Wednesday
19
March 2025
2:00 - 3:30 PM IST
Location
Room 004, School of Arts and Sciences
Central Campus
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Confronting the Ideology of Merit is Crucial for STEM Education
Social Sciences Divisional Seminar Series
Ayush Gupta
Associate Professor
Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education
TIFR, Mumbai
Speaker
Indian STEM education struggles to provide a place for diverse learners, especially ones from backgrounds and communities that face historical and ongoing marginalisation. In this talk, I will argue that for change to happen, we will need to look beyond representational change to systemic change in the norms and practices within STEM education. I will argue that the ideology of merit has distorted our vision of STEM and STEM education, and that change would need to confront the ideology of merit. Finally, I will discuss participatory research and design methods as a potential pathway to challenge the idea of merit.
Speaker
Ayush Gupta
Ayush Gupta (they/she), is Associate Professor at the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai. Before this, they were Associate Research Professor and Keystone Instructor at University of Maryland, USA. She has made significant contributions to complex-systems models of cognition and cultural practices within science and engineering, explaining how power operates within these spaces producing systematic marginalisation of learners and worsening social inequalities. Her latest projects are engaging grassroots transgender communities in West Bengal as partners in technology education, opening new directions in making STEM education equitable. She serves on the editorial board for the International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace.
