Fun With Pendulums

Need to promote study of science, says A P J Abdul Kalam

The current teaching methods need to be revamped with more practicals and experiments to inculcate "scientific temper" among students, said experts at a national conference organised in the city to discuss the declining interest in science education.

Inaugurating the two-day event that began on Friday at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Tarnaka, former president, A P J Abdul Kalam said, "senior scientists should talk and interact with students on a regular basis and mobile science labs should be arranged to visit institutes in districts and villages and perform minor experiments and demonstrations for students." Emphasizing on the need to promote the study of science among the youth, Kalam said that parents should encourage their children to pursue their field of choice, whether arts or science. The renowned scientist also appealed to national scientific organizations to be more open to taking in PhD and M Sc scholars and assist them with their research.

Other experts present at the event, while stressing the need for better curriculums, pointed out how the existing system owing to its poorly designed syllabus has failed to drive students towards research in the field of science who have instead branched out into other lucrative professions.

"Only 30% of engineering graduates end up with actual engineering jobs as majority take up IT sector posts," said Ch Mohan Rao, director, CCMB and president of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (APAS) while highlighting the growing number of vacancies in scientific organizations across the country. "With the right qualifications, a scientist's starting salary could be around Rs 45,000 per month and go up to around Rs 1 lakh within five years," he, interestingly, added.

Offering solutions to improve the quality of science education experts suggested the turning B Sc programmes into four-year long courses with the final year focusing on imparting practical knowledge and specific skills. "Following this, students must be allowed to directly do their Ph D instead of spending another two years on M Sc. This will encourage the students to opt for science at higher levels and increase their employability too," Rao said.

Other experts present at the conference from various organizations like National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI, National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), among others, too stressed on spreading awareness among students and their parents about the wide scope of science. Emphasis was also laid on the need to invest in science and research. Reportedly, the current investment is only 0.9% of our GDP while Japan invests around 3% of their GDP on science and technology, they said.

Nearly 450 people including teachers and students from school and colleges were present at the venue to participate in interactive sessions on various topics related to science education. Participants suggested developing a national science cadre under which meritorious students at the 10+2 level would be sponsored for higher education and assured jobs in their respective fields.

"Student-scientist interactions should be encouraged. Good colleges across the country could be turned into universities with a limit of 10,000 students to facilitate better focus on each student," suggested P M Bhargava, former director, CCMB.

Inter-school science exhibition held at Mumbai suburban school

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Vissanji Academy, Andheri (E), in association with Nehru Science Centre held an Inter-school science exhibition 'EXPISCOR 2012' at their sprawling school campus on Friday, 30th November and Saturday, 1st December 2012.

On November 30, the exhibition was inaugurated by Mr.Umesh Kumar Rustogi , curator of Nehru Science centre along with the trustee of the school, Mrs. Arati Vissanji.

The teachers of the participating schools, who attended a one-day work shop at Nehru Science Centre had an enriching experience to guide the students.

Budding scientists from 25 ICSE schools from Nerul to Colaba participated and presented many creative ideas and exhibits.

The enthusiasm and skill clubbed with in-depth knowledge of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at school and junior college level was commendable.

The results obtained in the research projects spread the spell of seeing the future generation Faradays, Newtons, Edisons and Einsteins among them.

The exhibits included still models, working models and research base projects which were very innovative and relevant to today's times.

The exhibits, to name a few, included research projects on electromagnets, sensors in cars, mineralogy and many more.

The projects were judged by ten distinguished professionals from Research and Development Institutes headed by Mr. Arnav Bhattacharya from TIFR who captivated the audience with his oratory skills.

The exhibits were visited by various schools. "It was a pleasure to see the BMC and other school students interact and gain knowledge through the various projects.

Students had a rare opportunity to interact on Skype with Ms.Anupa Bajwa an ex-vissanjiaite, currently working with NASA, who sparked off the charisma of space and space technology through her personal experience. "The students were fascinated watching her and listening to her live via skype," said Shahnaz Chauhan, principal of the school.

On December 1, Prof. M N Vahia from the department of astronomy and astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research delivered an interesting lecture on "Power of 10" which mesmerized the audience.

Dr.Indrani Gupta, Principal & Scientist at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute appreciated the research done and projects exhibited on such a mega scale.

The first prize in Group A (Std.VIII to Std.X) was bagged by Podar International School, Nerul.

The research project was based on "Oil spill clean-up". In Group B (Std.XI and Std.XII) the first prize was bagged by St. Gregorious High School. Their project was based on research on "Effect of oil spill in ocean/seas". The winners were given cash prizes and a trophy. All the participants were presented with memento and the participating certificates.

Half-hour more for science papers in ICSE

Those set to appear for ICSE examinations in 2014 have a reason to cheer. They will get more time for science papers than their peers did.

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), on Tuesday, announced the decision to increase the durations of Physics, Chemistry and Biology papers from one-and-a-half hours to two hours.

The duration of Mathematics paper will, however, remain unchanged at two-and-a-half hours.

"We have revised the time schedule for science papers following students' demand. We expect it to reduce stress among the examinees," said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the council.

It has also been decided that the environment science paper of the ICSE exams, that was scheduled on February 15, will be shifted to a new date as Saraswati Puja falls on that day.

In place of manual registration, the council has also proposed to start e-registration and e-affiliation from next year. Students of classes IX and XI can individually e-register with council for taking the examination through schools. Similarly, schools can seek affiliation online. "This will make the system more efficient," said another council official.

The council has also decided to upgrade some ICSE schools to ISC and award them provisional affiliation even if they have still not received the permanent no-objection-certificates (NOC) from the state government. "Till now, only those schools that could produce a permanent NOC from the state government were upgraded. Now, they will be upgraded to plus two (ISC) with only a provisional one. They have to procure a permanent NOC in due course and submit the same to the council. Then we shall grant permanent affiliation to the school for ISC," Arathoon added.

"The council has decided that the land required should not be binding for permanent affiliation and introduction of ISC XII. Schools, who were granted provisional affiliation prior to the implementation of the guidelines of affiliations in May 2006, can be inspected when they apply for permanent affiliation or introduction of ISC class XII," said Arathoon.

English syllabus will undergo a sea change from 2015 onwards, "We have decided to reduce the syllabus. The number of prose has been cut short from 15 to 10 and poems too have been reduced from 15 to 10. The same is with the ISC syllabus in English. The syllabus of other subjects has been revised in keeping with the modern day demand."

The city is set to host the annual conference of the Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate, 2012, in the Science City from November 21 to 23.

Actuarial sciences

Hindu College, Delhi University , is introducing an addon course in actuarial sciences from the current academic year. A certificate course, it is aimed at enhancing the employability of students in the insurance sector by equipping them with extra skills.

Actuarial sciences involve financial and risk management in the insurance sector, including areas like banking, investment , healthcare, etc. To practice as an actuarial scientist in India, one has to be a member of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI) and qualify for the various academic programmes.

"The idea behind introducing the programme is to enhance skills and increase employability of students in the insurance sector, which is an emerging industry in India. The industry is growing at present, with a lot of opportunities for aspiring students ," says Pradumn kumar, acting principal, Hindu College. The college has collaborated with MetLife Insurance India Ltd to offer the course, which will train students during the internship period. The course has 12 papers including financial economics, statistical methods, financial mathematics, business economics, business awareness models, etc.

"The course prepares students to qualify for the exams conducted by IAI. An actuary is a professional who is right behind the financial strength of an insurance company. The programme will open up a number of employment avenues for students. Also, the qualification for becoming actuaries is the same in India and abroad, which will be an added advantage as aspirants will have options to practice anywhere in the world," says Rajesh Relan, managing director, MetLife India.

However, with a total number of 30 seats in each batch, students can enroll in two batches — the first, which started August 16 onwards, the other, which is scheduled to start in January 2013 (last date for registration is December 31).

Eligibility
The course is open to students across universities. Eligible candidates should have cleared +2 with at least 85% in mathematics/statistics . Graduates and postgraduates must have a minimum aggregate of 55% in mathematics or statistics, mathematical statistics, econometrics , computer sciences, etc.

Course Duration
There is no fixed duration for completion of the course. Students have to clear all the papers before being awarded the certificate. At the end of each semester, the college will conduct its own exam.

Wonders of science

Prof Bikash Sinha, Homi Bhaba Professor, VECC, Department of Atomic Energy, government of India, talks about the experiments at CERN and the discovery of the Higgs Boson like particle, while delivering a talk "Chasing the Missing link at CERN-Higgs Boson" at the auditorium of the Heritage Institute of Technology.


Could you tell us a bit about the motivation behind the experiment at CERN?
See, right from the ancient age man has always felt this intense desire to go for the pursuit of the fundamental. This has been observed in the ancient texts like the Vedas. Man realized that to find the fundamental he needs to develop methods to probe into the greater mysteries of Nature. This yearning to go to the roots still continues within man. Peter Higgs, a theoretical physicist during the 1960s, once theoretically suggested the possible existence of a fundamental particle which is responsible for giving mass to others. This sparked off the experiments at CERN. Such intense is this desire that the scientists built the Large Hadron Collider, which I believe is the most technologically advanced piece ever created by man till date. The LHC is a miracle machine.

What has been India's contribution in the experiments at CERN?
First and foremost it was a joint effort by all. Almost 3381 scientists and around 173 institutes from over the world participated in the CMS experiment. Tremendous effort was given by the scientists from the SINP, Kolkata, who were members of the core team at the CMS experiment. The Muon Spectrometer was developed by the efforts of these scientists from India. India played a significant role in the ALICE experiments with the contribution of the MANAS chip which was initially being developed by SINP, Kolkata. However, these contributions from one particular country should not dilute the fact that it was at the end of the day a combined attempt.

What do you have to say about calling the Higgs Boson - the God particle?
Calling the Higgs Boson the God particle is a complete misconception. Nothing can be further away from the truth because it has nothing to do with God! You cannot say that you have discovered God! Millions of dollars were spent and hundreds of people were giving so much effort for this experiment since Peter Higgs's suggestion in 1964 that the name - God "damn" particle emerged simply out of a colloquial American slang. This however was hyped by people who do not care for anything else expect God damn money and popularized a fact which is far away from the truth, which resulted in all this confusion.

What would you like to say to the budding scientists of India?
In spite of being a theoretician myself I would like more and more youngsters from India to participate in frontier and practical research oriented aspects of Physics. We have discovered a Higgs Boson like particle. Thus the experiment at CERN will go on for another 15-20 years roughly. I would really like to encourage them to go there and do some practical work.