ABCs of K-12 Experiential Education

Characteristics of Learning - Knowledge Transfer

Learning is all about thinking. In order for knowledge to be acquired a certain level of thinking must take place. Those levels are also called the taxonomy of learning. Taxonomy can be compared to a ladder; the higher you go on the taxonomy the deeper the level of thinking taking place for the individual. Perhaps the most well known learning taxonomy is that of Benjamin Bloom. When you look at his taxonomy there are three domains involved: thinking, doing (motor skills) and attitude of the individual. Any act of learning then involves those three domains.

In K12 classes, lessons are the blueprint for learning opportunities. In classrooms the work or activity taking place is based on a lesson designed by the teacher. Hopefully, those lessons provide learning opportunities during the course of class. And, this is the point where effective teachers separate from ineffective teachers. An effective teacher understands what is necessary to provide a learning opportunity. For example, assigning a worksheet to complete, or assigning reading material from a book or article is not a learning opportunity. Those are tasks or tools to reinforce new material already covered, or to explore what a student knows or doesn't know but in no way are they a learning opportunity.

10 NLP Patterns For Educators

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is as famous for its effective use in personal coaching and therapeutic applications as it is for its colorful origins. Yet despite the great potential of NLP's insights to enhance or even transform education, formal inroads into schools, colleges and universities remain elusive. One reason, perhaps, is that NLP training is a competitive industry in its own right, with a slight new-age flavor and a price point that makes NLP prohibitive for school systems to adopt widely. Another reason may be that among the factions within the NLP business, consistency of approach and quality is lacking, leaving schools to consult with NLP trainers on an ad hoc basis, if at all.

To help bridge the divide between NLP proponents and educators, I offer this article, and herein would like to discuss NLP not as a business, but as phenomenology, or what happens subjectively inside the learning mind, hoping the NLP ideas here will find their way into more and more classrooms.

Courses in Biotechnology

Biotechnology has come up as a very promising career option in India as well as abroad in the past decade. Owing to this, a lot of students with an interest in sciences and research opt for courses in biotechnology to take it up as a profession. As the term suggests, it is a combination of biology and technology. It is a knowledge-based industry that relies on human skills to leverage existing technology, scientific methods and knowledge of biology to come up with products and solutions to everyday situations of life as well as many other fields that affect us like medicine, agriculture, environment, genetics, industrial growth etc. In biotechnology, technology is applied on biological systems, living organisms, and enzymes to perform industrial or manufacturing processes. Biotechnology plays a major role in serving mankind by contributing to industries like agriculture, animal husbandry, health care…

For students looking to pursue biotechnology courses, there are various options of colleges in India as well as abroad. There are many graduate and post-graduate courses in biotechnology that one can opt for in India. The Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology under the Government of India is responsible for the regulation, formulation and implementation of biotechnology courses in India. Many government and private recognized institutes conduct such courses. With its increasing demand, new courses and institutes are being added each year. In fact, research suggests that Asia will soon become the hotbed of biotechnology thus leading to more and more students opting for studying biotechnology. Its scope and career opportunities in India are enormous.

To pursue biotechnology courses, one can do it both at under graduate and post graduate level. Undergraduate Biotechnology courses include B.Sc, B.E, B.Tech, 5-year integrated B.Tech/M.Tech) and at PG level (Msc/ M.Tech). You can also pursue specialized courses at research level. Generally, students prefer to go abroad for post graduate courses in biotechnology and also for research. However, these days, there is no dearth of good biotechnology courses in India too. For a post-graduate course, one should have graduated in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Microbiology. The PG courses that are available in this field are M.Sc. Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Agriculture) Biotechnology, M.V.Sc. (Animal) Biotechnology, M.Tech. Biotechnology, M.Sc./M.V.Sc. Veterinary Biotechnology, M.Sc. (Marine) Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology and M.Tech. in Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology. After this, there are more advanced courses such as Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research in Biotechnology.

Biotechnology is interdisciplinary subject and its scope and application is quite diverse. Thus, there are various fields where one could specialize in biotechnology. Thus, students from different backgrounds can specialize in the field that they find their interest in such as Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Botany, Zoology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Horticulture, Tissue Culture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Sciences, Dairy Technology, Fisheries, Medicine, Life Sciences, Genetics etc.