Written by Nethra Singhi There has always been a lot of discussion about learning processes and the limitations of traditional lecture formats in incorporating different learning styles and holding a student’s attention, especially now, in online learning. Hence, many schools are trying to incorporate active learning into their teaching methods. Let’s explore what that means and its impact. What is Active Learning? Active learning is a teaching method that focuses on learner participation in the learning process rather than solely relying on the teacher. In other words, the students actively learn instead of taking in information passively. It is based on the Constructivist theory, which states that “learning is a process of making meaning”; i.e. learners build on their existing knowledge to delve deeper into any subject. How does Active Learning benefit learners? Many studies have found that in students of all classes, those who are exposed to active learning perform better in evaluation than those who have undergone conventional learning through lectures. This is because students can draw from their understanding of the subject rather than just recalling knowledge. Since they participate in learning activities, they have first-hand experience drawing conclusions, enabling them to apply their knowledge, improving their understanding of the subject, and problem-solving and analytical skills. Active learning engages children whose attention span is limited by involving them in hands-on activities in preschool. Even though they can’t articulate it yet, using hands and moving during learning helps them actualise a concept. For instance, using blocks to form shapes helps them learn the shapes even if they can’t name them yet. It helps them visualise spaces in figures and internalise geometric concepts. Learning by doing also helps engage different neural networks vital for problem-solving. A study has found that “Doing gesture promotes learning a mental transformation task better than seeing gesture for preschoolers.” In higher education, active learning helps students take charge of their education, allowing them to exercise self-discipline and self-regulation. It also helps them explore learning styles best suited to them by offering different activities that help them understand a subject in different ways. It also helps students stay focused on the material by encouraging enthusiasm and class participation. Since this method is not about the content but the learning approach and the process of absorbing the content, it helps the students form their approach towards understanding, visualising and grasping concepts that they can apply even later in life after school and college. It helps them become “lifelong learners”, as described in the Cambridge Guide to active learning. Concerns about Active Learning The primary concern most people have about active learning is that it may diminish the role of the teacher. However, this is an unfounded concern since this teaching method actively requires teachers to devise, conduct and oversee learning activities and guide students throughout the process. Moreover, not all concepts can be taught via actions and are best taught via lectures. The other, more valid concern is that devising activities will increase the instructors’ workload. But there are a lot of frameworks and activities available from reputed schools and colleges. Moreover, the school can provide resources to help ease the burden on teachers. How can we incorporate Active Learning in the classroom? The most vital thing to keep in mind while incorporating activities in teaching is to keep the students at the centre of the process. Often, instructors tend to get lost in the specifics of an activity rather than evaluating what concepts it’s helping students understand. Cambridge and Harvard have complete guides to active learning available on their website, as do many other reputed schools and colleges. Agastya also has multiple tools available for teachers to help them get started with our active learning philosophy, the ‘Aah, Aha, Ha-Ha’ method. The Acharya Initiative, our teacher training program , provides kits for the same. The ActiLearn book also incorporates activities consistent with the NCERT and NPT syllabus and the National Education Policy 2020. Overall, active learning is beneficial in education and should be incorporated wherever possible. It is more effective than rote learning and provides a better educational experience. This is needed now more than ever, where merely holding lectures in an online environment is not enough to keep a child’s attention or even help them grasp the subject matter.

Written by Nethra Singhi Educators, especially in India, have long considered arts to be less important than science subjects. Until a few years ago, the buzzword in education was STEM: A learning approach that combines Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to provide a rounded education focused on the above subjects complementing each other. ​​It emphasises the application of information, and growing problem-solving, observational, and exploratory skills rather than rote learning the periodic table or the multiplication tables. But there is now much discussion about integrating arts with scientific disciplines and the benefits of doing so. Let’s look at one such approach. The progression from STEM to STEAM Education Today, many people add the ‘A’ for Arts in STEM, making it STEAM Education. Georgette Yakman, a researcher and the founder of STEAM Education, divides arts into sub-categories, briefly summarised as follows: Fine Arts — Fine Arts includes drawing, painting, sculpting and photography. It is concerned with aesthetics, and most schools teach it during the arts and crafts period. Language Arts — Language Arts is concerned with grammar and communication, or simply put, the use of a language. It includes learning any language and using it in things like creative writing. Physical Arts — Subjects like dance, sports etc., fall under the category of Physical Arts, or subjects based on physical activity. Manual Arts — Arts that use physical skills or physically manipulating objects are categorised as Manual Arts. Examples include architecture and landscape design. Liberal Arts — Another new education buzzword, at least for India, Liberal Arts covers academic disciplines rooted in humanities and social sciences. Subjects like philosophy, ethics, political science and sociology fall into this category. How does STEAM Education help children? Arts not only complements STEM Education, but it is also practically taught that way. Art and design play prominent roles in STEM, including but not limited to product design, communication (language arts), and history that sets the context for an engineering problem. Moreover, studying arts teaches people the value of contemplation, creativity and innovation. It increases a person’s knowledge of culture, an edge that differentiates between good and great candidates in the workforce. It helps people find creative solutions to problems that require different perspectives. For instance, Sheetal, the art director at Agastya, says studying art makes her students more open to critical observation, helping them approach a subject from different angles. Arts can also make STEM topics more interesting, especially for kids who don’t like science or math. When they see math and science in nature and beauty, they think about the world differently, altering their approach to subjects in school. Science has always depended on hands-on projects and experiments to teach theoretical concepts. These experiments rely largely on manual and physical arts. Hence, the knowledge of arts helps children understand subjects by seeing, touching, and doing. In other words, the arts help a child relate STEM to the real world. Kindergarten and primary school students especially connect best with things they can touch, see, or use. Using art experiments help them connect these things with science concepts by allowing hands-on experiments. It thus allows children to make mistakes and challenge themselves while creating or participating in such experiments. Since there isn’t a single correct answer in art, especially compared to science or math, it allows kids to find different solutions and not be disheartened by failure. The most crucial benefit of arts education is that it helps raise well-informed children who empathise with problems worldwide because they are taught culture from around the world. They grow up to be well-rounded adults who understand that becoming a doctor or engineer is not the only way to help the world. Does such categorisation actually help? The farther you’ve come down in this article, the more you must be realising that all these fields are heavily interconnected. This begs the question: is such categorisation within educational subjects beneficial or detrimental? Sheetal, from the Agastya Arts Lab, as mentioned above, believes that the inherent curiosity of a child leads them down a path where ultimately science and arts both play a role in sating their curiosity. For example, when they’re first asked to draw the sky, most of them paint it blue. But then, when they observe the sky during different times of the day, they start noticing the different shades it is, from purple to white, leading them to play with lighting and painting the sky in different colours. They then start questioning why it is so, which leads them to the science behind the sky being different colours during other times of the day. Thus, the learning curve is fully achieved only when they learn both the aesthetic and the scientific aspects of a specific phenomenon, leading Sheetal to believe that differentiating between the two subjects is futile if the aim is to provide a complete education. What path leads us forward? The road we’re pursuing today ends with the interconnectedness of various disciplines. Hence, it’s becoming more critical to stop defining subjects to the extent of completely removing them from the orbit of other topics that complement them. This is where STEAM Education helps connect disciplines previously thought of as entirely separate from each other. But it is merely the first step towards holistic education that treats all subjects as branches of one common topic and treats each of its components as equally vital.

Written by Nethra Singhi “Learning by Doing” is a motto many educators are adopting today, aiming to make their classrooms more interactive instead of a lecture space. This is the motto Agastya has followed since its inception. But this then brings up the question: “Where to do?”. Our answer to this is our state-of-the-art Innovation Hub, a makerspace for students, where they sate their curiosity, conduct interesting experiments, and make working model solutions for real-life problems they face. Makerspaces? What are those? A makerspace is a place where one can use ready materials to experiment with and gain information from. It is born from the constructivist movement that believes one learns by creating and building upon existing knowledge. Simply put, it is a workshop or lab type of area where children can be curious, create and make their ideas and knowledge tangible. From films, engineering and architecture models to a robot or a mechanical eye, many things can be made in a makerspace. While the traditional classroom lecture format lends itself nicely to some subjects, many others need a new approach to cement understanding. Here, makerspaces aim to provide resources and areas for children to use their imagination and rationale to build their knowledge. They encourage them to experiment and create rather than merely consume. Keep in mind that what children create is not for an end project or done at the end of learning. It is in the process of creation that they study and what they make of the result. Using makerspaces is thus a way of student-centred learning that encourages them to nurture their spirit of inquiry. It also adds to their creativity and innovative thinking, something that is quite stifled in a traditional classroom. Moreover, makerspaces provide a unique opportunity for collaboration. When a group of students is learning the same topic, it gives them a way to discuss their opinions and provide tangible examples. For example, if they are learning about light and refraction, they can use objects in the makerspace to create a mirrored tower with different angles and intensities of light and study its effects. They can also create low-cost lighting solutions for houses that don’t have electric connections with daily use objects like aluminium foil, batteries, etc. What does it take to make a makerspace? The possibilities are endless. A makerspace can take many forms, from an entire library transformed into a learning commons with blocks and areas for children to create their own storybooks to a science lab where children can make the experiments instead of using pre-made models to study a phenomenon. The central idea is that a child should be able to MAKE it on their own and internalise a concept in that process. Thus, before transforming a physical place into a makerspace, thought needs to go into the pedagogical implications of it and what resources are being provided to what end. While all schools need to create makerspaces, one can do it in their own homes on a smaller scale. Find a corner that can safely store tools for your child and has space for them to use said devices, and voila! They have their personal makerspace. We at Agastya have Mobile Science Labs in buses that travel all across India. The “Mobile Innovation Bus” is a makerspace that provides the Kuppam Innovation Hub tools to lakhs of children in the country’s remotest corners! The Innovation Carnival was conceived to take the spirit of innovation mobile and start a program that could travel to create a more creative, curious, constructive, innovative new generation of students.

Written by Nethra Singhi From a barren land with a limited water supply and fluctuating electricity, the Agastya Kuppam Campus is now a lush green ecosystem with sustainable and eco-friendly sources for water and electricity. How did we do it? Read below. An aerial view of a section of the Agastya Kuppam Campus The vision behind the Kuppam Campus Ramji Raghavan, the co-founder and chairperson of Agastya, understood the importance of harmonising with nature while learning, or rather, the importance of the environment in which one learns. His vision was that the campus must have beautiful views and calming natural spaces that aid education. Hence, the idea from the start was to build a sustainable space for learning rooted in the local biodiversity of Kuppam. We took the help of renowned environmentalist Dr Yelappa Reddy, to do this. The Execution First, Professor Renuka Prasad, Head of Geology, Bangalore University, helped conduct a soil assessment study to assess the type of rocks in the area, its hydrological layers, the type and porosity of the soil present, etc. to determine the kind of landscape they were working with. In accordance with this, multiple check dams and irrigation channels were constructed that increased water storage in the area and replenished water levels underground. To combat the electricity problem, the primary natural resource of the area was harvested. Meaning they installed solar panels, windmills, and biogas fueled structures. Thus, the campus became sustainable, which improved the site’s natural landscape. From barren land, it was now land on which life could flourish. Many species characteristic of the Deccan Plateau and flora and fauna local to all the three states the campus borders (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) are now present and well nurtured. Flora introduced to the site includes Neem, Jamun, Peepal , Red Sanders, Bamboo, and Bulea Monosperma or Flame of the Forest. These aided in recharging groundwater levels that in turn helped native species grow. The campus is now overrun with shrubs and greenery that many visiting children and teachers love and think is integral to the Agastya experience. Children observing a plant. Source: https://issuu.com/agastyasparks/docs/the_roots_of_creativity-ecology Agastya has not stopped here on its mission to be environmentally conscious. It also introduced ecology in its curriculum before the state government and has conducted many environmental programs on the Kuppam grounds. One such notable program is the My Tree Program, where students visiting the campus are each given a tree that they observe and help grow every time they come to the campus during their course. This makes them conscious of the nature around them and also helps their analytical skills. While the whole campus is deemed the Ecology Lab, the in-house ecology lab hosts several automated models that demonstrate several animals and plants’ life cycles and processes. It also provides sustainable solutions to life problems such as drip irrigation systems for farming, biofuel to reduce the carbon footprint etc. There are also several conceptual gardens like the Mulikavana and Saraswati Kund designed for specific learning processes and highlighting the different natural features of the campus. The Mulikavana Conceptual Garden: a herbal garden “designed to bring an umbilical connection with human anatomy” according to Dr Yelappa Reddy The Campus Today An IISC team consisting of nine researchers, including Mr Harish Bhat and lead scientist Dr Ramachandra, published a research report of the Agastya Campus. This report recorded the environmental and ecological developments on the campus between 2008 and 2014. There was a detailed analysis of all the species of flora and fauna existing on campus. The study concluded that the campus and areas around it reported increased vegetation cover from 11.9% in 2001 to 18.76% in 2014. Today, there are around 600 plants and about 223 animal species, including birds, spiders, amphibians, as well as 104 species of butterflies (as recorded by Dr R Bhanumati). We built a Butterfly Park in 2014 on our campus in an effort to increase environmental education for teachers and students. Several endangered species of the Eastern Ghats were also found in the vicinity. Some notable ones are the Indian Jackal, Pangolin, Spotted Deer, and subspecies of migratory birds like the Harriet and the Rosy Pastor from North America, Siberia, Tajikistan, Russia, and the Himalayas. The Brown Awl photographed by Dr R Bhanumati in the book Butterflies of Agastya Agastya won the Andhra Pradesh Green Award in 2018, recognising its efforts in creating an ecologically sustainable preserve that serves as the seat of learning. You can read more about our environmental plans here: https://issuu.com/agastyasparks/docs/the_roots_of_creativity-ecology

Written by Nethra Singhi What is peer-to-peer teaching? Stanford professor Rick Reis defines peer-to-peer teaching as “students learning from and with each other in both formal and informal ways.” Peer to peer teaching involves students imparting knowledge to other students. There is no distinction between student and teacher like there is in conventional classrooms. Students work in groups to solve problems, with a group leader guiding discussions. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is an expert on the subject and is in a position of authority to lead the classes. On the other hand, peer teachers are in equal standing with the students, as they are one of them. The benefits of peer learning and teaching Encourages teamwork and dialogue Peer Learning encourages students to work in groups and take part in group discussions, something a lecture format does now allow. They learn how to discuss, debate, and help each other out. It makes them better team players who can communicate their ideas successfully. 2. It helps students learn more effectively and actively There is a wealth of research to show that teaching something is an effective way to enhance your own understanding of the material. Moreover, discussing something allows others to add to your knowledge through their inputs. It also helps retain information better, as you discuss and relearn subjects actively in a peer-learning environment. 3. Increases confidence Peer to peer teaching and learning improve one’s public speaking skills. Since they have practised putting forth their ideas before a group, they are not fazed when facing it later in their workplace. Peer teachers gain leadership skills through leading the discussion and activities. Research suggests that because peer-to-peer teaching is less rigid than teacher to student teaching, it helps students be less tense about potential doubts and reduces the fear of failure. Hence, children are more likely to actively take part in the learning process and try their hand at new things without inhibitions. 4. Scope for improvement Participation in group learning activities helps children’s critical thinking and analytical skills. They feel easier asking for help and feedback from their peers rather than a teacher, as they need not fear authority. There is also more scope for personalised feedback, as their peer knows the student personally and can help target the exact areas they’re struggling in. 5. Improves academic performance When students are more engaged in the learning process, have confidence in their knowledge and skills, and have received more individualised assistance, it makes sense that they’ll perform better in studies and tests. So should all learning be done through peers? This is not to say that teachers are not required or are less important in the classroom. Of course, at the initial stage of learning a subject, an expert who can impart knowledge correctly is necessary. Where peer-to-peer teaching comes into play is the second stage. It supplements lecture learning by reiterating important concepts and helping students revise their knowledge. Moreover, in places like India, where schools cannot reach remote areas, peer teachers can reduce the burden of traditional teachers by acting as a force multiplier. One educated child can teach countless more children. This is the rationale behind Agastya’s Young Instructor Leader Program , which trains students to become effective, hands-on peer teachers and takes the Agastya way of learning far and wide.

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.