Arvind Gupta

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Arvind Gupta
Arvind gupta upload 2.jpeg
Mr. Arvind teaching students using " Matchstick Mecanno ", one of his ways to create great teaching aids from domestic items
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Toy inventor, author, translator
Years active1975–present
Website https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/

Arvind Gupta is an Indian science educator, toy inventor, author, translator and scientist. [1] He received the civilian award Padma Shree from the Indian government on the eve of Republic Day, 2018.

Contents

Career

A graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1975 batch), Arvind Kumar Gupta took a year's study leave from TELCO (in 1978) to work with the grassroots village science teaching programme for children in the tribal district of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh called Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) in Madhya Pradesh. While there, he developed his idea of creating simple toys and educational experiments using locally available materials as well as items usually thrown as trash. These simple toys, he found, fascinated children and Gupta went on to make these as the hallmark of his movement of popularising science.

Arvind Gupta's first book, Matchstick Models and other Science Experiments, was translated into 12 Indian languages by various Popular Science groups and sold more than half a million copies. Gupta's website holds instructions, including short video clips on YouTube, in a number of languages, for making hundreds of improvised toys, which he makes available freely without copyright restrictions. [2] [3] Gupta draws inspiration from a number of people, including Gautama Buddha, George Washington Carver and his mother. [2] Gupta has conducted workshops in over 2000 schools and has won many national and international awards. As a student in the 1970s in IIT Kanpur, Gupta became a socialist in belief but eschewed action-less discourse; he stated that instead he "placed more faith in small positive action than empty rhetoric." Gupta began his social service by teaching the children of the mess staff who had no opportunities for formal education. [4]

His popular TED Talk: Turning Trash into Toys for learning gives an insight into his work and philosophy. [5] His talk was among the 10 best TED talks [6] compiled by Sir Ken Robinson and Sugata Mitra's 5 favorite education talks. [7]

Honorary Doctorate

On 10 December 2024, Arvind Gupta was conferred Honorary Doctorate D.Sc. degree by Veer Madho Singh Bhandari Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun.

Selected awards and recognition

He has won several awards for his lifelong efforts at popularizing science and in designing teaching aids for young children. These include:

Bibliography

Translation in Hindi

Arvind Gupta has translated over 290 books to Hindi.

References

  1. "Indian inventor creates children's science toys from trash". New Atlas. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Murthy, Tanmaya (May 2011). "Amazing Mentor! Spotlight Interview with Arvind Gupta, Toy Maker". Amazing Kids magazine. Amazing Kids!. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  3. Arvind Gupta and associates. "Free films". Arvind Gupta Toys. IUCAA. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  4. Brooks, Pastor (30 May 2011). "Toys from Trash: Theology for the Rest of Us". First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Vancouver, WA. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  5. Gupta, Arvind. "Turning trash into toys for learning".
  6. "Ken Robinson: 10 talks on education | TED Talks". www.ted.com.
  7. "Sugata Mitra's 5 favorite education talks | TED Talks". www.ted.com.
  8. 1 2 "Maharashtra Foundation Awards for 'toy inventor', founder of de-addiction centre". The Hindu. 13 January 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  9. "Annual Awards". South Indian Education Society. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  10. "Recipients of Medals/Lectures Awards". INDIAN NATIONAL SCIENCE ACADEMY. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  11. "Arvind Kumar Gupta (BT/EE/1975)". Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (website). IIT Kanpur. 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2011.