Mathematics in ancient India

Inadvertently, an earlier draft of this article got printed in the November 2003 issue and, since the new draft clarified some of the points, the section ‘Brahmagupta’s lemma and modern algebra’ of the final draft and a few small remarks are being reprinted for the reader’s convenience. The error is regretted.     

Teaching-for-Learning (TFL): A Model for Faculty to Advance Student Learning

In light of the widespread recognition of the enduring challenge of enhancing the learning of all students—including a growing number of students representing diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds—there has been an explosion of literature on teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education. Notwithstanding scores of promising new ideas, individual faculty in higher education need a dynamic and inclusive model to help them engage in a systematic and continuous process of exploring and testing various teaching and assessment practices to ensure the learning of their students. This paper introduces a model—Teaching-for-Learning (TFL)—developed to meet this need. Clifton F. Conrad received his bachelor’s degree in History and his master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan. He is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and his research focus is on college and university curricula with particular emphases on program quality, liberal education, and teaching and learning. Jason Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in Comparative History of Ideas and his master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington. He is nearing completion of his Ph.D. and working as a Teaching Assistant in Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his research focuses on rhetoric in higher education. Divya Malik Gupta received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Development and Family Studies from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Gujarat, India. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.     

What Einstein meant when he said “God does not play dice …”

We analyze Einstein’s views on God and religion, and his views on Quantum Mechanics. Vasant Natarajan is at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science. His research interests are in high-resolution laser spectroscopy, optical frequency measurement, and use of laser-cooled atoms to search for time-reversal violation in the laws of physics. He serves on the Editorial board of Resonance and contributes regularly to the journal. He considers himself an Ekalavya-type shishya to his guru Einstein. A picture of Einstein hangs above his chair. This article first appeared in ‘Backstage’ — a newsletter published to mark the theatre festival ‘Moitree’ organized by Mukhosh, a Bangalore-based Bengali theatre group.     

Rediscovering Froebel: A Call to Re-examine his Life &; Gifts

This article examines the life of Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten movement and his first 10 “gifts to children.” The author suggests that Froebel’s philosophy of German Romanticism caused the waning use of his methods. He continues to state that Froebel’s development of instructional material and structured play-based curricula is worth re-examining during this time for greater accountability and expectation for the early academic success of children.     

Holiday Work: On Writing for Children and for the Academy

There are numerous academics who have also been novelists, including several prominent writers of children’s literature. Yet the relationship between academic writing and the writing of fiction has not been systematically explored, nor have the kinds of knowledge gained from the experience of writing fiction always been easy to incorporate into the scholarly and institutional contexts of academic criticism. The author discusses some of the ways in which academic and fiction writing can complement and inform each other, drawing on his own experience in both fields. He also argues that ‘the act of writing’ needs to be far more thoroughly integrated into English studies at both a practical and a theoretical level. Charles Butler was a fiction writer before he was an academic, writing his first novel before he went to London University to study English Literature. He readily admits that his first and second novels remain deservedly unpublished, the influence of other authors hanging too heavily over them. The Darkling (1997) was the first of his six fantasy novels published to date and, as he relates in this article, he has also written a number of critical works. As Charles is one of that rare breed of writers who have managed to combine these two careers (though he has some illustrious precursors, in Tolkien, of course, C.S. Lewis and Ursula Le Guin), we invited him to share his views on both the rewards and possible pitfalls of trying to keep both activities buoyant. Charles Butler is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where he specializes in children’s literature. He is author of Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children’s Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper (Scarecrow/ChLA, 2006), and editor of Teaching Children’s Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). He is also the author of six children’s fantasy novels, of which the most recent are Death of a Ghost (HarperCollins, 2006) and The Lurkers (Usborne, 2006). His web site is http://www.charlesbutler.co.uk     

How Einstein discovered the Special Theory of Relativity

Contrary to what we learn in textbooks on the Special Theory of Relativity, Michelson-Morley experiment had no direct influence on Einstein’s discovery although he undoubtedly knew about it. At the age of only 16, Einstein imagined himself standing in front of a plane mirror while he himself together with the mirror was being carried forward with the velocity of light. He asked himself the question whether he would be able to see his image in the mirror in such a situation. In trying to solve this problem he thought over the whole foundation of physics with no assistance from any physicist. He, however, profited from some discussions with a few of his colleagues (the main person being Besso) who were unknown to the world of physics. Here we try to reconstruct in our own way the arguments that perhaps led Einstein to his goal. In our effort, we are guided by some of his utterances and interviews given to different people in his later life.     

略论李绅诗歌艺术的特点

李绅的诗歌不拘一格,体制多样;乐府、长律叙事传情;抒情小诗意境阔大,感情刚劲。然典籍及史料中的评价,只有零星片语,而且笼统片面,因此,有必要对他诗歌的这些特点加以论述。     

Takayasu’s arteritis associated with Crohn’s disease

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA), also known as the “pulseless disease,” is a chronic vasculitis of the aorta and aortic branches. TA with Crohn’s disease is rare and has not been documented in China before. In this paper we report on a case of Takayasu’s arteritis associated with concurrent Crohn’s disease. A 17-year-old Chinese male developed upper limb sourness and a sensation of fatigue, and his upper limb pulses were absent. He was diagnosed with TA and underwent an axillary artery bypass with autologous great saphenous vein on the left subclavian artery. After the surgery, he regained the normal blood pressure. This patient also had years of diarrhea and developed an anal canal ulcer, and was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis before. Five months after the TA surgery, he was hospitalized for severe stomachache and diarrhea and was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The possible pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for concurrent existence of TA and Crohn’s disease may be associated with immune disorders, especially autoimmunity.      

Hip-hop as a resource for understanding the urban context A review of Christopher Edmin’s: Science education for the hip-hop generation, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2010

This review explores Edmin’s “Science education for the hip-hop generation” by documenting how he frames hip-hop as a means to access urban student culture. He argues that hip-hop is more than a mere music genre, but rather a culture that provides young people with ways of connecting to the world. Two primary ideas emerged as central to his work. First, he contends that students develop communal relationships and collective identities based on the common experiences expressed in hip-hop. Second, he identifies how the conscious recognition of institutional oppression serves a central feature in urban schools. Emdin’s rich, and personal call for a greater understanding of hip-hop culture provides the text with an unmatched strength. He skillfully uses personal narratives from his own experience as well as quotes and references from hip-hop songs to make the nuances of hip hop transparent to science educators. Conversely, the limitation of this text is found in its unfulfilled promise to provide pragmatic examples of how to engage in a hip-hop based science education. Emdin’s work is ultimately valuable as it extends our current knowledge about urban students and hip-hop in meaningful ways.     

Jacobus Henricus van’ t Hoff

J H van’ t Hoff is considered as one of the greatest chemists of all time. He started his career as an organic chemist. He solved the vexing problem of optical isomerism by proposing an asymmetric tetrahedral carbon bonded to form different groups. He extended this to include geometric isomerism, and to compounds with heteroatoms in place of asymmetric carbon. Thus he established the ‘chemistry in space’ or stereochemistry. He moved on to work on reaction kinetics, equilibria, thermodynamic properties of dilute solutions and related areas. He laid the foundation for physical chemistry through these discoveries and was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901. van’ t Hoff died of tuberculosis at a relatively early age of 59.     

Natural nano-machines

In the first part of this article, we read about Alice’s guided tour through the cellular microfactory. In the second part, I introduce the methods of studying the materials and mechanisms of the molecular machines through dialogues. The three participants in this discussion are Alice, her elder brother Alex and her father Albert. The style of presentation here is adapted from Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Albert, a professor of biophysics, emphasizes the crucial differences between the mechanisms of the natural nano-machines and those of their macroscopic counterparts. He also points out some practical applications of this interdisciplinary research in biomedical science and nano-technology. Debashish Chowdhury is a professor of Physics at IIT Kanpur. He is a theoretical physicist and the areas of his research interest are statistical and biological physics. He plays with toy models using mathematical formulae and simulates nature with computers.     

An epitome of K Venkataraman’s chemistry

Conclusion Krishnaswami Venkataraman’s contribution to the chemistry of flavones and other natural products, and his work on dyes is not limited to the examples very briefly recorded here. His work covered also the dyes developed for colouring cements, dyemetal complexes, health concerns in case of food colourants, and many other aspects. He put his heart, soul and brainpower for the growth and promotion of his chosen field of research, a good part of which is important even today.     

Newton’s contributions to optics

Newton’s epochal work on dynamics and gravitation sometimes tends to eclipse his great contributions to optics. Also, his work in optics is rivalled by equally significant work by his contemporaries, especially Huygens. Yet his creativity is apparent, even in ideas and models in optics that were later abandoned in science. His main areas of interest are theoretical physics and physics education. He has been involved in the science olympiad programme in India from its inception in 1998.     

A philosophical analysis of David Orr��s theory of ecological literacy: biophilia, ecojustice and moral education in school learning communities

In his writings, David Orr claims that the US is in an “ecological crisis” and that this stems from a crisis of education. He outlines a theory of ecological literacy, a mode by which we better learn the ecology of the Earth and live in a sustainable manner. While emphasizing a shock doctrine, the diagnosis of “crisis” may be correct, but it is short-lived for children and adults of the world. In this philosophical analysis of Orr’s theory, it is argued that we move beyond the perspective of crisis. By extending Orr’s ecological literacy with biophilia and ecojustice and by recognizing the importance of experience-in-learning, science education is envisioned to incorporate values and morals within a longer term ideology of educational reform.     

Brownian motion problem: Random walk and beyond

A brief account of developments in the experimental and theoretical investigations of Brownian motion is presented. Interestingly, Einstein who did not like God’s game of playing dice for electrons in an atom himself put forward a theory of Brownian movement allowing God to play the dice. The vital role played by his random walk model in the evolution of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and multitude of its applications is highlighted. Also included are the basics of Langevin’s theory for Brownian motion. Shama Sharma is currently working as lecturer at DAV College, Punjab. She is working on some problems in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Vishwamittar is professor in physics at Panjab University, Chandigarh and his present research activities are in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. He has written articles on teaching of physics, history and philosophy of physics.     

One Science Teacher’s Professional Development Experience: A Case Study Exploring Changes in Students’ Perceptions of Their Fluency with Innovative Technologies

The purpose of this case-study is to narrate a secondary science teacher’s experience of his professional development (PD) education and training in innovative technologies (IT) in the context of engaging students in environmental research projects The sources from which the narrative is derived include (1) the science teacher’s reflective reports during three summer institute programs and (2) the science teacher’s reflective reports while subsequently engaging students in IT-embedded environmental research projects in his classroom. The science teacher’s explanations for changes in students’ perception of their IT fluency illuminate his personal narrative. The science teacher attributed his growth and significant changes in students’ perceptions of their IT fluency to the following mechanisms: (a) a personal commitment to developing his own and his students’ IT abilities in the context of doing environmental research projects, and (b) an increase in class time devoted to science education due to school-time scheduling policy. The study implies that immersive professional development opportunities have the potential to produce significant increases in students’ perceptions of their IT fluency.     

Engaging Undergraduate Students in Research Activities: Are Research Universities Doing a Better Job?

Engaging undergraduate students in research activities has been advocated as an innovative strategy to improve American higher education (Boyer Commission, Reinventing undergraduate education: A blueprint for America’s research universities. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stony Brook, NY, 1998). This study compared the frequency of undergraduate student research experiences at different types of colleges and universities from the early 1990s through 2004. The results indicate that the frequency of student research experiences increased since 1998 at all types of institutions and that students at research universities were not more likely than their counterparts elsewhere to have such experiences. The findings were consistent across major fields. To live up to their claims, research universities must find additional ways to involve undergraduates in research with faculty members. Shouping Hu is Associate Professor of Higher Education at Florida State University. He received his M.S. degree in Economics and Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University. His research and scholarship focuses on postsecondary access and persistence, college student experience, and higher education finance. George D. Kuh is Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa. His research focuses on the quality of undergraduate education. Joy Gaston Gayles is Associate Professor in Adult and Higher Education at North Carolina State University. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Shaw University, Master’s degree from Auburn University, and Ph.D. in Higher Education from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on college student learning and development.     

Of connections and fields—II

In the first part of this article¹ we gave an elementary introduction to Chern’s ideas and their impact on modern physics. In this concluding article we describe some more advanced applications of Chern’s ideas. This second part is some-what more demanding than the first part and is addressed to students with some background in mathematics and physics. Joseph Samuel is a theoretical physicist and by natural inclination a classical mechanic. Over the years he has strayed into other fields like optics, general relativity and very recently DNA elasticity. A unifying theme in his work is differential geometry and topology in physics. He keeps moderately fit by raising and lowering indices and relaxes by playing semiclassical guitar.     

Politically correct hiring Will Destroy higher education

Aaron Wildavsky, a founder and president of the California Association of Scholars, died on September 4, at the much too early age of 63. Professor Wildavsky's life exemplified a total commitment to the university, and his achievements were prodigious. He authored or edited, alone or with colleagues, some three dozen books, and he wrote hundreds of articles. In the thirty years he spent at Berkeley, he was at various times chairman of the Department of Political Science and founding Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy. He also found time to serve as president of the American Political Science Association and the Policy Studies Association, and to be active in myriad other organizations. When Yale, where he had earned his doctorate in 1959, earlier this year made him an honorary Doctor of Social Science, it stated, “You have improved every institution with which you have been associated.” Aaron Wildavsky was profoundly concerned about the future of the university, the institution that he loved so much and served so well. At the Fourth National Conference of the NAS, held in San Francisco this past April, he expressed his fears about the effect of politically correct faculty hiring practices on the long-range future of education. Academic Questions here reproduces his remarks in the hope—one that, in fact, he shared—that for once his predictions will be proved wrong. Aaron Wildavsky was Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley.     

Kuhn and conceptual change: on the analogy between conceptual changes in science and children

This article argues that the analogy between conceptual changes in the history of science and conceptual changes in the development of young children is problematic. We show that the notions of ‘conceptual change’ in Kuhn and Piaget’s projects, the two thinkers whose work is most commonly drawn upon to support this analogy, are not compatible in the sense usually claimed. We contend that Kuhn’s work pertains not so much to the psychology of individual scientists, but to the way philosophers and historians should describe developments in communities of scientists. Furthermore, we argue that the analogy is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of science and the relation between science and common sense. The distinctiveness of the two notions of conceptual change has implications for science education research, since it raises serious questions about the relevance of Kuhn’s remarks for the study of pedagogical issues.