Sunday 28 June 2015

The impact of research on young minds

With this article, we carry forward the series on how to go about being a successful researcher. The topic of discussion this time around is -"The Impact of Research on Brain development in early years "First and foremost, it is important to get acquainted with the current situation around us- the literacy rate in India is not something to cherish about with a good chunk of people under the claws of illiteracy, it gets more pertinent to educate them as education is directly proportional to the employment rate. Thus, we must start early, as a child's mind has a great grasping power and during the development years, it's more like the proverb "The way you seep, so shall you reap ", the hard work you put in your child now will yield fruits in the future. It is very crucial to introduce reading and encouraging students to get involved in self- expression which not only helps in cognitive brain development but also on the overall well-being. When a person is able to express himself in the most unrestraining and unbridled way, they are able to outshine their peers who are denied this basic freedom of expression and speech. Apart from the parents initiatives, school also play a vital role in giving a boost to a person's caliber. High school students should be exposed to a plethora of opportunities so as to make them capable of making the right choices for themselves also under the guidance of their teachers; not only they can learn but also develop their persona which will make them ready for the outside world. Start early, start afresh is believed to be the mantra to follow up in order to tread on the path of research and success.  All the aspects of research, the qualities that one needs to imbibe, the high school marks the starting point in a researcher's life and can both take them to new unbound heights with the optimum mixture of opportunities as well as creative aspect.


Reetika Arora


Colour psychology

What’s in the colour?

It’s interesting to see how much the common youth of today hang out for fast foods in the famous brand outlets of MacDonald or KFC and often fail to interpret how they are often manipulated by the brand itself. Colour interpretation has been revolving around the field of psychology for quite some time. It is often, a tool used to study emotional behavior, personality differences and traits of human beings. Earlier studies have revealed various aspects of colour psychology like the difference in personality based on breadth and constancy of choice. The three major aspects of colour psychology involve the biological cues, the aesthetic values and traditional symbolism of colour.

It’s interesting to learn that many people without the prior knowledge of colour symbolism, often gives their own interpretation based on their relative perception about the colors. We should also keep in mind that colour symbolism is never constant and in all probability this is the reason behind the generation of interest of colour psychology. It also depends on personal experiences, culture and the religious background. The traditional symbolism assigned proposes red as the colour of light and blood, yellow to be representing anger and fire, black as the colour of depression and earth and white as the colour of water, although practical studies reveal a different story.

Colour also plays an important role in biological mating. It is more often seen in the wild while identifying their fellow mating partners or to define their own territory. It is known that Thrushes use orange colour throat of their young ones as identifying cues and Blue jays identify their fellow jays by their bright blue wing colour. Similarly, in the more civilized primates such as humans, colors often induce a feeling of attraction towards the opposite sex. Although the entire biology is not a full proof but it is said that the colour perceived is read by the hypothalamus, which further sends signals to thyroid to act as a response.

In a survey carried out among college going students prior to this writing revealed a lot about what the youth thinks and perceives of various colors. People were asked to name 3 of their favorite colors in order of preference and also mention the motions or feelings they usually attach to them. 80% of the participants whose one of the favorite colors were red related it with love, passion and anger. Little did they know that red is used by leading fast food brand outlets because, it is often symbolized as an appetizer. It stimulates appetite. No wonder why MacDonald has a red background with a yellow ‘m’. Blue came out to be the most optimistic colour around. Participants told that blue was indeed the colour of positivity, happiness and a feeling of content and satisfaction. A symbol they used for royalty and loyalty. Blue is predominantly preferred by the males and is often associated with increased energy and efficiency in work. White is the universal colour for peace and calmness, but there were participants who believed white to be sensuous. Green was more often than not related to negativity, being rebellious and envying others. The eco-friendly colour indeed is not believed much friendlier to a group of people. Pink, generally considered to be feminine too was associated with innocence and having a childish spree. And last but not the least, the master colour Black associated itself with the other side of negativity, one which had to with something being labeled as sexy and secretive. It just affirms the fact, that black is indeed the most outrageous colour of all. The one, which holds mystery, infinity and romance all at the same level. The one that holds the inner demons and which defines a moment of weakness. It is interesting to know that every time we buy a product, we are often influenced by their colour and marketing (for the company/brand) just becomes easier. It has been proved that the decision making time to buy a product is only 60-90 seconds and 62-90% of the customers are influenced by the colour although which means that more of than not we end up buying it.

So from the next time, people go shopping or end up in bed with a stranger, just remember that it’s all due to this colourful world we believe in.

Debanjan 






                                                                                                                                




Wednesday 24 June 2015

Is Indian Education getting it right?


In a country that has started a way of learning things as early as 1500 BC with the advent of the Vedic period, standing in the 21st century makes us feel that somewhere something is missing. There is a loss in the direction of an age old system, a loss in the purpose. One of the most daunting questions in the minds of our forefathers is whether the younger generation has the capability to sustain the acquired knowledge in the professional world? Anyone taking less than a second to answer that question will say a “No”. Probably they are right. They are far more experienced in the field of education but it should also not be completely blamed on the students.

Over the years as education has reformed itself, it has maybe lost its purpose somewhere. In the prehistoric period where Gurukul system was prevalent, education had quite a meaning. It was more focused on the development of the person on the emotional aspect, the thought that the only way to attain success is hardwork. Importance was given to develop a man’s cognitive capabilities and the value of learning each of the components separately. It has been often observed that even though there are pre-elementary schools present all across our country, the child often seen to have certain shortcomings which are exposed when the child is free in the society. The pre-elementary schools often take the responsibility of the child’s development of subtle skills like creative thinking, soft skills like taking responsibility for oneself and cognitive development. It’s often told by psychiatrists all around the world that the brain is often immutable after a critical limit in childhood and hence the child should undergo a lot of quality learning within this critical period. Neurobiologists term this as neural plasticity. If we carefully observe all these angles we can clearly refer to the relevant question of the day: Is the monotonous system of education in India the reason behind the lack of innovative minds?

In a survey carried out only on the basis of this question to around 30-40 students who has just completed their high schools education to students who are in their final year of college, the answer was a three lettered optimistic answer “Yes”. They were of the opinion that the major setback in the education system of India was the concept of rote learning. Someone said “If we find students cheating in an exam, it is not their fault. It is our fault that the students believe that marks are more important than the actual learning”. I wonder that is the biggest statement of defense of this century for the students. As a rising world economy India is not producing as many innovative minds as possible. The problem might be right at the root. In the American system of education there are levels of schools in the district and local state level and all are financed by the local or the state government. The most lucrative factor is it is free of cost. The US federal government pays only 10% of its entire budget to educational reforms which imply that the state is responsible for its own development. It should also be noted that, education there is compulsory between the ages of 5-16. In India though, the scenario is a lot different. The concept here is more financial. In the rural areas it is seen that the illiterate parents are more focused on earning some money for their family and they also believe that more the heads in the family more is the earning-a common cause of the population explosion. There is no such compulsion in India about receiving education in an age group and this has to change.

In the big cities, where the upper-middle class and the upper class are comfortable enough to provide education to their child, it is often seen that the parents are obsessed with their child’s academic success. In a country where NITs, IITs and IIMs are overflowing and so are the cash rich private universities, this is a shame that Indians still lack out from the list of innovative minds. More often than not the students blame the education system. They say it’s more about getting the marks to crack an exam rather than the actual knowledge. What is important is a balance between the theoretical knowledge and the exposure to the practical aspect of it simply because in the real world no one will ask a student to derive Schrödinger’s equation but will surely ask its application. The students should be exposed more to the practical part than just being told what to do. This approach will definitely help the students think in a different way. There is a good chance that they will commit mistakes but that is how they are going to learn. It will only give them confidence. Students and their parents also blame on the infrastructure of the labs and often complain that the absence of the right infrastructure is hindering their education. If this blame game is stopped there are possible solutions to this problem. The exposure to the variety of practical aspects to the theoretical learning can be increased right from the school level. The middle school students should be encouraged more to deal with various hands on project and a probable mechanism where they can be assisted by their high school seniors. In this way, it’s a dynamic process where both the parties learn. The similar approach could be applied to the college level students. Experienced people often say that marks in a marksheet are helpful to penetrate the system but to survive we need the real knowledge which only comes when we practice things practically.

Most of the people and the students of this generation are willing to learn new things and do things differently but for that there should be an interesting way to learn that. It’s nothing new that kids learn while playing- that is why it is often termed as play-school and the same applies to the same kid 15 years down the line, if we are not allowed to play with our imagination we will not learn. That way it will there for a longer time in our memory. The teaching faculties also play a responsibility to develop a child’s thinking capabilities because creativity although sounds unstructured initially but can often be given a proper channel, as noted by the eminent British educationist Sir Ken Robinson. According to him, creativity and critical thinking go hand in hand and that has to be inculcated at an early age.

So it’s high time that the Indian government and autonomous universities decide to undertake the education reforms of the country and change it in a way that will change the mindset of the people to stop this cut throat competition about pointers. To stop producing spineless army of graduates and post graduates whose mental faculties are hindered by the limitation of the ‘marks obtained/full marks’ and make this generation bubbling with optimism and energy harness a world of good.

Debanjan Kundu 







Tuesday 23 June 2015

For future research and project leaders..

In the previous article the entire focus was on being introspective and to fathom the lane of research that drives you. Take-in the topic further, through the means of this article let us take a sneak- peak into the next step towards being a successful researcher.

Once you are aware of your source of research interests and passion, hopefully, the desire is strong enough to enable you to keep walking through the tunnel of hardships and roadblocks till you manage to reach the light of knowledge and solution for mankind. Choose an area for which you have a strong urge to work for be it for developing that field or to contribute towards the already successful field. The choice is yours, whatever catches your fancy and makes you believe that you can successfully deliver and develop yourself as an individual and team member professionally is what forms the most determining step in the series of becoming a researcher. Also to be taken into consideration, is in what capacity you can contribute? Initially, guidance of someone who is already a pro in your chosen field is deemed important just like a gardener nurtures and waters a plant, a guide plays a similar role in your career - strengthening of your roots and appraising you. Starting it at grass-root level, i.e.; introduction of understanding the concepts of research at the high school level and encouraging students to take up research can play a greater role in conditioning the students at reaching the level and meeting the requirement criterion that a researcher or project manager is expected of. Thus, to brighten up the research and development prospects of India and to take it to match it to the level of other Nations, the key is to start young, start fresh within the resources available. 


Reetika Arora