Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education CUBE is a community initiative to promote collaborative education, research and outreach in biology. The objective is to establish functional linkages across the education spectrum (primary school to research centers). CUBE actively engages young researchers at the undergraduate level with the nature of scientific inquiry through its essential component of collaboration. It is an effort to convert undergraduate college laboratories into contemporary, open-ended, interactive, inquiry-driven and collaborative research laboratories. Our aim is to design 'functional learning ecologies' by means of simple model systems to facilitate collaborative undergraduate research in the frontiers of biology. India

Background Indian science lives or dies in its 26,000 undergraduate colleges. Some of these are the top 100 or so called good colleges which are cited almost every where, while most (>20,000) are the average/ small undergraduate colleges. We contend that a functional networking of these colleges potential resource will be generated if all these colleges are functionally networked to recreate/ restructure the nature and practice of undergraduate biology.

Challenges Absence of institutional mechanisms for any conscious collaborative approach in teaching and learning in undergraduate science education in India. Lack of regular interactions between undergraduate students and science professionals, especially in small cities and towns. Lack of widespread professional development programs for undergraduate teachers Lack of experiential learning opportunities for students

Solution Our suggested remedy is to empower teachers of more than 26,000 colleges and 504 universities in India by enabling functional networking among themselves, and with research scientists, through a large number of collaborative undergraduate research programs using the state-of-the-art social networking technology.

CUBE Network Functional networking between the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (Mumbai, India), 15 colleges from Mumbai) and another 4 colleges (each from Delhi, Goa, Manipal, Ratnagiri). A total of 20 undergraduate college hubs and many more links being initiated thereafter.

CUBE Summer 2012 Initiative The CUBE Summer 2012 created a network of research and resource centres throughout India. The first phase of the initiative was a 5 week hands-on research program at the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, Mumbai (April 23-May 30, 2012).

Introducing Zebrafish

Join CUBE We invite you to be a part of this endeavor aimed at transforming undergraduate biology education in India. One simple way you can do this is to simplify your research so that it could be done in any undergraduate college lab with minimum resources.

You Can! Start a CUBE club Become a virtual mentor Share ideas and intellectual resources Functionally network with us through Write to us to become a member of the CUBE community.