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About

Prof. M. C. Arunan is a long-time member of the Gnowledge Lab and the originating spirit behind the CUBE program — Collaboratively Understanding Biology Education — one of the lab’s flagship initiatives in undergraduate science education.

His work has been driven by a question that animates much of the lab’s pedagogy: can a small undergraduate research lab, equipped with frugal model systems, sustain frontline biology questions? The CUBE program — running since 2012 across colleges in many Indian cities — answers that question by introducing simple model organisms (daphnia, snails, Drosophila) into student-led, investigative research projects. He has been a sustained advocate for shifting undergraduate biology from textbook recitation to doing science, framing this in his metaphor of “populating India with STEM spectators” — building the audience for science the way street cricket builds an audience for the sport.

He has co-authored, with Meena Kharatmal and Nagarjuna G., several learning units and research papers on biology education — most notably the Microorganisms at our Doorstep unit (Vigyan Pratibha, HBCSE, 2019/2021) and the natural-selection concept inventory study.

Research interests

• Undergraduate biology education through investigative research
• Simple model systems (daphnia, snails, Drosophila) as research platforms in resource-constrained labs
• Conceptual understanding of evolution and natural selection
• University–institute collaboration models for science education
• STEM culture and citizen-science framing of undergraduate research

Projects

• CUBE: Collaboratively Understanding Biology Education — founding member; the long-running collaborative undergraduate biology research program
• Biology Education Research — co-investigator on:
  • Undergraduate Students’ Conceptions about Natural Selection (concept inventory)
  • Role of online/offline discussions in collaborative learning environments
• Vigyan Pratibha — co-author of the Microorganisms at our Doorstep learning unit and Class 8 teacher version with Meena Kharatmal and Nagarjuna G.
• chatShaala (CUBE chat) — long-standing presence in the lab’s conversational learning space

Publications

• Meena Kharatmal, Nagarjuna G. & M. C. Arunan (2021). Microorganisms at our Doorstep — Vigyan Pratibha Learning Unit. In Choksi, B., Date, G., Mani, R. & Subramaniam, K. (EDs.), Exploring Science and Mathematics with Vigyan Pratibha Learning Units. Class 8 Teacher Version, Mumbai: HBCSE. [PDF]
• M. C. Arunan (2020). Populating India with STEM Spectators: GullyCricket Model of Spreading STEM Culture. CUBE Lab, Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai.
• Meena Kharatmal, Nagarjuna G. & M. C. Arunan (2019). Observing Microorganisms at our Doorstep -- A Learning Unit. Vigyan Pratibha Project, Mumbai: HBCSE. [PDF]
• M. C. Arunan (2013). Transforming Undergraduate Science Education: Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education (CUBE) In IndiaBioScience Website, 29th Jul 2013. . [PDF]
• Shraddha Ghumre, Nagarjuna G. & M. C. Arunan (2013). Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Research: Re-Structuring Undergraduate Biology Education in India. Proceedings of epiSTEME 5, International Conference to Review Research on Science, TEchnology and Mathematics Education. [PDF]
• M. C. Arunan (2011). University-Institute Interactions: How will it Improve Undergraduate Biology Training in India? In IndiaBioScience Website, 29th March 2011. . [PDF]

Elsewhere on the web

• HBCSE: (to be added — e.g. hbcse.tifr.res.in/people/…)
• ORCID: (to be added)
• LinkedIn: (to be added)
• X (Twitter): (to be added)
• Bluesky: (to be added)
• metaStudio: (to be added)
• Personal site / blog: (to be added)

Contact

(public email to be added)

To collaborate with the lab community, the recommended channel is metaStudio.org.