Developing a Culture of Research in Physics Education-Need of the hour for Strengthening Science in India

Physics, being one of the most useful branches of science for technical as well as many other fields of human endeavors to make life on this planet more efficient, fulfilling, prosperous and joyful, enjoys a unique place of importance among the various branches of modern knowledge. Originally an indispensable part of natural philosophy, it provided the much needed impetus for human development for almost the last four hundred years of human history throughout the civilized world. Integral to its pursuit have been the insatiable thirst for knowledge and the childlike curiosity enhancing the response potential of learners which led to many discoveries and inventions in the area of Physical Sciences. But of late, the focus on vocationalization, professionalization and utility-orientation to higher education has drastically changed the scenario. Also, with the onset of an era of ICT in education, the leisurely pace of investigation, problem solving and theorization during the learning of Physics had to be replaced by fast pace of teaching learning suited to the needs of modern knowledge society. But as the poet exclaims ‘where is the wisdom, we have lost in knowledge?’ it is a fact that the interest and involvement of new generation in learning pure Physics is on the decline as suggested by many surveys worldwide. To quote Prof. Kushwaha, ‘Today, more students are preparing physics than learning Physics’. It is also evident from the remarks of our top level scientists from time to time that we are facing the shortage of scientific manpower in Physics. The teaching-learning of Physics needs to be seriously reviewed, re-oriented and revived in the light of modern trends and modern needs. It is in this backdrop that the author, in this paper, attempts to delve into the causes for decline of the interest of the young generation in Physics and develops a case for enhancing research culture in Physics Education apart from the one in pure and applied physics being pursued exclusively in our institutions of higher learning. The author opines in this paper that if we have to develop scientific capital, our universities and research institutions must also give equal importance to researches in Physics Education and promote high quality pedagogic researches in the area of Physics. This paper suggests some practical steps for preparing excellent Physics Teachers in higher education for the scientific empowerment of the nation and realizing the Vision-2020 at the earliest possible concluding with the clarion call for urgent measures in this regard.