Teaching Future Physicists

What if you realize that some of your students have the potential for becoming great physicists? What if you know that if you nurture their interest in science and help them develop knowledge and skills, they will extend human knowledge in future? They may work with the finest of universities and research labs and come up with breakthroughs for the problems that we are facing today. What can you do as their physics teacher to help them succeed as physicists?

            To explore these questions it is important to understand the critical elements of scientific inquiry. The development of science relies heavily on the following:

Empirical experimentation

A critical first step here is developing hypothesis(es). Basically, based on the things that we know, the idea is to take a step forward and make an educated guess about the scientific phenomenon, and the relation between various study variables. To test this hypothesis, experiment is designed, data are collected, and results are reported. Replicability of the experiment is one of the most important elements of scientific inquiry. It means that the results should be consistent under the same experimental conditions, irrespective of who conducts the study. Therefore, scientific experiments need high-levels of methodological rigor and transparency. Finally, the inferences are put in context of the existing scientific literature and the entire work is shared with the scientific community for further scrutiny. 

Theoretical development

A theory is basically an attempt to make sense of the results of a set of well-tested hypotheses often related to a particular scientific phenomenon. Clear rationale, logic, and mathematical computations often serve as corner stones for theoretical development. One critical utility of theoretical work is its predictability. It explains and predicts how nature behaves in given physical conditions.

            It is important to note that both theoretical and empirical works may develop simultaneously and/or sequentially, and there is no particular order for scientific development. Though professional researchers often specialize in a particular approach (theoretical or experimental), both approaches are heavily interdependent. Theoretical development provides direction for experimental work, which in turn, validates (or rejects) theoretical work. Both approaches collectively advance scientific knowledge. 

            Now, the critical question for teachers:

·         What kind of teaching approach (or learning experiences) in physics classrooms could help nurture the required skills for empirical and theoretical developments of science?

Let’s say a teacher wants to employ this teaching approach for the chapter – Lights, Shadows, and Reflection (Class VI, CBSE). The class is divided into smaller groups (3-5 students/group).

Steps for scientific inquiry	How the teacher can organize the lesson
Experimental tools	Flashlight, balls of different radii (ping-pong ball, tennis ball, and football), cardboard with small hole, vernier calipers, 1 meter ruler
Experiment	·         Allow students to play with flashlight through cardboard and balls. See if any groups are coming up with any patterns (e.g., as the ball is closer to the flashlight, the shadow gets bigger) ·         Help students identify study parameters (e.g., radii of different balls, distance between balls, and between flashlight and balls) ·         Guide students to more specific inquiry: o   When you put a ping-pong ball between the cardboard and a tennis ball, what happens when the ping-pong ball is moved closer to (or away from) the cardboard? Follow this up with more precise hypothesis. ·         Establish experimental conditions: 1)      For five different distances between the ping-pong ball and the cardboard (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 cm), ask students to observe the point at which the shadow of the ping-pong ball completely covers the tennis-ball. And note down the distances between the tennis ball and the cardboard, and the tennis ball and the ping-pong ball. 2)      Repeat the above experiment for the condition where the tennis ball is between the ping-pong ball and the cardboard. ·         Discuss the results. Let students explain why the second experimental setup becomes redundant. ·         Let students write the procedure in their own words.
Theoretical work	Students write a summary of their understanding of light and shadows, and relation between distances between spheres of different radii and light source. ·         Give students a formula: R1/L1 = R2/L2, where R1= radius of smaller ball L1= distance between smaller ball and cardboard R2= radius of bigger ball L2= distance between bigger ball and cardboard (Note: L2>L1). The above formula holds when the shadow of smaller ball completely overshadows the bigger ball. ·         Ask students to measure the radius of the tennis ball and the football. ·         For a given distance of the tennis ball (e.g., 20cm) from the cardboard, ask the student to predict the distance between the cardboard and the football.
Follow up experimentation	In this step, students empirically test their theoretical predictions.
Sharing and discussion	Once the students have empirically tested their theoretical predictions, all student-groups present their work with the rest of the class.

Clearly, the lesson presented above will not fit into a traditional 35min class and may demand a 2-3 hour laboratory session. In addition, students may need time for writing the entire exercise in their own words. My personal experience and observation suggests that we do not emphasize enough on scientific writing in our schools. Writing in science is very different from writing in languages/liberal arts. One needs to be concise and lucid. The objective is to present your work to scholars, and you would not like to waste their time with unnecessary words or complex and/or unclear language. In addition, there is absolutely zero tolerance for plagiarism in scholarly work. Therefore, it is highly desirable for the students to get training in writing their scientific work in original language with appropriate citations right from the beginning. 

In conclusion, it is high time we treat physics (and science in-general) as a way of thinking and learning through systematic inquiry. As per UNESCO’s Science Report 2010, one of the biggest challenges for India in the coming years will be to revolutionarily improve both quantity and quality of scientists and researchers to become an influential participant in the global knowledge economy. We can no longer afford to segregate the subject-content from the fundamental dimensions of scientific development if we want to nurture scientific minds. I hope the ideas and the example presented in this article help educators integrate theoretical and empirical components of inquiry in their physics classrooms.  

[Note: This piece is also published in the Teacher Plus magazine.]

I welcome your comments/questions/rebuttals...

Higher Education in Science: Challenges for India in 21st Century

                                                                    Image Courtesy: Vishal Bhatt: www.facebook.com/wizard.vishal  

India is one of the leaders of the developing world today. In the times of global slowdown, the Indian economy is likely to grow by close to 6% in the year 2013-14. However, if India wants to grow rich and get into the league of the developed nations, it has to strengthen the pillars of scientific research. To understand this let’s take an example of I-Pod, a product developed by an American company, Apple. China, the manufacturer country of the I-Pod, gets only about $4 out of the sales price of $299. Most of the amount goes to various component suppliers and the product developers in USA.

It is clear – the country that holds patent-rights and develops global brands benefits the most. If India wants to become a developed nation, if it wants to compete with China and the United States, it has to develop global brands. And the first step in this direction is scientific research.

The development in the field of science and research is rooted in university-level pure science courses (i.e., Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology). Unfortunately, the educational practices in an average Indian university can be described as follows:

·         This is the syllabus, and these many theories are to be memorized. Refer the test papers of last five years to get an idea of possible question-items.

·         Reading material can be obtained from the seniors (however, some ‘helpful’ faculty members would dictate notes to the students in classrooms).

·         Drill and practice are the keys for success, so practice writing theories ones, twice, thrice and so on. Once you are able to reproduce theories as in the “reading material”, your first-class is confirmed, possibly with a gold medal.

·         If you perform below expectations, consider that you failed to put sufficient laborious efforts, or wrongly played “the option” card. [Note: University examinations often give optional questions with instructions such as – “Answer any 3 out of 5 questions”. So, it is possible that a student has not studied the entire syllabus and still gets high score. Students often strategize what not to study and leave out subject-content in “option”.]

This method may efficiently produce trainers (who identify themselves as “teachers”), who can pass on their memorization techniques to the younger generation, but how can it produce scientists and researchers? [The reason of a few exceptions that can be seen in the society can be either student’s strong intrinsic motivation for learning or a presence of a dedicated faculty member]. Given this absence of research culture, it is not-at-all surprising that the Indian universities hardly ever appear in the list of top 500 universities of the world. As a consequence of such educational practice, India has not yet participated in the global competition in the field of science and research.

According to the Science Report 2010 of UNESCO, India’s contribution to the world research publication is only 3.7%, whereas China’s contribution is 10.6% and the United States’ contribution is whooping 27.7%. In the category of global patents, India’s share is merely 0.5% (USPTO patents) and 0.2% (Triadic patents), whereas China’s share is 4.7% (USPTO) and 0.5% (Triadic) and the US’ share is massive 52.2% (USPTO) and 41.8% (Triadic). Though India has almost doubled its research publications between 2002 and 2008, this progress is overshadowed by glittering Chinese advancement.

Table 1: Scientific Publications in India and China.

	Year 2002	Year 2008
India	18,911	36,261
China	38,206	1,04,968

Resource: UNESCO Science Report (2010)

Almost 16% of the world’s population resides in India. However, only 2.2% of scientific researchers of the world hold Indian citizenship. In addition, for every one million of population, India has only 137 scientific researchers; this is outnumbered by many times by all of the developed countries and many of the developing nations (for e.g., China -1070, US -4663 and Japan 5573).

Indian policymakers ought to finalize the aims of science education at the university level. If Indian students are expected to get absorbed into the research centres on completion of their graduate studies and to add value to research projects, then they must have had enough opportunities to develop required knowledge and skills during their course work at the universities. The graduate studies must nurture the thinking and working pattern of scientists in students.

Usually, a researcher follows the following steps:
1. Identify and define a problem
2. Literature review
3. Form hypothesis
4. Develop methods, conduct experiment and collect data
5. Analyze data and produce results
6. Explain results and draw conclusions
7. Provide directions for further research

Now if a graduate programme requires students to reproduce already obtained solutions of given problems and theories, how will a student come up with newer research problems? And without training, what literature review will s/he pursue and what sort of hypothesis will s/he develop? Of course, in such a scenario, the expectation of methodology development is out of question. This is a grim picture of the pure science programme pass-outs. These graduate programmes are not aligned with their professional-aims.

According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER, 2005), out of total unemployed graduates, 22.3% are pure science graduates. The proportion of pure science pass outs is 62.8% among total unemployed post graduates. This may be a major reason why students avoid pure science programmes after completion of their high school studies (as suggested by NCAER, 2005). As per UNESCO’s Science Report 2010, one of the biggest challenges for India in the coming years will be to revolutionarily improve both quantity and quality of scientists and researchers. This gigantic task cannot be done without structural reforms in university education. In order to directly link pure science departments with research work, I present certain suggestions based on my observations of research universities in the USA.

·         Every university should have at least one world class library with a strong e-database of e-books and articles of national and international research journals. All of the students and faculty members should have access to this database through internet (e-network), irrespective of their physical location. E-copies of all of the master’s and doctoral theses/dissertations should be included in this database. In addition, various universities can be networked throughout India. Throughout the country, such e-network will facilitate a free flow of knowledge, which is a precondition for research.

·         All of the research centres can be linked with this e-network. And experimental data/results and research articles/reports can be made available to each and every university student and faculty member.

·         At the post graduate level a student must be educated for the following:

o   Critical analyses of research articles

o   Identifying and defining research problems and developing hypotheses

o   Understanding technical limitations

o   Preparing research and grant proposals

o   Working closely with faculty members on research projects and writing thesis

o   Publishing research academic articles/papers/thesis

In addition to the written examination, the above points should have significant weightage, while assessing a student’s academic abilities.

·         India has multiple organizations/interest groups/associations corresponding to various fields of inquiry. It is better to combine various associations and to have one national association/organization/group for each subject of pure science (i.e., one group for math, physics, chemistry, biology each). Universities should encourage students to become members of such national associations, so that they can network with various national/ international scholars as well as other students from different universities.

Providing incentives for Knowledge-production: India’s research sector is primarily driven by the government run institutions. A very few research centres and elite educational institutions care for contribution of its faculty members to the scientific publications. The promotion of faculty members is often solely dependent on the personal relationships and seniority in most of the Indian universities. The tenure-track system which is based on publication of peer-reviewed papers, citations, academic presentations and teaching quality is non-existent at-large in universities. As a result, the faculty members do not have much of external motivation for contributing to their respective fields of inquiry.

            Furthermore, the leadership structure of the universities is ill-fitted for the pursuit of excellence and knowledge production. While talking on the higher education systems around the world, Prof. Stephen Heyneman made an excellent point explaining the difference between top ranking American universities and the universities in developing nations. The leadership structure in top ranking American university is very conducive for continuous pursuit of excellence. The board of visitors (mainly, donors and alumni) appoint the president of the university on contract-bases and pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars. In order to get that job, the highly-skilled candidates have to present institutional goals and action plans for the same – how the institution will achieve and maintain excellence, how will the resources be generated and how all stake-holders will be taken on board etc. Therefore, from the day one, the president has a mission and s/he is highly accountable. On the other hand, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in most of the Indian universities is based on political loyalties and personal influences. There is no vision presented for the institutional growth; and there is hardly any accountability. As long as the system runs without much media outrage (possibly on corruption, lack of governance, or more serious criminal charges) and the political equations are in balance, the vice-chancellor can survive.

            In total, neither the institution leaders nor the faculty members face any negative consequences for not contributing to the knowledge production.

·         All of the universities must strive to minimize the distance between their pure science departments and research centres/laboratories. In addition, like the students of business and engineering programmes, the pure science students should be interviewed on-campus by public/private research labs/centres. The universities should also approach to the companies for hiring pure science graduates.

Coming back to the bigger picture, all eminent economists and financial experts the world-over seem to be agreeing on one particular point – a country with knowledge-based economy will take global leadership in the coming times. The heart of “Knowledge Economy” is progress in science and research. The USA, EU, and East Asia are far ahead and still firmly marching forward in that direction. Will India participate in the global competition and be a serious contender?

Note: A modified version of this article was published in Everyman's Science journal (June’11 – July ’11), Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata. It can be retrieved from: http://sciencecongress.nic.in/html/everymans_science.php

A shorter version of this article has been published in Fair Observer (June 1st, 2013): http://www.fairobserver.com/article/indias-21st-century-challenge-scientific-education

References

Gupta, D., & Gupta, N. (2012). Higher Education in India: Structure, Statistics and Challenges. Journal of Education and Practice, 3(2), 17-24.

National Council of Applied Economic Research. (2005). India science report. Retrieved from http://www.insaindia.org/India%20Science%20report-Main.pdf

UNESCO (2010). Science Report 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/science-technology/prospective-studies/unesco-science-report/unesco-science-report-2010/