Newsletter Issue 04 April 2016 Insights Teaching Economics at the Undergraduate level at Azim Premji University Economics is often taught as a technocratic subject with a standard set of mathematical In this issue tools. But its subject matter is much deeper and subtler. Think about the really hard Insights: and challenging questions being asked of you as an Teaching Economics at the economist. How do human beings coordinate the Undergraduate level at production of output? What are the inherent points of cooperation and conflict? How does the economy grow Azim Premji University 1 over time or not? How efficient is it at producing output? How well and fairly are the fruits of the collective labor Events Update .2 of society shared? Who gets to control the decision of what and how much to produce and to work? How 8 ecologically and morally sustainable is any particular News Update economic arrangement? Such a study requires a wide range of skills—the ability to make sense of a complex Students Reflections: social reality, a strong aptitude in dealing with abstract numbers and statistics, a sense Equipping oneself to be a of the historical context of societies, an understanding of human motivation and a better, more aware teacher 12 feeling for the moral and ethical underpinnings of social arrangements. So in order to help students become ‘master economists’ we have designed our curriculum at Azim Premji University much more creatively. For instance, in the Alumni Account: first year we have a year-long introduction to economics in which we provide fairly Guiding Local Development advanced tools of economic analysis to help make sense of the basic economic life through Gram Panchayats 13 around us. In order to do so, we have worked with a group of cutting edge economists from all over the world to design an entirely new course and e-book that will replace Faculty Feature: the traditional format and focus more extensively on the Indian experience. In later semesters students will be exposed both to the latest versions of economic theory Sujatha Rao 14 and statistical inference and approaches, but will also need to do courses in economic history, the history of economic thought and political economy so as to have a more Research Round Up grounded sense of the vast scope of economics. Nature in the City: Bengaluru In addition, we plan to adopt many different pedagogical approaches since people learn in different ways. So for example, we will have traditional lectures, but students in the Past, Present, and Future 16 will also be exposed to classroom experiments based learning, archival and historical research and, particularly, field based learning. To read an example of the kind of Vibrant Discourses 17 alternative pedagogical strategies we are adopting, please read http://www.core-econ.org/arjun-jayadev-core-takes-off-in-bangalore 22 In virtually all courses students will be asked to engage with the real world outside the Quiz Time 1601 classroom space so as to get a more direct experiential understanding of economic functioning. All told, we are excited about our approach and hope that we can engage Photo Frame 23 students to become both more fluent economists and better citizens of the world. Arjun Jayadev Information Kiosk 23 Faculty, School of Liberal Studies Funny Side Up 24 Events Update Public Discussion with Paul Standish and Krishna Kumar Azim Premji University as part of its Philosophy of Education Conference 2016, organized a public discussion on “Curriculum, Cultural Diversity and Democracy in the Age of the Social Media” on January 8, 2016 at IIC (Annex), Lodhi Road, New Delhi. The talk was delivered by Professor Paul Standish, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK, and chaired & discussed by Professor Krishna Kumar, Delhi University. Professor Standish reflected upon the implications of the onslaught and ubiquitous nature of social media in everybody’s lives today, particularly the need for change in school curriculum that it generates. He engaged with the concern on how far the school can and should be the source of social cohesion in the present time where multiple sources challenge any established narrative. Historically, he traced the debate on the problems of social cohesion and imagined roles of the school in nurturing the same, in the writings of John Dewey, Rabindranath Tagore and Walt Whitman. Professor Standish, sought 4th International Conference on Philosophy of Education for a fresh engagement with the questions of social cohesion in the wake of new technological changes. In brief, he called for thinking and reflections on the part of school administrators, curriculum designers and pedagogues to deal with the Azim Premji University organized the fourth International In this conference the major question underlying all these problems of social cohesion and harmony that contemporary societies are faced with. Conference on Philosophy of Education from January 10-12, discussions was – What is the role of philosophy in the 2016. The conference brought together educationists and domain of education? This was responded to by Prof. Padma philosophers of education from across the world to discuss Sarangapani (TISS). On Day 2, this question was directly various critical issues that demand philosophical analysis. taken up in a panel discussion by Professor Rohit Dhankar International Conference on Regional Political Economy (Azim Premji University), Professor Paul Standish (University The conference addressed the following themes this year: of London) and Prof. Kaustuv Roy (Azim Premji University). The International conference on Regional Political Economy was held at IIHS, Bengaluru on January 9-10, 2016. The two • Culture and School Curriculum day conference explored the conceptual basis for the ‘region’ in regional political economy as well as the methodological • Philosophy and the Practice of Teaching The conference also included presentations by Vasanthi alternatives appropriate for explaining regional outcomes, drawing from disciplinary perspectives such as history, • Educational Policy and Philosophy of Education Srinivasan (University of Hyderabad) on Educational policy, anthropology, economics, and political science. Prof. Jonardon Ganeri (New York University), Prof. Ravi Panel discussions on the following topics were part of the conference: The three day conference began with an avid discussion on Subramaniam (TIFR Bombay) and Prof. Rohit Dhankar (Azim • Constructing the Region within a Nation a particularly knotty issue educationists have been bothered Premji University) on the connection between philosophy • Framing Regional Politics by for decades – Is there a reason to include religion in the and the practice of teaching, Prof. Manabi Mazumdar (CSSS, • Methods in Regional Political Economy curriculum of public schools of secular, democratic societies? Kolkata), Prof. Paul Standish and Prof. Rajeev Bhargava on • Diversity, Separatism and Conflict: Regions in Tension with Nations Does the exclusion of religion from the curriculum create Culture and Curriculum. • Comparing Regions Across the Asian Giants problems for democratic societies rather than solve them? • Social Science Categories in Regional Perspective Papers were presented on issues like the philosophical Prof. Rajeev Bhargava’s (CSDS, Delhi) presentation triggered justification for the quota system in super speciality courses, For conference papers/abstracts/presentations please see the link: these and other questions that were discussed and argued analysis of the approach of the Indian Constitution towards http://www.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/school-of-policy-governance-regional-political-economy.aspx on by around 100 people who attended the 4th Conference provisions for religious education, different approaches to on Philosophy of Education. Educationists, educators, social moral education, the nature of autonomy and its implications scientists, philosophers of education and philosophers came on education, by Udit Bhatia, Asim Siddiqui, Madhava Chipalli, together to discuss a wide range of philosophical problems Manohar Kumar, Vijitha Rajan and Hari Narayanan. Young Researchers’ Workshop on Comparative Constitutionalism and issues from the actual practice of teaching mathematics The Young Researchers’ Workshop was jointly organized by the Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany and the Azim Premji or translation of textbooks, the prevailing competition culture, University on March 2, 2016. Doctoral students from the Humboldt University and the Graduate Fellows from the School of threats to curriculum development from tradition as well as Policy and Governance presented their current/ongoing research work, broadly in the area of law and development. innovation and technology. For abstracts please see: http://www.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/school-of-policy-governance-events-young-researchers-workshop.aspx 2 3 At the Thresholds of Life and Death – A photo exhibition Sports on the Moon - Public Lecture by Prof.Arthur Eisenkraft A photo exhibition titled ‘At the Thresholds of life and death’ was organized by the Health and Nutrition specialization Arthur Eisenkraft, Distinguished Professor of Science Education, Professor of Physics; Director, Center of Science and students on February 27-28, 2016 in Metro Art Centre, M.G. Road. Drawing on seven different states in East and Central Math in Context (COSMIC), University of Massachusetts Boston, USA delivered a talk on “Sports on the Moon” as a part