Co-curricular Materials
One of the most acute lacunae in our school system is the absence of quality printed materials for teachers and students to supplement the textbooks. The lack of such resources probably contributes to the authoritarian and bookish approach to learning that is often seen in the classroom. HBCSE therefore, gives a lot of importance to the production of co-curricular materials.
Teachers' handbooks are prepared aimed at giving detailed pedagogic hints and furnishing 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. Early work in this area was carried out in 1970s and 1980s. Recent teachers' handbooks are published as part of the Homi Bhabha Curriculum for Primary Science and Homi Bhabha Curriculum for Primary Mathematics.
Students entering secondary school often lack adequate initial preparation in mathematics. As a result, they are unable to cope with the demands placed by the curriculum, and eventually get pushed out of the system. In order to overcome this problem, a remedial mode of teaching has been developed at HBCSE, based on students' intuition and learning capability. As a first step, four booklets in remedial algebra have been brought out. This material has been welcomed by the teaching community and all the four books are in great demand.
Technical language is a major hurdle in comprehending and in communicating principles in science and mathematics. With a view to enable the students to discern meaning from technical terms, a set of dictionaries have been brought out in biology, chemistry and mathematics to provide etymological and general explanations of technical terms.
Problem-solving and interrogation is a most effective way of learning in science. This idea has been tested, particularly in the Higher Education programmes of HBCSE. Material based on first-hand experience in these projects was brought out, including three books entitled "How and Why in Physics" which were in 2002 published by Universities Press, India, as a single book, "How and Why in Basic Mechanics". A compendium of over four hundred problems in different parts of undergraduate physics curriculum prepared by HBCSE has been published by the University Grants Commission.
In the 1990s HBCSE brought out a quarterly periodical called Samvad for secondary school teachers of science and mathematics, which was printed and distributed by the Tribal Development Department to all the tribal ashram schools in Maharashtra State.
