Winner: 2023 Nyholm Prize for Education
Professor Savita Ladage
Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
For enthusiastically advocating the importance of chemical education, through mentoring chemistry educators and initiating teacher and student programs that promote chemistry education in India.
Savita is passionate about teaching and learning chemistry. She interacts with chemistry students and teachers, especially at undergraduate level. One of her main interests has been chemistry lab education and helping students to make observations more carefully and critically. She designs experiments and highlights the associated procedures, difficulties and errors involved, and the data. Savita wants to change the perception of students and teachers of chemistry lab education. When she's not teaching, Savita loves writing articles about different topics in chemistry, particularly the periodic table and the challenges involved in teaching and learning chemistry.
Biography
Savita Ladage was born in 1965 in the city of Belgaum (now Belagavi, Karnataka, India), the eldest daughter in the Patil family. Both parents are excellent teachers and passionate about education in general. After her Master's in analytical chemistry, she joined the PhD programme in science education at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in 1987. Savita's doctoral work was related to learning barriers (chemical misconceptions) in areas of chemical formulas/equations and the periodic table. In 1996, Savita joined HBCSE in 1996. Since then, she has been involved in activities related to chemistry education research and development, especially at higher secondary and undergraduate levels. Among her achievements is her association with the Indian National Chemistry Olympiad (INChO) programme, since its inception, to which she has contributed significantly to its growth and evolution. An output of this programme was the formation of the Association of Chemistry Teachers (ACT), which Savita helped to form and is one of its key members. She has also contributed to the National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) programme in chemistry. It is aimed at nurturing motivated undergraduate students studying chemistry through sustained mentoring. Savita actively engages with chemistry educators who teach at the higher secondary and undergraduate levels and contributes to their programmes. She focuses on topics such as problem-based and investigatory approaches for chemistry lab education at the undergraduate level, the pedagogical significance of context-based problems, and conceptual pitfalls in chemistry.
I feel it is meaningful to work with practitioners. Such collaborations help to percolate research-informed innovative teaching-learning practices related to chemistry education in classroom settings.
Professor Savita Ladage
Q&A with Professor Savita Ladage
In a few sentences, how does it feel to receive this prize and be recognised by colleagues for your contribution to chemistry education?
I feel deeply honoured to receive this prize and recognition in the community of individuals who are doing work in the area of chemistry education. I am thankful to the RSC for the same. The award and recognition has motivated me further to continue my work with greater zeal and enthusiasm. I am passionate about chemistry education in general.
I have been trying to support individuals, especially motivated chemistry teachers, who are making continuous efforts towards imparting quality chemistry education within their existing system.
I will continue the same in the near future so that it helps in connecting individuals interested in chemistry education. I also feel such efforts are required for establishing the domain of chemistry education research and development in India.
What would be your advice to educators who are working with colleagues going above and beyond, but are yet to nominate them for an RSC Education prize?
I truly believe that good work often gets recognized in one way or another. Thus, it is important to make efforts towards making chemistry education meaningful in whatever ways one can. Perhaps, initially, there can be a movement of frustration depending on your context, but perseverance often helps. In my opinion, sharing experiences is important as it may motivate others to start such efforts.
I have been working with chemistry teachers, and I am equally enriched through my interactions with them.
Teachers bring excellent knowledge of what works and fails in their classroom setting. I feel it is meaningful to work with practitioners. Such collaborations help to percolate research-informed innovative teaching-learning practices related to chemistry education in classroom settings.
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How did you first become interested in chemistry or science?
Both my parents are excellent teachers. My father has a background in chemistry. Thus, within the family often, there were discussions about education and chemistry in general. In school, I had an excellent science (chemistry) teacher and her teaching helped me to develop an interest in chemistry in addition to the influence of my father.
Who or what has inspired you to have a role in education?
At undergraduate and postgraduate levels, I had excellent chemistry teachers. Their teachings helped me consolidate my interest in chemistry. Additionally, as a student, I was good at explaining difficulties faced by my friends while studying. Through the discussions with friends and teachers, I realised my interest in chemistry education.
When I joined the PhD programme in science education, I got an opportunity to interact with people involved in different content domains with a serious interest in (science) education.
These interactions helped me to get acquainted with various issues related to the educational field and their complexities. I worked extensively in school systems which were not privileged in terms of resources, and students in these schools came from lower socio-economic strata. This extensive field experience gave me insights about ground realities of the educational field. It convinced me to do work in the educational domain.
About chemistry education: I also started reading articles in chemistry education journals, and I came across articles by Professor Alex Johnstone, who influenced me the most.
Additionally, the work by Professors Diane Bunce and Norman Reid has inspired me considerably to shape my thinking about chemistry education.
What motivates you?
I interact extensively with chemistry teachers, especially at UG levels. Often I see them making significant efforts towards imparting quality chemistry education in their own systems. Often these systems do not offer great freedom and flexibility. However, still, the motivated teachers try to do their best. Their struggle often motivates me to keep doing my work.
How have your students inspired you?
Students often come with excellent questions. These questions are a reflection of their struggles to understand concepts in chemistry. These questions and doubts inspire me to look at given chemistry-related situations from different perspectives. The discussions with them have made me a better teacher and have enhanced my own understanding of chemistry.
Why is chemistry education important?
Chemistry is central to our lives. However, often chemistry becomes too abstract in nature soon after it is introduced to students in formal school systems. Students do not get enough opportunities to explore materials and gather enriching experiences about materials at a perceptible level. Teachers also struggle to teach (abstract) concepts of chemistry. The chemistry curricula , especially the lab education, often is not related to our daily life and conducted in a mundane manner. Thus, hand-on experiences associated with chemistry are also not engaging. Due to all these reasons, chemistry education is important and it needs to be connected to our lives.
Who or what has supported you in your career as an educator?
Chemistry teachers, students, my colleagues at HBCSE and my family members have supported me in my career
For a bit of fun.
....What is your favourite element?My choice will be Radium. It is a shining star. Being radioactive, it has an interesting life. On its own death (decay), it gives birth to a new one(element).