Ali, M. Shamsher Born in Kushtia, Bangladesh, in 1940, Dr. M. Shamsher Ali obtained MSc in Physics from the University of Dhaka in 1960 and PhD in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from Manchester University, UK in 1965. He has been serving the University of Dhaka as Professor of Physics since 1982. Before joining the University, he worked in Pakistan and Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission for about 21 years in various important positions including Directorship of Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka (1970–1978). He served the Bangladesh Open University as its Founder Vice-Chancellor (1992–1996). Currently he is working as Vice-Chancellor of Southeast University since 2002 in lieu from the University of Dhaka. His special interests include: (i) Popularization of Science and Technology (he delivered and conducted more than 300 talks on radio and television as a communicator of Science and Technology), (ii) Science and Development Issues in the Third World and (iii) Synthesis of Science and Religion. He takes keen interest in the teaching of science and mathematics education. He obtained the TWNSO (Third World Network of Scientific Organization) award for the promotion of public understanding of science. Professor Ali has a large number of research publications in internationally reputed journals. He has co-authored the books (i) Scientific Indications in the Holy Qur’an (published by the Islamic Foundation, Dhaka, 1990, 1995), (ii) Muslim Contributions to Science and Technology (published by the Islamic Foundation, Dhaka, 1996) and (iii) Brain Twister (Delightful Mathematics) published in 2002 (ISBN: 984-32-0319-4). Professor Ali is a Fellow of Bangladesh Physical Society; Bangladesh Academy of Sciences; Islamic Academy of Sciences, Jordan; Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy; Member of New York Academy of Sciences; American Physical Society and Honorary Associate, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, with which he has been associated since its inception.

TEACHING SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN A DELIGHTFUL MANNER

A look at the mathematics and pure science enrolments in the universities of the world shows that these have been declining over the years. It is about time that we look into its causes. This paper addresses this issue and proposes some approaches towards the study of science and mathematics. The approaches include:

1. Teaching both science and mathematics in an integrated manner;
2. Ways and means of creating interest in science and mathematics;
3. Making things look easy and relevant to life and environment.

The basic objective of these approaches is to make science and mathematics education useful and enjoyable to the students at a fairly tender age. A factor which is responsible for the shortage of science and mathematics teachers is that many have chosen science and mathematics education as a last option. The present paper therefore tries to identify the kind of incentives that can possibly be provided to talented people opting for a teaching career in science and mathematics. Also, since the amount of information in science and technology is growing at an exponential rate and since it is becoming increasingly difficult for school and college teachers to catch up with the latest trends, it has prescribed in this paper that a more useful way would be to equip the students with sound knowledge of the fundamentals of science (which act as a common denominator of all basic sciences) and also to teach them the tools of the game, namely, mathematics which is basically the language of nature. The use of culture-based stories and hands-on projects (projects that help students discover science and mathematics in everyday life) has been encouraged in this paper and some typical examples from both science and mathematics have been illustrated. Finally, since the present fashion in graduate studies is mostly in the direction of computer science and information technology and biology including genetic science engineering, and since this fashion has apparently undercut the importance of science and mathematics, this paper has suggested that students at the school level should be provided with a clear idea that without mathematics the secrets of many of the fundamental processes in nature cannot be understood at a deeper level, and that good science and mathematics education is a prerequisite to the studies of any aspect of life and nature.