the background, Another showed a young Ramanujan and even younger, almost playful, Janaki (his wife, or to-be wife) sitting in front of the sacred fire, reciting Vedic hymns at their wedding. As I walked towards my car that night, I couldn’t help but visualise in my mind’s eye a young man dying with a pen and notebook in hand, furiously writing rarified mathematical formulae. As Mrs Ramanujan had recalled so movingly, for Ramanujan, it was only numbers, numbers, and numbers. He lived and breathed numbers. He even felt pain, physical pain, in terms of numbers. Kanaka, Kanaka, Kanaka . Just think of the intense passion of that man. I wished I could do something to honour his name, but I was a banker based in New York, and I had no idea how I might memorialise Ramanujan. The idea came to me years later, when as head of the Agastya International Foundation, I thought it would be inspirational to have a bust of Ramanujan at the Agastya Campus in Andhra Pradesh which welcomes thousands of village children and government school teachers from across the country. We commissioned Jayprakash Shirgaonkar, a well-known Mumbai based sculptor, to make the bust from four extant pictures of Ramanujan, one of which had made it to the 1962 commemorative stand. A few months later, a youthful and handsome looking bronze bust, thirty-three inches high and weighing fifty kilos, arrived at the campus, where it was unveiled by 2006 Ramanujan prize winner, Sujatha Ramadurai, and members of the National Knowledge Commission in 2008. And then, almost as if it were to set right the egregious oversight by Cambridge University, my father, KV Raghavan, a former trustee of Agastya, came up with the novel suggestion to gift Ramanjuan’s bust to Cambridge University. Sujatha spoke to her friend John Coates at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge, who responded with alacrity and said they would be delighted to have Ramanujan’s bust at Cambridge. Agastya also decided to gift busts of Ramanujan to three premier Indian educational institutions, namely IIT Madras, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and TIFR’s Centre for Applicable Mathematics, also in Bangalore. All three occasions attracted a number of visitors. Notable amongst them were Dr MS Swaminathan, who is the father of India’s Green Revolution, Mr Narayana Murthy, who is the founder of Infosys, Dr VK Aterai, or the former head of the DRDO, and Professor VS Ramamurthy, the then director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies. In May 2010, my family and I had the pleasure of joining John Coates, Martin Hyland, Tadashi Tokieda, and Sally Lowe for lunch at John’s office in the Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Lunch was followed by a visit to the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, where we spent time admiring Ramanujan’s magnificent bust. Martin commented that Ramanujan’s eyes seemed to be gazing at some faraway realm. In John’s words, literally hundreds of students will pass the bust each morning, and it will be a constant reminder to the large student body in mathematics that comes from all over the world of the greatness of Indian mathematical thought. In 2017, Sujatha Ramadurai, now a professor of mathematics and Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, and her husband, Ram Ramadurai, very kindly offered to donate money to create the Ramanujan Math Park, or RMP, as it’s now called on the Agastya Campus. Designed by Sujatha and VSS Shastri, a maths communicator, and actively supported by Mahavir, Thiagarajan, and Ajith Basu from Agastya, the RMP occupies five thousand square meters and is supported by a grant from the State Bank of India Mutual Funds and HD Parekh Foundation. It was inaugurated on December 22nd, Ramanujan’s birthday and India’s National Mathematics Day, in 2017. In 2018, a film of the Ramanujan Math Park was shown at the International Conference of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro by Sujatha and Tadashi Tokieda, who’s now at Stanford University. And then, with support from Ravi Kailas, in 2020, a bust of Ramanujan was sent to MIT in Boston, a project after my own heart. The first time that Agastya had gifted Ramanujan’s bust to a premier American university. In 2020, again, the RMP’s platonic exhibits were ranked among the best mathematics exhibits from the top fifteen math museums in the world. A small and perhaps fitting tribute to Ramanujan. Thousands of children and school teachers visit the RMP every year to experience the excitement and joy of learning mathematics hands-on. They get to see math in real life and in nature. Perhaps someday, one of them might shine like a brilliant star, as Ramanujan did and continues to do. When I do visit the RMP and stop to stare momentarily at his bust, I can’t help but remember my meeting with Mrs Ramanujan on that warm night so many years ago in Madras, now Chennai, and wonder what she might have said had she known that a math museum named after her great husband in a remote, rural area in India would one day find a place among the great math museums of the world. . . . The Learning From The Mavericks podcast pays tribute to some of the world’s greatest leaders and innovators, allowing us to learn from their lives and experiences. Find this episode of the podcast here: Podcast | Learning from the Mavericks: A Tribute to Ramanujan

Written by Nethra Singhi In a country of a hundred and eighty crore mobile phone users, seventy crores of which use the internet on it, it’s no surprise that mobile education is the future. This has been further proved during COVID-19 times, where students have been attending classes via mobiles and tablets. We at Agastya have always believed in the power of technology to make education more accessible and less costly. Hence, we had to tap into the potential of mobile education. Thus we launched the WeLearn app on the Playstore and offered the modules on phones and tablets under our Lab-on-a-Tab program. Then, during the first wave of the pandemic, we realised the potential of using the app to spread information about COVID-19, its symptoms, precautions to take, etc. Eleven COVID-19 modules were launched in six languages, including English. But because the app is designed for children, we took a different approach to spread this information. These modules address concepts pertaining to COVID-19, but they are cut across subjects, making information easier to understand and from different perspectives. COVID19 Module — 7th Class on the WeLearn App The pandemic created questions and interest in the students around communicable diseases, sickness, health. As it was a recent phenomenon, it became a learning opportunity. Thus, instead of restricting the modules to any subject boundaries, we used the learning opportunity to address a vast range of themes. These child-friendly COVID-19 Modules cover diverse topics like Biology, Mathematical models, the Socio-Economic impact of pandemics, Mental Health issues, the history of germs and viruses, the types of antibiotics and types of vaccines, and the immune system systems and also the History of Pandemics. The topics are explained through creative visuals, such as comic strips and whiteboard animations. Instead of putting these topics under the various subjects on the app, we created a separate subject called COVID-19. You can find the modules under each respective class, with issues appropriate for that age and standard. For instance, the history of pandemics is covered under class 7 in English and five other languages. 7th Class Course Material The app is designed for self-learning; hence, the child can go through the modules independently, select whatever topic they’re interested in, and learn through the animated lesson. Each lesson also comes with a summary quiz and activities the child can try at home, reinforcing known material. The latest COVID19 module about overcoming vaccine hesitancy to awaken the public to get vaccinated was published by the Lab-on-a-Tab (LOT) team. The module is aimed at both children and adults, taking one through the vaccination process and breaking down the science behind it so that one can see the benefits of taking the vaccine. You can download the WeLearn App here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.agastyawelearn&hl=en_IN&gl=US Some modules are also available on the myagastya.education website, another self-learning initiative by Agastya where a child can log in to their account and start their learning journey with animated videos and text material compliant with the CBSE syllabus.

Can you name five leaders in the STEM fields in under a minute? Try now. Who did you think of? How many of them were men? Were any of them women? Marie Curie and her discovery: Radium The United Nations celebrates the International Day of Girls and Women in Science on 11th February to recognise contributions made by women in science, technology and mathematics; recognitions ignored mainly in popular narratives. It also aims to shed light on the unequal opportunities girls have to study and/or practice in STEM fields. But who do aspiring girls in STEM look up to? Here are fourteen amazing women in STEM who’ve done groundbreaking work in their fields. They’re here to fill the dire need for role models for women STEM aspirants! Kamala Sohonie: The first Indian woman to receive a PhD in a scientific discipline (in 1939), Kamala Sohonie was met with rejection by Dr Raman when applying for a research grant at the (Indian Institute of Science) IISC for being a woman. She held a satyagraha to demand her right to the grant and then faced many challenges as the first woman researcher at the IISC. Overcoming these, studied the benefits of neera as a low-cost healthy nutritional supplement for pregnant women. Sohonie’s success in this research earned her the Rashtrapati Award. Kamala Sohonie. Source: Wikipedia Anna Mani: Renowned Indian physicist and meteorologist, Anna Mani served as the Deputy Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department and a visiting professor at the Raman Institute in Bangalore. She made several contributions to meteorological instrumentation, intending to make India independent in the field. She has standardised the drawings for over a hundred instruments and published numerous research papers on solar radiation, ozone and wind energy measurements. Marie Curie: A name that needs no introduction, Marie Curie is the go-to feminist icon for women in STEM. The Nobel Laureate discovered polonium and radium and set a strong foundation for research on radioactivity. But did you know that the Nobel Committee almost neglected this physicist and chemist? They initially only planned to honour only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. Still, a committee member who was an advocate for women scientists, mathematician Magnus Gösta Mittag-Leffler, alerted Pierre to the situation. It was only after his complaint that Marie’s name was included. Elizabeth Blackwell: Pioneering British physician Elizabeth Blackwell was integral in promoting education for women in medicine, both in the UK and USA. Rejected by most medical schools due to her sex, Blackwell finally became the first woman to attend medical school in the USA after being accepted by the then Geneva Medical College. Despite being an accomplished medical professional, she got very few patients, further pushing her down the path of social justice and reform. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with her sister Emily Blackwell in 1857 and began giving lectures to female audiences on the importance of educating girls. She also played a significant role in organising nurses during the American Civil War. Chien-Shiung Wu: The “Queen of Nuclear Research”, Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American experimental and particle physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, helping separate uranium into its different isotopes. She also conducted the famous Wu Experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved, for which her other two male colleagues were awarded that Nobel Prize. Nonetheless, her expertise in experimental physics won her the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Dr Indira Hinduja: This gynaecologist, obstetrician and infertility specialist pioneered the Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) in India, delivering the first Indian GIFT baby in 1988. Before this, she mastered the pathbreaking oocyte donation technique for menopausal and premature ovarian failure patients, giving the country’s first baby out of this technique on 24 January 199. She has been helping many couples with fertility problems have children ever since. Dorothy Hodgkin: This Nobel Prize-winning British chemist has discovered some unique phenomena such as the structure of Vitamin B12, three-dimensional biomolecular structures, confirming the structure of penicillin, and most notably, the structure of insulin. Her work advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography, now essential to structural biology. Dorothy Hodgkin Janaki Ammal: Padmashree Awardee Janaki Ammal is a leader in Indian botany. She worked on plant breeding, cytogenetics, and phytogeography, most notably in bamboos and brinjals. She also worked on the cytogenetics of a range of plants and co-authored the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants (1945) with C.D. Darlington. Much of Janaki Ammal’s work was conducted on the Kerala rainforests, and the economic and medical value of its plants, due to her interest in ethnobotany. Katherine Johnson: The brilliant African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson’s calculations of orbital mechanics when working in NASA was critical to the success of NASA’s crewed spaceships. Her work towards calculating orbits, trajectories etc., in space is too vast to be summed up in one paragraph, but it was integral to the Space Shuttle Program, the Apollo Lunar Module, and Project Mercury. The “human computer” had the tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such limited technology and recognition in her time. Augusta Ada King: The Countess of Lovelace, Augusta Ada King, was an English mathematician and writer. She is best known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed computer, a general-purpose mechanical machine. Augusta was the first to recognise that the device could be used for more than calculation and created the first computer algorithm to be used on such a machine. She is thus often regarded as the first programmer. Radia Perlman: Computer programmer and network engineer Radia Perlman invented the Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP), which is fundamental in operating network bridges. Perlman was also the chief designer of DECnet, IV and V protocols, and IS-IS. She has also made significant contributions to the Connectionless Network Protocol (CLNP). This OSI network layer datagram service does not require a circuit to be established before data is transmitted and routes messages to their destinations independently of any other messages. Tu Youyou: Chinese pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize for her door opening discovery of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin, the breakthroughs in treating malaria in twentieth-century tropical medicine. This has saved millions of lives in Asia, Africa and South America. Youyou is the first Chinese Nobel Laureate in physiology or medicine and studied, lived and conducted her research exclusively in the country. Sabrina Gonzales Patserski: Self-described “proud first-generation Cuban-American and Chicago Public Schools alumna,” Pasterski was the #3 Trending Scientist for all of 2017. At twenty-four, she was already cited by the likes of Stephen Hawking and dubbed the next Einstein. At ten, the theoretical physicist had already built an aeroplane engine and built a complete functioning aeroplane only two years later. After graduating at the top of her class with a 5.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) from the Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT), she was a PhD candidate in Physics at Harvard University at a mere twenty-one. Maryam Mirzakhani: This Iranian mathematician was honoured in Popular Science’s fourth annual “Brilliant 10”, acknowledged as one of the top ten young minds to have pushed their fields in innovative directions. Mirzakhani’s work in “the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces” also earned her the Fields Medal. She became the first Iranian to be awarded this most prestigious mathematics award. Last year on the International Day for Girls and Women in STEM, the UN listed as one of seven female scientists dead or alive who have shaped the world. These are just a few names of the innumerable pioneering women who have shaped and helped further scientific discoveries and thought. Many still have not gotten their due credit, and many continue to broaden women’s horizons in STEM. Add to this list and give children more women role models in STEM to show them that science is not just for the boys.

Written by Nethra Singhi The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so wide and varied around the world, there are of course variations in the philosophy of education as well. This series of articles aims at analysing the different theories on education famous philosophers across history had and their application in the contemporary education system. The first philosopher we look towards is Plato and his take on an educational philosophy in his book, Republic. The section on education in the book is widely considered to be the first treatise on education in the Western World. Plato’s Philosophy In order to understand Plato’s approach to education, one must first understand the base of all his philosophy. Plato firmly believed that there is an ideal, perfect world where the perfect form of all thoughts and objects exist. This world is beyond the physical world, which is an imperfect copy of the former. Thus there is an ideal man, but not in this world. The men in the physical world can only achieve a semblance of perfect form, that too with continuous thought. Plato’s Philosophy of Education Plato believed that knowledge in the ideal world is complete and eternal, but diminishes when passed to man in the physical world. But going about daily routine helps one recollect this knowledge. Thus, education is a matter of recollection of knowledge from the perfect world, the discovery of previously acquired knowledge that is very important to live a complete life. He also was disturbed by the fact that Athenian rulers did not receive any special training and that education was not a priority of the state. This was because justice was considered purity which was considered a virtue in ancient Greece, and this knowledge should be pure and just. It should question the state and its corruption, and improve social conditions. Thus he believed that education should be the first priority of the ruler. He also believed it should be fully handled by the state, in the sense that the child should be taken away from the parents and fully educated by the state. This is because he had a standardized education format made as per age, social class and gender that every child should be exposed to. In Republic, Plato describes learning as a lifelong process, a continuous journey that does not stop with school. There are different things to learn at different ages, but there is no end limit to learning. Plato’s Approach to Educational Practice The main difference between traditional Athenian education and Plato’s educational philosophy is that Plato believed that both boys and girls should be educated, whereas only boys were taught in Athens. Despite differing roles in society, Plato was of the opinion that everyone should be given the same basic education. But, apart from basic learning, Plato believed that every individual should undergo specialist technical training in accordance with their abilities. Equal opportunity did not mean anyone could study anything, but rather that one could only study what their ability dictated. While this idea was egalitarian, ability in then Athens was often dictated by birth. Thus knowledge was distributed in accordance with societal hierarchy. His model of education was based on the belief that only a few people are capable of attaining the highest form of knowledge, thus only these people will exercise political power responsibly. While he did not dictate that these people were of noble birth, that was how it was in practice. Plato believed that learning comes from doing and ‘playing’. His idea was that there were ideal ages to learn certain things and these ages dictate the method and content of learning. For instance, he wrote in the Republic that young children should be introduced to stories and poems before they are of the age to learn gymnastic. His curriculum distributed age-wise can be seen in the image below, as taken from here . How is Plato’s Philosophy Reflected in Contemporary Education? One major similarity between contemporary education and Plato’s model you must have noticed is the distribution of subjects according to age groups. The modern education system also believes in starting education from generalised, simplified concepts to more complex, specific ones. The other is, despite the different context, the belief in providing equal opportunities to everybody. While Plato maintained that education is for all, special emphasis was always on men, especially the aristocracy. Modern-day education, especially in India, places great emphasis on the equality aspect and includes women and every class of citizens. It fully realizes Plato’s belief in social harmony through social justice through the equal opportunity of education. Where the above point differs from Plato’s ideas is that in contemporary education, all educational opportunities are available to everyone regardless of whatever their perceived ability is. At least in theory. Access to education is still limited by social and economic power in a lot of areas. The Plato belief of learning by play is another concept gaining popularity in Indian education these days, which places emphasis on doing to learn rather than rote learning. The importance of practical application of knowledge is prevalent in Plato’s philosophy and modern education. Final Thoughts A lot of Plato’s ideas on education are still imbibed in the pedagogy of modern education. His approach to the theory and content of education is something that modern education should take notes from because it deals with both body and mind. This is the basis of Liberal Arts education that many colleges are offering today. What other parallels can you draw between Indian Education and Plato’s Philosophy of Education? Which other philosopher/thinker’s philosophy do you want to us analyse next? References Bai, Heesoon. “Philosophy for education: Towards human agency.” Paideusis 15.1 (2006): 7–19. Jowett, Benjamin. The Republic. Courier Corporation, 2000. Krentz, Arthur A. “Play and education in Plato’s republic.” The Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy. Vol. 29. 1998. Lee, Myungjoon, “Plato’s philosophy of education: Its implication for current education” (1994). Dissertations (1962–2010) Access via Proquest Digital Dissertations. AAI9517932. Sanni, Aminu, and Danladi Momoh. “PLATO’S PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS TO COUNSELLING.” British Journal of Education, vol. 7, no. 4, 2019, pp. 66–73. Santas, Gerasimos. Understanding Plato’s Republic. John Wiley & Sons, 2010 Siegel, Harvey, D.C. Phillips, and Eamonn Callan, “Philosophy of Education”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/education-philosophy/ > Siegel, Harvey. “philosophy of education”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-education . Tesar, Marek, and Kirsten Locke. The philosophy of education. Ed. Richard Stanley Peters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973. Vass, Dewey Houston. Plato’s Philosophy of Education. Diss. The University of Chicago, 1929. ThroughEducation. “What Were Plato’s Thoughts on Education?” Through Education, 12 Dec. 2019, https://www.througheducation.com/platos-theory-of-education-explained/ .

This is a transcript of Ramji Raghavan’s podcast: Learning from the Mavericks: Tom Watson of IBM . . . It was the roaring twenties in America, a time of change and growth. A man went to a country fair to get a plane ride for five dollars. Flying then was new, exciting and dangerous. The man had never been up in a plane. He stood in line was next to go when his children asked him to get ice cream. He gave his place to go to the ice cream stand. The plane crashed, killing three people. The man decided never to fly. Luck, or karma, had ensured that Thomas Watson would live and go on to build IBM into one of the greatest companies in the world. In The Maverick And His Machine, author Kevin Maney describes how luck, madness and hard work created Watson and IBM’s incredible success. Watson came from poverty and worked his way up to the top rung of NCR in Dayton, Ohio. NCR’s questionable business practices led to an antitrust suit by the US government. Watson and the senior managers of NCR came close to going to jail. Then Dayton experienced a massive flood, and Watson and his colleagues played a vital role in running relief efforts. Shockingly, NCR’s President Patterson fired Watson. The events left an indelible mark on Watson, forty and without a job. Watson was driven to prove that Patterson had made a mistake and resolved to build a great company that would reflect high moral values. Watson joined the Computing, Tabulating Recording Company CTR as President in 1914. In 1924, he renamed it IBM, becoming its effective founder. The rest, as they say, is history. A history that is worth exploring, in particular, two momentous and courageous decisions that Watson took during times of extreme crisis, which transformed IBM and the world’s information processing industry. Like all great leaders, Watson had significant flaws. He was a tyrant. All decisions went through Watson. There was never a chain of command at IBM. It was a web with Watson as spider. Watson became IBM, and IBM became Watson. In fact, Watson became more famous than his company. His dictatorial style ensured that for most of his long leadership of IBM, there would be no worthy successor in waiting. Watson had no technology vision in the sense of today’s tech visionaries. He didn’t understand electronics and looked at every innovation through the lens of IBM’s punch card business. Watson got into electronics initially to build a relationship with Harvard University. Ignored in the publicity that followed the project, he took the plunge into electronics as revenge against Harvard. Watson had several exceptional strengths. They enabled him to act with daring in the most challenging circumstances. While Watson did not have a tech vision, he was a great builder. He experimented vigorously and would often assign different people in IBM to work on parallel competing projects. Watson thought big. “Think in big figures,” he told his executives in 1920 at CTR. It was a bad call at the wrong time. Still, Watson was always ready to make the big call. He dreamed of building a big giant like GM or AT&T. As Maney writes, at seventy he had a plan as big as the moon. Watson had unwavering optimism. An optimism which propelled him to take gigantic risks. His decisions to go against the tide, again and again, led IBM to greatness. His colossal ambition led him to achieve near-impossible goals. One of his many sayings, which were often posted in the company, was “They can, who know they can.” Watson generously gave credit to his people. He made people want to be a part of IBM. IBMers felt a sense of mission. They felt that they were building machines that had never before existed. As Kevin Maney writes, people hitched themselves to Watson like railcars to a locomotive. Watson built a strong, cohesive and successful corporate culture around key institutions. IBM’s unique culture included an open door policy, loyalty to employees, company songs, institutions, and even a dress code: dark suits, white shirts, striped ties. IBM’s culture took it forward in ways its competitors couldn’t beat. Instead of being told what to do, people felt it. Peter Drucker said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Watson practised it in spades. The Romanian sculptor Brancusi famously said, “Simplicity is complexity resolved.” Watson had a genius for making the complex seem simple. IBM’s THINK slogan, which he coined at NCR, became omnipresent and entered popular culture. In an essay titled “We Forgive Thoughtful Mistakes”, ex-IBMer Peter Greulich tells the story of an IBM salesman who explains the reasons for losing a much needed million-dollar sales deal during the Great Depression and offers to resign. Watson hands back the resignation saying, “Why would I accept this when I have just invested one million dollars in your education?” Watson’s concept of the industrial family placed the customer first, followed by employees and shareholders. Creating the IBM Culture, says Maney, was Watson’s brilliance. It saved him from his many flaws. Watson was a great salesman. He even attracted presidents. The employees he loved the most were salesmen. I remember experiencing the powerful IBM way of selling at a restaurant in Miami in the early 1980s. I was in charge of selling electronic banking products for Citibank to corporate customers in Puerto Rico. The IBM trainer had explained to the Citibank team new to sales the futility of the features based approach to selling. “By selling technological features, you are losing your customer,” he said, “Instead start with your customer’s objectives. Explain the benefits of your product and then describe the relevant features. Let me show you,” he said and asked the waiter to take us through the elaborate menu. As the waiter poured through the menu, our eyes began to glaze over. The IBMer asked the waiter to stop and start again, this time focusing on items of special interest. With gusto, the waiter spoke directly to each one of us. We were engaged now. He had our attention. It was a lesson that I have never forgotten. Watson used his remarkable qualities to take 'all or nothing' bets on his company. Bets that propelled IBM to greatness. Bets that any other man or woman might have hesitated to take for fear of destroying their company. During the Great Depression, starting in 1929, when America’s and the world’s economies were crashing, Watson almost insanely kept his factories running, adding employees and increasing IBM’s R&D funding. Unsold inventories piled up at the factories, and IBM came close to insolvency. Only a miracle could save it. The miracle came in August 1935 in the form of the Social Security Act. Overnight demand from the government and the private sector for IBM machines soared, leading to the biggest operation of all time. And only one company could meet the demand, and that company was IBM. IBM’s slingshot led to forty-five years of success and prosperity, unmatched by any industrial company in history. Amazingly, Watson told management guru Peter Drucker, he had never anticipated the Social Security Act. To quote Maney, “Watson did not foresee that the act combined with IBM’s readiness would not only save IBM but propel it towards tremendous growth. Watson’s second 'bet the company' gamble was enacted during the second World War. Watson used government money to cheaply and quickly expand IBM’s factories to produce military weapons and equipment for the war effort. By 1943, war production had helped increase IBM’s factory space by two and a half times. Watson invested in hiring new engineers and created new products to be ready to offer to his base of large customers. But post-war demand for IBM machines was expected to collapse in the recession that most experts predicted would follow the end of the war. Exposed, IBM would be staring into the abyss. Watson decided he would create new markets for IBM by converting the higher grade machines on rent to the government, that would be returned after the war, into lower speed machines, and offering them to small companies in the US and Europe, which would grab these machines to drive its post-war recovery. Post-war, instead of a recession which everyone expected, the economy boomed, and with it, IBM took off like a rocket. It is said that fortune’s expensive smile is earned. Watson took gigantic risks to earn IBM’s great fortune. What did Watson see that most others did not? He admitted he had no foreknowledge of the huge upsides for IBM of the great events that occurred. What drove him then to take such hugely courageous, verging on madness, decisions? Perhaps it was his exceptional and unwavering optimism. An optimism that came naturally to one the media called the world’s greatest salesman. Perhaps he needed to experience the thrill of letting his contrarian views flow. Or perhaps, it was his faith in the US economy and his belief in IBM’s capacity to bulldoze through the darkest hours of first the depression and then the war. Perhaps it was his messianic goal and ambition, a magnified spirit born of an outsized ego to dominate his industry. Or his stupendous capacity for long-term thinking. Watson, Richard Tedlow writes, was the longest of the long-term thinkers. Watson’s humongous gambles coincided with apocalyptic events, not unlike in severity to the one the world currently faces (Covid). He must have calculated and weighed the stupendous cost and risk of gearing up to seize an uncertain future, with the potential opportunity to transform IBM into greatness. Watson had prepared IBM for luck. Whatever drove him to go for broke again and again, his singular decisions made against a backdrop of madness, luck, and hard work created history. At 82, on May 8th, 1956, Watson handed over IBM’s reigns to his son Tom Watson Jr. Tom Watson Jr. propelled IBM into the electronic computer age and became one of the most successful CEOs in history. Genetics, happenstance or luck appointing Tom Watson Jr, worthy son of a worthy father, as his successor, was another one of Tom Watson’s great bets. This last and most successful bet ensured that Watson’s legacy would shine well and long into the future. . . . The Learning From The Mavericks podcast pays tribute to some of the world’s greatest leaders and innovators, allowing us to learn from their lives and experiences. Find this episode of the podcast here: https://youtu.be/qBYo-eaG__g

Written by Nethra Singhi The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well. This series of articles aims at analysing the different theories on education famous philosophers across history had and their application in the current education system. In this essay, we look towards Confucius, a teacher and philosopher whose educational theories are the basis of many East-Asian countries’ educational practices in the modern era. Confucian Philosophy Most of Confucius’s thoughts come to us from the Lunyu (Analects), where his life is recorded. Another text from the Confucian canon referred to here is the Xueji (Record of Learning), where his educational philosophy is recorded. The basis of Confucianism is the belief in earning de (virtue) by inculcating ren (humanness) in accordance with ith li (ritual norms), zhong (loyalty to one’s true nature), shu (reciprocity), and xiao (filial piety). The de leads you to dao (the way of heaven). The Aim of Education as per Confucius The aim of education is thus to “transform the people and perfect their customs”, to realise and broaden dao ultimately. To achieve such a lofty aim, one has to focus not only on skills and training but also on radically shifting thinking and building character. One has to attain ren-centred li . What does broadening dao mean? It means “to share in, contribute to, and advance the best of the spiritual, social, political, intellectual, and moral capital and practices derived from one’s cultural tradition”. When students start doing the above, they have completed their learning. They will be the productive members who will uphold culture and tradition and contribute to the growth and development of society. Approach to Educational Practice as Students How does one go about achieving the above goal? The curriculum Confucius developed includes all the material and activities for students to help them realise dao . It focuses on cognitive, affective and behavioural development, practical application of dao, mastering content (the ancient six arts of rituals, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy or writing, and mathematics), and adding to one’s knowledge by immersing oneself in culture. The six arts are not treated as separate subjects but as interconnected disciplines that complement and mutually reinforce each other. They are very much practice-oriented, focusing beyond theoretical knowledge towards real-life application. Ren-centred li is infused into the entire curriculum. A nine-year program is outlined in Xueji , dedicated to systematically providing this comprehensive synthesised education. It is structured to allow students to learn by consolidating existing knowledge and adding to it. Students first form aspirations to understand and analyse texts, then work towards achieving these aspirations through committed studying and learning collaboratively (through both peers and teachers). There is an importance placed on learning with peers, as learning solitarily, according to Confucius, meant the knowledge gained was incomplete. The final stage of this program consists of mastering the different arts or categories of knowledge. Confucius placed great emphasis on learning for oneself to achieve dao instead of learning for others, which he thought was unproductive as then the aim was to please society, not realise dao . Approach to Educational Practice as Teachers Confucius heavily discouraged teaching that placed teachers at the centre of learning rather than the students. He believed in a learner-centred education that helped learners obtain a ren-centred li . Thus didacticism was a practice he did not like, as it merely focused on teachers “chanting rapidly” without regard for whether it was accomplishing the goal of actually teaching students. He considered such teachers “insincere” without any desire to help students learn. Instead, he preached and practised to be sensitive to the students’ individual needs and teach accordingly. When a teacher knows where a student is finding it difficult and their good and bad qualities, they can help the student overcome their deficiencies and learn better. He called this knowing the “heart-mind” of each student. Note that calling it such focuses on both the mental and physical well-being of students. He believed that both these aspects affected the learning and thus should be considered equally. Moreover, Confucius advised that teachers don’t evaluate their students too much too early in the process of learning. This would create anxiety and distract students from achieving their personal learning goals. Instead of formal evaluation, he believed that teachers should merely monitor growth through tracking the students’ cognitive, affective, and behavioural development. Rather than spoon-feeding or mere instruction, the Confucian teaching method focuses on encouraging and guiding students. While direct instruction is necessary to master the arts, it should be done in a way that helps students go “beyond learning the contents to developing the dispositions for learning.” To put it simply, teachers should teach students how to learn more than what to learn. The other teaching method Confucius encouraged is peer teaching. He believed teachers should encourage students to learn amongst themselves, encouraging them to express individual beliefs and listen to and respect others for doing the same. This would also help students question. Although, he believed this method should be employed in an advanced stage, as asking too many questions would distract a novice from learning the foundations, and they will try to learn beyond their stage without imbibing the basics. In summary, a teacher should strike a balance between imparting knowledge and encouraging independent thought. Their role is to guide the individual student’s path to achieving dao rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach for the sake of achieving their goal of teaching. How is Confucius’s Educational Philosophy Relevant in Contemporary Education? By now, the parallels to modern education in Confucian educational philosophy should have become apparent. The emphasis on student-centred education, on a well-rounded, holistic approach that results in not only a skilled individual but a moral and upstanding citizen. The focus is on both mental and physical well-being and providing a safe space for learning. These are the philosophies educational institutions in current-day India should be trying to achieve, moving away from the practice of rote-learning and education for merely skill development. References Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Confucius summary”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Confucius . Accessed 19 February 2022. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Confucianism summary”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Confucianism . Accessed 19 February 2022. Csikszentmihalyi, Mark, “Confucius”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/confucius/ > Juanjuan, Z. H. A. O. “Confucius as a critical educator: Towards educational thoughts of Confucius.” Frontiers of Education in China 8.1 (2013): 9–27. Tan, Charlene. “Beyond rote-memorisation: Confucius’ concept of thinking.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 47.5 (2015): 428–439. Tan, Charlene. “Confucianism and education.” Oxford research encyclopedia of education . 2017. Tan, Charlene. (2020). Confucian Philosophy for Contemporary Education (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429350979

Written by Nethra Singhi The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well. This series of articles aims at analysing the different theories on education famous philosophers across history had and their application in the modern education system. This article looks at al-Kindi, widely considered the “Father of Arab Philosophy.” al-Kindi’s Philosophy Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣabāḥ al-Kindī, commonly referred to as al-Kindi, was born to Arab parents at the beginning of the ninth century AD. He grew up learning Persian, Indian and Greek philosophies and translated and critiqued many works in these traditions, especially those of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Neoplatonism and Aristotle’s theories also profoundly influenced al-Kindi’s own philosophy. He reconciled Islamic belief with Greek philosophy by negotiating the compatibility of the Aristotelian cosmic view with Islamic divinity. al-Kindi wrote that philosophy had three branches: mathematical, physical and ethical. He firmly believed that mathematics was necessary for anyone who wished to learn philosophy. He believed that our knowledge is either acquired through reason or senses. The senses apprehend the physical (material) form of a particular, and reason conceives its universal or spiritual form. What one sees through the eyes also sees its rationality in their mind. He stresses both these sources of acquiring knowledge. If we look only with our senses, we cannot know the universal, and if we use only reason, we can’t see the particular. Impact on Educational Practice al-Kindi envisioned and paved the way for an intercultural and interdisciplinary curriculum within the Arabic intellectual tradition, as he believed Islamic philosophy was compatible with Greek philosophy. This can be used as a framework to understand the application of al-Kindi’s philosophy in educational theory. al-Kindi followed a “rational Islam” proposed by the Mutazilite school (the dominant theological school of the early Abbasid Caliphate, under who al-Kindi translated texts in Baghdad). This rationalistic view of Islam had its own epistemological approach towards truth-seeking knowledge. Its orientation towards codified and verified knowledge set the tone for Islamic education to move away from Majilis (Masjid-based learning practices emphasising theology) to Minhaj (interdisciplinary schooling with a set curriculum). Minhaj is further strengthened by al-Kindi’s combined philosophy that paved the way for merging Greek and Islamic thought into the educational curriculum. Rather than focusing merely on Islamic theology, this curriculum could now look at multiple disciplines like math and music from the view of both the Greek and Islam. Thus, al-Kindi’s multicultural approach towards philosophy can apply to an educational practice that not only takes into account multiple sources of knowledge but strives for similarity and harmony in them. In contemporary education, emphasis is placed on Western traditions and practices. Still, al-Kindi’s work is an example of how indigenous traditions and thought can merge with philosophy from other places without antagonism on either part. References Abdul-Jabbar, Wisam Kh. “al-Kindi on education: Curriculum theorizing and the intercultural Minhaj.” Curriculum Inquiry 50.3 (2020): 262–280. Adamson, Peter. al-Kindi. Oxford University Press, 2006. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “al-Kindī”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Jul. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yaqub-ibn-Ishaq-as-Sabah-al-Kindi . Accessed 23 February 2022. Rehman, Mutazid Waliur. “AL-KINDI AND HIS PHILOSOPHY.” Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 2.2 (1920): 97–107. Tahiri, Hassan. “Al Kindi and the universalisation of Knowledge through mathematics.” Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso 4 (2014): 81–90.

The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!,” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy gained during this process of learning. What better space to start with than the Innovation Hub to introduce our educational approach? The Innovation Hub at Agastya is designed to facilitate innovative thinking and use STEAM-based models to solve real-world problems. Here, students are encouraged to look at problems people around them face and develop working solutions. Thus, it is located in a space aptly named “Navrachna” (Create Something New). Aerial shot of Navrachna, the space that houses the Innovation Hub Agastya established the Innovation Hub & Design Studio on 1st July 2015 at Creativity Campus, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is a joint initiative of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM)- Ministry of Culture, Government of India. National Innovation Council and Agastya International Foundation. The mission of Innovation Hub is to create innovative solutions for local problems processes of learning in STEAM-based education. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. It is an educational approach that combines logical and creative thinking for holistic all-around education. At the Hub, students undergo the Design Thinking process — Problem identification, Ideation, Design, Development, Prototyping and Presentation Skills. The students first identify a problem they want to solve and its different aspects, like who faces the problem, what causes it etc. They then ideate multiple solutions and which one is the most practical. After designing this model and developing a proper answer, the students create working prototypes with materials available in the Hub. They then present these prototypes to the instructors with a detailed analysis of how they work, their usefulness and scalability. Students working in the Innovation Hub The ambience of the Innovation Hub is such that it helps put students in the right mindset on their journey towards critical thinking and innovative problem-solving. It houses all the necessary equipment and guides students will need on the different steps described above. The place also highlights brilliant thinkers like Kalam, from whom students can take inspiration on this journey. Overall the Innovation Hub makes children learn the process of thinking, both about STEAM aspects and how they can create a better world with the tools STEAM education provides. It adds to their knowledge, yes, but it ultimately teaches them how to become self-sufficient and take charge of their learning. The Navrachna space also houses the Design Studio, where children come up with their designs and prototypes under expert guidance, the Robotics Lab and Computer Lab, and Vision Works, the model-making workshop where Agastya’s equipment and learning models are made.

Written by Nethra Singhi The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well. This series of articles aims at analysing the different theories on education famous philosophers across history had and their application in the modern education system. Today, we talk about Desiderius Erasmus, the Renaissance thinker after whom the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship is named. Erasmus’s Philosophy ‘Christian humanism’ best describes Erasmus’s philosophy, combining Christian thought with the classical tradition revived by Renaissance humanists (aka classical humanists), and giving philology prominence over philosophy. He believed in the vital role of classical culture in a Christian society and created a redefined “philosophy of Christ” that contrasted the prevailing university discipline of philosophy. As Erasmus explains in his book Antibarbari, he believed Christ was the father of philosophy; hence Christ intended everything valuable about pagan culture to be used to enrich Christian culture. Erasmus was a humanist who studied language, literature, and rhetoric in the renaissance era. Humanists borrowed their ideas from ancient Greek and Roman books and put man at the forefront of their views on good, bad, life, raising children etc. This is where Erasmus’s belief in free will came into play. While he believed in Christian divinity, he also believed that humans have free will. This free will, if aligned with divinity, will become spiritual. Erasmian Take On Education Erasmus embraced the humanistic belief in an individual’s capacity for self-improvement and the fundamental role of education in raising rational human beings above the level of brute animals. (note: in the renaissance era, everyone believed humans to be rational and self-aware, an essential quality of distinction that set them apart from animals and helped form organised, civilised societies). His educational pedagogy promoted docta pietas , a combination of piety and learning that he termed the “philosophy of Christ”. Erasmus believed in the preponderance of nurture over nature because of free will. He was thus was optimistic about the potential of human beings for self-improvement. Hence, it was necessary to provide the proper nurture for children to become pious and free-thinking. It was the duty of parents and teachers to ensure that children fulfilled their potential and lived up to it. Throughout Erasmus’ writings on education, he emphasises four themes: the humanising effect of education, the effectiveness of cooperative methods over coercive ones, the ability of both sexes to benefit from education, and the importance of internalising the material taught. The first theme indicates his belief that human beings without education had no humanity. Education made them rational and kept them above the level of beasts. A well-educated child meant a contributing member of society and a good caretaker of the family. But this education had to be cooperative, not coercive. If a child is forced into learning, they will not enjoy it and thus not gain from it. This is where the second theme comes into play. Educational material should be presented in an entertaining instructional manner that holds a student’s interest. Using punishing methods is detrimental to the cause of learning as it would instil fear and discourage students from making an effort. While Erasmus initially believed that women were morally and intellectually inferior to men, like most of his contemporaries, his views changed when he came into contact with Thomas More’s (a prominent humanitarian) daughters, who were highly educated and intelligent. Thus while his initial writings on education did not include women, he later acknowledged that education would benefit women as well and that they were on par, sometimes ahead, in terms of intellectual capability. The fourth theme dictates the method of learning Erasmus believed worked best. He gave less importance to memorisation and imitation, which were the most common educational methods then. Instead, he felt that material needed to be internalised and properly understood. Ultimately, the education one gained was to be used to celebrate the glory of Christ. Application of Erasmus’s Educational Philosophy to Modern Education Erasmus was one of the first thinkers of the renaissance era to give equal importance to the education of men and women. This equality is reflected in India’s RTE (Right to Education Act), which provides every child with freedom of learning. But moving on to actual educational methods, the Erasmian style of education is reflected in contemporary education, especially in the field of liberal arts — a successor of humanitarian studies. Today, much importance is placed on rhetoric and the critical thinking required to fully internalise any field of study. There is also an effort to move education away from rote learning to thinking-oriented learning that emphasises the student understanding the subject matter rather than merely memorising it to fulfil educational obligations. More positive reinforcement methods are put in place to interest children and less punitive measures that would scare them away. Overall, while education is now secular, unlike the Erasmian Christian education, the fundamental beliefs of Erasmus and other classical humanists are imbibed in modern educational approaches. References Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Desiderius Erasmus summary”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Erasmus-Dutch-humanist . Accessed 28 February 2022. Erasmus Center. “Erasmus Humanism.” Humanism- Erasmus Center for Early Modern Studies, https://www.erasmus.org/index.cfm?itm_name=humanism-EN . Erasmus, Desiderius. “The education of a Christian prince.” (1965). MacPhail, Eric. “Desiderius Erasmus (1468? — 1536).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/erasmus/#SH3a . Nørgaard, Thomas. “Liberal education in the Erasmus programme.” Internationalisation of higher education and global mobility (2014): 99–118. Rummel, Erika, and Eric MacPhail. “Desiderius Erasmus.” (2017). Rummel, Erika. Erasmus, Desiderius (c.1466–1536), 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-C014–1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/erasmus-desiderius-c-1466-1536/v-1 .

Written by Nethra Singhi The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!,” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy gained during this process of learning. The Bio-Discovery Centre at the Kuppam Campus enables children to learn about all things biology, from human DNA and bones and senses to animal and plant biology, through a process of playing and experimenting. One of the structures of the Bio-Discovery Centre Its structure is inspired by how termites use limited resources to create ventilated mounds. Two of the Bio-Discovery Centre’s units showcase biomagnetic architecture. The buildings use environmental, renewable energy for power instead of air conditioning systems. The centre consists of 5 structures: the DNA Dome, Mechanics of Movement, the Sensorium, and the biology lab with the AV lab, neurobiology lab and plant evolution garden. DNA Dome Codesigned by a post-doctoral researcher and a playground designer, the DNA Dome is a fully accessible thematic playground that simulates an animal cell. Here, children understand processes such as information transfer, transport and energy production in the cell etc., through a series of games incorporated in our teaching modules. They learn about the function of DNA, its structure, how it is hereditary, and the process of extraction of DNA using vegetables. Mechanics of Movement Focused on showcasing the wonders of human movement, this space houses interactive learning models made in-house that allow children to explore how the body moves. They can see how bones, muscles and joints in coordination with tendons and ligaments move when performing different actions. These models include: pedalling a cycle, arm movement, kicking a ball, and neck movement. Animations and videos take them deeper into the human body to observe how the action happens. A child exploring the pedalling model at Mechanics of Movement Sensorium Large interactive models of the tongue, eyes, nose, ears and skin located in the Sensorium fascinate children and make them curious about how our five senses work. They learn about each sense, how it works and how it helps us perceive the world around us. The larger than life experience stays in their memories. Biology Lab The biology lab is filled with specimens and illustrations of flora and fauna of India like amphibians, reptiles, birds and insects. It helps children explore different living things and how they function, including plants in the plant evolution garden, where they are sowed and observed during various stages of growth. Models of human organs can also be found here, explaining different functions and processes. A neurobiology component also describes reflex action, an involuntary, unplanned sequence of action and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus. With these structures, Agastya hopes to cultivate children’s interest in biology and help them learn essential functions in an interactive, fun manner. Which design would you like to know more about next?

Written by Nethra Singhi The Philosophy of Education is a reflection on the nature, aims and problems of education. It is a branch of applied philosophy that borrows from epistemology, metaphysics, language etc. It looks at both the theoretical and practical aspects of education from a philosophical angle. Now, because educational practice is so vast and varied around the world, there are, of course, variations in the philosophy of education as well. This series of articles aims at analysing the different theories on education famous philosophers across history had and their application in the modern education system. This article discusses the impact of Roger Bacon in scientific, linguistic and theological studies in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Roger Bacon’s Philosophy Roger Bacon was an English Franciscan philosopher and educational reformer who was a major mediaeval proponent of experimental science. He was most famously known for being a commentator and translator of Aristotelian philosophy and taught Aristotle’s natural philosophy and metaphysics in university. Although his later works took a turn towards independent scholarship and educational reform, Bacon’s thoughts remained essentially Aristotelian. Bacon believed that the sciences, maths and astronomy were connected to everyday life, that there had to be utility and practicality in all scientific efforts. He held that there are two aspects of scientific knowledge: implicit, which deals with the knowledge of the principles of science, and explicit, which is the knowledge of conclusions. There was experientia (experience), that all animals had, and then there was experimentum (experiment), a science of principles based on this experience that only humans have. Thus, according to him, “Human art is acquired and is a science of principles based on experience.” Roger Bacon’s Reform of University Education in the Thirteenth Century Today, Bacon is remembered for his model on reforming philosophical, scientific and theological studies by incorporating language studies, mathematics and experimental science. His contribution lies not so much in contributing to the sum of knowledge but in his work on fruitful lines of research and methods of experimental study. The reform of education and society was an important theme in Bacon’s later works. He was influenced by the geopolitical situation of the time (the Mongol invasion of Europe and spreading Islamic influence). Bacon drew connections between the state of affairs in the academy and the state of affairs in society, and believed that the ultimate purpose of academic study was to improve society. He thought that knowledge and learning were not private affairs, but had a socio-political dimension. Thus he persuaded that the sciences, both secular and divine, should help increase happiness in human society and guide it towards achieving salvation. He believed that “vain and useless academic practice was the cause of the ecclesiastic corruptions of pride, greed, and lust.” The scholastic practice of his time, according to Bacon, was corrupted by greed and pride. He offered a structural critique of this practice in universities and said that they were too focused on logic and a particular way of grammar that didn’t include the study of foreign languages. He believed university teachers were too vain and conformed to existing teaching norms that were increasingly becoming futile. Bacon believed that neither the philosophy nor the theology of his time adequately embodied the wisdom God gave humans. He thus proposed a reform program to Pope Clement IV that included theology and most philosophical disciplines. Bacon advocated that the existing curriculum be extensively modified and that translations of philosophical works be done by scholars who were experts in both language and theological material. He wanted to implement disciplines he considered were of real value and contributed to actual learning that his contemporaries were not focused on. These subjects include perspective (optics), experimental science, and alchemy. The five main scientific disciplines according to Bacon’s reform program were the science of languages. Perspective, moral philosophy, experimental science and alchemy, along with mathematics, which he thought was essential to learn the above five. He believed that the existing scholars and university curriculum neglected or wrongly taught these sciences and thus provided a futile education that led to the corruptions of pride, greed, and lust within the clergy and political rulers. These five sciences, according to Bacon, were more conducive to the advancement of the mind, the body, and society than some of the sciences preferred by his contemporaries, such as logic. The Impact of Bacon’s Works Roger Bacon set out themes in his philosophy of language, philosophy of nature, and moral philosophy and theology that influenced fourteenth century writers such as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham, among others and was one of the founding thoughts of early modern philosophy. However, his works and writings were not given importance until much later, because he was rejected by his contemporaries. Hence research on him is limited and only received interest in the late 1900s. A lot of his work is yet to be studied and critically and historically evaluated, but Bacon is regarded for his strategic scientific vision that aimed at improving humanity. References Antolic-Piper, P., 2022. Bacon, Roger. [online] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: < https://iep.utm.edu/bacon-ro/#H6 > [Accessed 8 March 2022]. Crowley, Theodore. “Roger Bacon”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-Bacon . Accessed 7 March 2022. Hackett, Jeremiah M. G. “Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric in Roger Bacon.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 20, no. 1, Penn State University Press, 1987, pp. 18–40, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40237493 . Hackett, Jeremiah. “Roger Bacon.” (2007). ​​Hackett, Jeremiah. “Roger Bacon on the Classification of the Sciences.” Roger Bacon and the Sciences. Brill, 1997. 49–65. Mantovani, Mattia. “The First of All Natural Sciences: Roger Bacon on Perspectiva and Human Knowledge.” Vivarium 59.3 (2021): 186–214. Polloni, N. and Kedar, Y., 2021.” The philosophy and science of Roger Bacon.” Routledge.

The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!,” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy gained during this process of learning. The Vidya Jyoti Library at the Kuppam Campus is a one-of-a-kind space that provides space for children to read books and also make them for free! The Library is located at an angle from which one can view the valleys and the meeting point of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These stunning views provide the perfect backdrop for reading, whether for fun or studies. Partial view from the Library The Library houses over 17,000 books in English and vernacular languages like Telugu and Kannada. It also has over 2,000 digitised books. Both fictional and educational books from publishers like NBT, CBT, Pratham, Tulika, Nava Karnataka and Manchi Pusthakam are available, with free access. This helps us use our resources to support the community’s educational, cultural, and recreational needs and encourage our patrons to do the same. A glance into the Library Agastya aims to provide books to children from areas where schools are not necessarily equipped, and electricity is too unstable to access them on the internet. The Vidya Jyoti library helps achieve this aim, both through its on-campus resources and its Community Library Program. The Community Library Program is a Library branch that erects libraries in different communities that can’t access the campus. These community libraries help reach more children in remote areas and enable them to read, write and speak more confidently. However, the unique feature of the Vidya Jyoti Library is not how it helps children read books but also how to make them. It teaches children the process of creating books hands-on, from book design and story creation to illustration and bookbinding. Other hands-on activities, like Hand Puppet, Stick Puppet, Foam Puppet, String Puppet, Sock puppet and Shadow Puppet, help develop their storytelling skills, communication and confidence. Children working on building a story The library aims to enhance the reading, writing and storytelling skills of children who may otherwise not get many opportunities to explore the above. This is a process of identifying each child’s current level and helping them grow through a series of activities that embody Agstya’s spirit of learning.