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Home What's New Profiles Activities Announcements Publications Articles Resources WWW Learning Network Learning Network Group Profiles	Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education Keywords Mathematics, Science, curriculum, teacher training, schools, primary, upper primary, textbooks Geographical Location Mumbai, Maharastra Languages Marathi, Hindi, English Objective/Mission/Goals Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) is a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The broad goals of the Centre are to promote equity and excellence in science and mathematics education from primary school to undergraduate college level, and encourage the growth of scientific literacy in the country. To these ends it carries out a wide spectrum of inter-related activities, which may be viewed under three broad categories: (a) Research and Development, (b) Teacher Orientation and Science Popularisation, and (c) Olympiads and other Students' Nurture Programmes. Three decades after its inception, HBCSE has emerged as the premier institution in the country for research and development in science, technology and mathematics education. It is India's nodal centre for Olympiad programmes in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Astronomy. HBCSE runs a Graduate School in Science Education. Students admitted to HBCSE Graduate School work for the degree of Ph.D. in Science Education, which is a degree of TIFR (Deemed University). Work Description Curriculum and Material Development - HBCSE has developed several different types of curriculum. The Homi Bhabha Curriculum is a series of textbooks in school science and mathematics that have been developed based on two decades of action research projects. These books for the primary level engage students and teachers together in a joyful and meaningful learning experience. The curriculum evolves continuously through field testing. A notable achievement of the Centre is the development of an activity based foundation curriculum in science, technology and society for secondary and higher stages. This is an interdisciplinary curriculum woven around the issues of human survival, and aims at preparing citizens for coping with the complex demands of modern technological society. The curriculum evolved through a three-year field project in Mumbai and Solapur sponsored by the J.N.Tata Endowment Trust. A series of books has been brought out to enable the school system to implement the curriculum. HBCSE gives a lot of importance to the production of co-curricular materials. Teachers' handbooks are prepared in order to provide useful guidelines for classroom teaching. These handbooks aim at giving detailed pedagogic hints and furnish additional information to enable the teachers to be effective in their own environments. Since these handbooks arise out of field experience, their content is field-tested for effectiveness. Teacher Training Program - The Centre offers high quality orientation courses for teachers in science and mathematics from primary to senior secondary level and for teacher educators, including apex-level training courses for resource persons. . Course duration varies from a few days to a few weeks. Graduate School - HBCSE runs a Graduate School in Science Education. Students admitted to the School go through a programme of courses and field work/ project work, followed by a dissertation on an approved topic of research leading to the degree of Ph.D. in Science Educationof the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which is a Deemed University. Graduate courses at HBCSE include a range of core and special courses, such as research methodology, cognitive psychology, sociology of education, history and philosophy as related to science and mathematics education, statistical methods, etc. There are also broad content based courses in science and mathematics. HBCSE is also involved in the development of laboratories and science popularization activities in schools. HBCSE has developed exhibitions on topics such as History of Science, Science for sustainable development and Gender and Science. Resources Available Publications - A list of current publications are available here Teaching Training Programs - Please contact HBCSE directly for this information Reference Library, Laboratory and Exhibitions Contact Information Ravi Subramanian, Jayashree Ramdas Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Tata Institute of Fundamental Research V.N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd Mumbai, Maharashtra 400088 Phone: (022) 2555 8036, 2556 7711, 2555 4712, 2555 5242 Website Links HBCSE Homepage Presentation at January 2006 conference Article in Revive 2006
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