journal of science education

Back Issues

Editorial

V Rajaraman, Chief Editor

With this issue I assume the responsibility of Chief Editor of Resonance from Prof. N Mukunda who has ably nurtured and guided its growth for the first five years. The initial years of any endeavour are most crucial as its culture and traditions develop and it reflects the personality and commitment of the founding group of editors led by the Chief Editor. All of us in the editorial board know the hard work and meticulous attention to detail, which is the hallmark of Prof.N Mukunda. This has resulted in the current quality of Resonance. I on behalf of all the editors, our readers and on my own behalf record our admiration and thanks for the excellent job done. I have the responsibility of maintaining the high standard set by Prof. N Mukunda and look forward to help and assistance of our editors, academy staff and most importantly feedback from our readers in fulfilling my responsibility.

We would like to remind our readers that in the first issue of Resonance (January 1996), Prof. P Rama Rao, the then president of the Indian Academy of Sciences had written about the genesis of this journal. As he had stated, the Academy was seriously concerned about the poor state of science education in the country and appointed a panel to suggest means of improving it. One of the important suggestions of the panel was that the Academy launch a journal of science education, primarily targeted at undergraduate students and teachers. The focus of the journal was to publish expository articles on such topics in the science curriculum that are normally considered as difficult to teach and grasp. It was also intended to convey the excitement of doing science among our young students.

It is a good time to take stock of our achievements and failures. On the positive side we have been able to convey the excitement of doing science by featuring a great scientist in each issue and highlighting the work done by him/her using an expository style. We have also reproduced some of their original writings, which are hard to access. We have had many ‘Classroom, items, which explain some hard to understand concepts. Many of these are from college teachers and several of them from students. The content has variety. We try to have at least one article in physics, mathematics, biology, engineering and computer science, and chemistry. The editors take great pains to maintain the quality of the articles. The production quality is very good and we have been reasonably on schedule every month. On the negative side of the balance we are conscious that not all articles are easy to read and understand by a non-specialist. Even though their quality is good, it is not ‘expository enough’ for a reader from a different discipline to understand its significance. We are continuously trying to request our authors to simplify the presentation without loss of a rigour (always a difficult task). Our circulation has not increased. It has fluctuated between 3000 and 5000. It has been difficult to acquire new subscribers. There has not been enough publicity about the journal even though we send posters to colleges every year. We have recently put Resonance on the World Wide Web which we trust will increase the readership (not necessarily circulation!). We do need more contributions particularly from students and teachers.

I do not envisage any major changes in Resonance in the near future. My endeavour will be to alleviate some of the problems mentioned above with the help of all our editors and from you the readers.

Indian Academy of Sciences
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