36th Annual Report (2023-24)

107 Pedagogic Workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology: St. Stephen's College, Delhi University A five-day workshop titled “Pedagogic Workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology” was organized from 6th – 10th November, 2023 for teachers teaching astronomy and astrophysics to undergraduate students in the northern part of India. The workshop was jointly organized by the Astronomy Centre for Educators, Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre, IUCAA, Pune and Physics Department, St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, at St. Stephen's College. The workshop was attended by around 30 teachers and 15 resource persons. The Principal, St. Stephen's College inaugurated the workshop and the inaugural lecture was delivered by Dipankar Bhattacharya, Ashoka university. Themain purposes of the workshop were to (i) explore innovative teachingmethodologies and strategies that can improve student learning experiences in the field of astronomy and astrophysics, (ii) expand subject knowledge of key concepts in core areas of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology, (iii) develop resource materials that teachers can utilize to enhance their instructional practices and engage their students effectively, and (iv) equip teachers with practical tools and hands-on activities that they can implement in their classrooms, fostering active learning and critical thinking among students. The topics covered included stars and stellar evolution, multi-messenger astronomy, astronomical experiments, galaxies and active galactic nuclei, x-ray astronomy, pulsars and radio astronomy, dark matter, cosmic distance ladder, and cosmology. There were hands-on sessions every day and presentations by the teacher participants. The resource persons were Dipankar Bhattacharya and Philip Cherian (Ashoka University), T. R. Seshadri and Darshan Beniwal (Delhi University), Aru Beri (IISER Mohali), Chetana Jain (Hansraj College), Suprit Singh (IIT Delhi), Main Pal (Sri Venkateswara College), Deepak Jain (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College), Geetanjali Sethi, Akshay Rana, Shruti Thakur and Sanil Unnikrishnan (St. Stephen's College) and Prakash Arumugasamy and Dhruba J. Saikia (IUCAA). The coordinators of theworkshopwere Geetanjali Sethi, Vaidehi S. Paliya and TeamACE, IUCAA. A group photograph of the participants in the workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology at St. Stephen's College Pedagogic Workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology: A Faculty Development Programme at Gauhati University A Pedagogic Workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology was organized by ICARD, Gauhati University (GU) in collaboration with the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre of the Astronomy Centre for Educators, IUCAA during 4th to 10th January, 2024. The major goals of the workshop were to (a) enrich college and university teachers with new developments in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology, (b) familiarize them with methods of teaching various topics on astronomy and astrophysics included in the newly introduced syllabuses while implementing the National Education Policy, and (c) build long-term academic relationships between the participants and resource persons of various fields delivering talks in the workshop. The workshop brought together 30 participants involved in astronomy teaching and research in various colleges Group photograph of the participants in the workshop on Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology held at Gauhati University and universities of the North-Eastern region and nearby states. The inaugural talk of the workshop was delivered by Dhruba J Saikia of IUCAA which covered recent advances and prospects in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. It was attended by Hiralal Duorah, retired Professor of Physics, GU and the former Vice-Chancellor of the University who founded the GU Observatory and introduced astronomy and astrophysics in colleges of Assam and in the University. Resource persons from Gauhati University, IUCAA, Assam