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This topic on teaching-research nexus has always been at the back of my mind for some time. I wanted to blog about this topic, so I started some research to find out whether teaching and research are intertwined or otherwise. Wow, what did I find? I didn't realize that hundreds of researches have been carried out on the research-teaching nexus and how it relates to ways in which research supports teaching and vice versa. The verdict? Hmmm...interesting...but I will try to summarize the research findings in my future article. Anyway, Thomas Cech, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Chemistry Nobel laureate, remarks: “ Why do today’s university faculty so rarely apply the same innovation and energy to their teaching that they invest in their research? There is no mystery here. Good teaching may be appreciated, even applauded, but good research is at the heart of the reward structure ” (Science 299, 165, 2003). So is this about monetary or material reward? Can we get ...

" Knowledge does not narrow, knowledge only adds...and without knowledge many experiences in life remain very narrow and very shallow ..." - Professor Walter Lewin, Professor of Physics, MIT . While browsing the internet recently, I came across a picture of the giant mainframe computer of the early '80s. While staring at the picture, I was reminiscing the time back in 1988 during my time as a master's student at the University of Reading, England. For the first time in my life, I had to use a computer to prepare a linear regression plot using a software called Lotus 123. That was still the early days of computer and it marks the beginning of my exploration into the wonderful creation of modern time  –  computer. It was indeed an exciting and thrilling experience for me to be able to plot a graph and derive the equation so easily. I remember using a software called 'Chi-Square' (if I'm not mistaken) as word processor as well as for drawing a simple flow cha...

" In almost every area of human endeavor, the practice improves over time ," says Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. " That hasn't been the case for teaching ." This is an excerpt of his interview by PARADE – read the full interview on the Parade website. In the interview, Gates shares his insight about the crisis of American Education system and the movie Waiting for ‘Superman’, a documentary from An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim. I have not watched the movie yet but I would surely try to get the DVD and hopefully learn a few things. In the meantime, have a look at the trailer and reviews. Waiting for Superman official trailer The PARADE interview with Bill Gates: What I've Learned About Great Teachers Waiting for 'Superman' - A review by The New Yorker Waiting for 'Superman' - A review by The Telegraph Waiting for 'Superman': Are Teachers the Problem? (from TIME magazine) What makes a school great? (TIME magazine)

A Google search on “Bloom’s taxonomy” recently returned an impressive 1.63 million results! Apparently the literature available on the internet is replete with resources about the famous Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. I don’t intend to repeat what Bloom taxonomy is about and how it evolves because I believe you can find wealth of information on various aspects on the topic among the 1.63 million results in the internet. I have selected a few articles (link at the end of this article) for those interested to know more about the various domains (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) in the original and the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. What I’m interested to talk about in this article is the issue of implementing and infusing the various domains in the curriculum. I’m aware that certain facets of Bloom’s taxonomy have been challenged (for example the hierarchical cognitive domain) but to me this is more of intellectual academic arguments that do not reduce the overall value of the concept. F...