Title:	MEASURES TOWARDS INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY IN PHYSICS EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA - EXPERIENCE OF LAST 40 YEARS BY A DEVELOPING NATION
Author(s):	Manoj Mukhopadhyay and Gabriel Anduwan
ISBN:	978-989-8533-73-9
Editors:	Theodora Issa, Tomayess Issa, Pedro Isaias and Ana Hol
Year:	2017
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Physics education for science, engineering and natural resources, bachelors program, sustainability, lab experiments, distance learning program
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	81
Last Page:	87
Language:	English
Cover:
Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	‘Education for Sustainability’ assumes widely different proportions from a developed to a developing nation. An immediate and intuitive need for a developing nation is to build a sustainable future based on its indigenous potential that includes its natural resources, economic system, cultural traditions and human resources. Sustainable development therefore depends on economic, environmental and social sustainability put together. The island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), with a population of 7 million having a varied cultural background, commenced its journey some 40 years ago along the path of sustainable technological education when the University of Technology (UOT) (set up in the industrial town Lae) introduced higher technology education. A PNG nationalist leader pronounced this theme of education for sustainability what is inscribed on a garden-stone at the centre of UOT: Tomorrow my sons and daughterswill come, implying that the teachers here plant seeds that grow forever. The Applied Physics (AP) was one of the founding departments in UOT entrusted to provide the physics education for all other disciplines: (i) Departments of Mathematics & Computer Sciences, Applied Sciences and Agriculture, (ii) engineering branches: Civil, Electrical & Communication and Mechanical Engineering and (iii) specialized areas of natural resources: Forestry, Surveying & Land Studies and Mining Engineering. Besides, AP also instituted Bachelor of Science program in Applied Physics with specialization in Electronics and Radiation Physics so as to integrate sustainability concepts into physics education. Physics education assumes greater significance for an island nation like PNG as it is frequently exposed to severe natural hazards like volcanism, earthquakes and tsunamis in SW Pacific. The education system gets quickly destabilised or disorganised due to such natural disasters. PNG must therefore prepare itself adequately for early-warning system and disaster management through applied physics education and geophysical mapping for any effective sustainable development. In this short presentation, we first make a brief reference to the PNG national higher technical education policies and how to incorporate such action plans. A major constraint in this scenario is to promote investment in basic education, like physics, since the educators often face a dilemma where to put greater emphasis - between concept learning in physics or skill-values; the latter decides the employability of physics graduates in a country like PNG. A short description is provided next on physics courses offered and the Laboratory demonstration as well as the experiments in physics conducted for hand-on training of students at UOT. Laboratory-based physics education is given its due importance since it is like a workshop in the industry; the training a student receives today must percolate to the greater benefits of the society for sustainable development. As a corollary to this effort, the UOT also provides distance learning program (DODL) through three of its branch colleges located at distant and inaccessible places for societal benefits. PNG is plagued by a shortage of basic science teachers in secondary schools; DODL aspires to partially offset this imbalance.
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