In our explorations of students' concepts in an inquiry science classroom with grade 6 students from urban schools in India, we uncovered a variety of problems in their understanding of biological cells as structural and functional units of living organisms. In particular, we found not only that they visualised the cell as a two-dimensional (2-D)…

Enabling learning through meaningful classroom experiences has always been a challenge for teachers. Bringing about a balance of the "conceptual" and the "hands-on", along with contextual embeddedness in problem-solving situations, broadly characterises the experience of development and trials of three Design and Technology…

This article explores stakeholders' awareness of autism and their perspectives on children with autism, in an urban Indian school context. Using an interpretive framework, the article draws on interview data from a study conducted in Kolkata. Findings indicated varying but limited awareness of autism among school staff. Teachers instead described…

Can art be powerful enough as medium to connect two economically and culturally diverse groups of students totally unfamiliar with each other? The author put this question to the test by introducing a lesson on Madhubani, a traditional folk art from a remote region in India. The author describes how this activity gives students an opportunity to…

The focus of this paper is students' design productions as they engaged in designing and making a windmill model to lift a given weight. This work is part of a project on the development of design and technology (D&T) education units and its trials among Indian middle school students (Grade 6, age 11-14 years) in different socio-cultural…