Presently enrolled for PhD at Srishti, B. Arch from the TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi (1992 – 1997). Received a “Gold Medal” for my dissertation on “Syncretic processes in architecture – a study of Syrian Christian Churches in Kerala”

2012 – present
Faculty at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology (formerly Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology) as a part of the Centre for Education, Research, Training and Development (CERTAD)).  I have been teaching courses relating to exploring patterns mathematically and visually, physical computing, education and hands-on making with materials and code.

2010 – 2012
Part-time Faculty at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology as a part of CERTAD (Centre for Education, Research, Training and Development).

2004 – Present
Woodworker – designing and making both educational equipment, custom furniture, architectural elements, toys and puzzles, exhibits – jointly with Gautham Dayal at Santosha Wood Craft (some images available on Instagram – @natural_edge_woodcraft)

2006 – present
Facilitated workshops (called “Thinking Hands) on introducing and exploring ideas in math and physics in the process of designing and making objects. These workshops synthesize ideas in math/science with processes in craft. These workshops have been conducted for various age groups (middle school students, high school students, beginning design students) and in different economic settings (rural schools, learning centres for urban poor, international schools). This was done jointly with Gautham Dayal.

– Teacher groups we have worked with:
-Teachers from schools in Pune, Maharashtra.
-Teachers from Pragat Shikshan Sanstha, Phaltan, Maharashtra.
-Science teachers under the TIPD (Teachers International
-Professional Development) program.
-Teachers from Ananya School, Bangalore
-Facilitators from Drishya Kalika Kendra, Bangalore
-Teachers from DRIK patashala, Chittoor.

– Student groups we have worked with:
– DoD programmes with Mallya Aditi International School
– Summer camps with Drishya Learning Centres,
– DHL project for tsunami affected children
– Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology
– Camps as part of the “Entering the Centre” project at Mallya Aditi International School.

2004 – 2016
Taught mathematics and craft to 4 – 12-year-old children at Sita School, Silvepura.

2000 – 2003
Taught Spoken English to Japanese students (of a variety of ages).

1999 – 2001
Started a batik workshop, Chennai

1998- 2000
Worked with INTACH as a consultant on two projects:
– Marundeeshwarar Temple and its surroundings in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai
– Church Renovation project at Luz church in Mylapore, Chennai

1997 – 1999
Designed a centre for street children for Nesakaram- SEEDS at Red Hills, Chennai; the design was built and finished in 2007.

1994
Interned with Shilpa Sindoor with S.N. Kanade and N.N. Kanade for six months.

Interested constructionism, Seymour Papert. Making and in the process of making with materials learning. I engage with physical, digital and computational material and often mix these to create interesting learning experiences and objects.

I am interested in enabling more learning with materials in the classroom especially in government schools. I am presently doing my PhD in this and hope to work with teachers on a ‘thinking-hands’ approach to learning at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology. My husband, Gautham Dayal have worked on ‘thinking hands’ since 2006.

I am interested in the act of making and engage in a variety of materials.

I am interested in making and the inclusion of computational making and part of ‘The Computational Tinkering Group’, organised by The Tinkering Studio, The Exploratorium, San Francisco.

I am interested in children making and engaging with code and am part of ‘OctoStudio Global Partners’ at the Lifelong Kindergarten, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

At Srishti I am a part time PhD student. I am faculty and engage students in making and learning about leaning through the act of making. This is part of Creative Education, CERTAD.

Srishti-Facilitated Learning Experiences at Srishti-
2009 Linkages- Gautham, Vanya 2010 Ways of seeing- Jyoti Vanya 2011 Materials – two parts- with Jyoti, Vanya, Roshan
Joined Srishti Full time.
2012 STEAMERS- Geetha, Gautham, Pady, Vanya, Alisha?
2013 Play and invent- Thinking hands- automata, contraptions, ardvino- Gautham Vanya
2014 Order and chaos- Pattern tessellation, esher, scratch, processing- Gautham and Vanya,Order and chaos – Patterns, scratch, processing, ardvino Gautham and Vanya
2014- August – went to America- Poster presentation- Scratch- Geetha, Arzu,… Natalie, Susan, Karen,Gautham went to Boulder,
Came back and worked on starting courses on education and code…
2014- Playing and inventing with spaces
2015- STEAM by design Gautham Vanya STEAM by design- Gautham Vanya Play and invent- Automata, ardvino, Anup ,Gautham, VanyaForm and structure- Chain reaction- Anup, Vanya GSk- Mark making- ways of seeing GSk- Mark making- ways of seeing Workshop- Pop ups – Atinty- Anup, Gautham, Vanya MPE- exhibition- Nandini, Mary, Gautham, Ajai, vanya also people at … Amit Apte,
GSk-Drawinng and visual thinking tools- Vanya GSk-Drawing and visual thinking tool- Vanya Form and Structure -Maps, curve line- 2D,3D processing- Gautham and Vanya
2016- Orientation for masters students- Gautham, Vanya August – Gautham vanya- America-Scratch Conference- Ricarose, Carmello, Moran?, CasX, Tiffany, South End Technology Center- Susan, Mel King, Exploratorium- San Francisco Karen, Meg,Sabastein, … Paula Hooper,?? Science Museum- ?? Jeniffer? Science Museum, Minnesota- Keith,… Magaret Pezalla-Granlund, Childrens Museum, Pitsburg-Chip Lindsey
Started Learning Mela.// Sunday Creative Learning Brunch
2016- Introduction to woodworking tools- Gautham, Vanya, Form and Structure? Knots, turtle art- vanya
2017- Workshop- Nets, pop ups, electronics- vanya N6 GS- Geometry – Symmetry, transformation, maps- Vanya GS- Geometry, shapes, nets, starlation, truncation, symbolism Gautham, Vanya Workshop- Materials, children, facilitation, Puppets- Meg, Gautham, Vanya BVoc- Materials- cut, join- Vanya BVoc- Working with children- insects, Sita School, Scratch- Vanya Community and Practice- Back to basics- know your ropes- Vanya
2018- STEAM by design- 4th yr project, Agasthya- Gautham, Vanya Interim-Mapping the urban Ecology- Sureka BVoc- Materials, Drawing- vanya
2019- Digital media tools, learning by creating and collaborating- Kinetic creatures- Gautham and vanya- n6 workshop- nets, pop ups, electronics- vanay- n6 Order and chaos- nature, patterns- tessellation, transformation, scratch- Vanya Order and chaos- nature, patterns, tessellation, scratch, lino cuts- Vanya Planning and leading learning- Shashyank, Vanya n6 workshop- Newspaper- Scratch- Natalie, Shruti, Carmillo, Gautham, vanya
2020- online- workshop-1 week-patterns, transformation online- workshop-1 week-patterns, transformation online- workshop-1 week-patterns, transformation online- Form and structure- making, creating, story- physical, scratch to compose- Seema Sathyu, Geetha Pandey, Jayasimha, Vanya online- Form and structure- making, creating, story- physical, Scratch to compose- Seema Sathyu, Geetha Pandey, Jayasimha, Vanya online/facetoface- Form and structure- making creating- story- physical, Scratch to compose- Sunaina agarwall, Vanya online/facetoface- Form and structure- making creating- story- physical, Scratch to compose- Sunaina agarwall, Vany online-workshop- pop-up
2021- Workshop- Time- woodcarving, sundial Form making workshop- pop-ups Play and invent- sensing the environment. https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/5823198 Generic Skills- Visual thinking- Pop-Up- Gautham sick Play and invent- sensing the environment. https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/5859227
2022- Play and invent- starting- 6 days each * 3 +1 Workshop- AEC: Computational STEAM in the classroom- parikrama Generic skills- Form making- GI wire, toothpicks
2023 March Play and invent – water Scrat

Woodworker and maker.

Design (space planning, exhibit design, furniture design, content curation) of the Math Lab for Agastya International Foundation for their Kuppam campus, 2016 – 2018.

Facilitated a group of students from Srishti in designing learning experiences at the Agastya International Foundation, 2018.

Designed space, curriculum and did content training for the ‘Maker Space’ at Inventure Academy, 2015-16

Short term residency 2016 at the Exploratorium, San Francisco.

Presented at the Poster Session (“Computer as material”) at the Scratch-2014 conference at MIT,Boston, and also in 2023.

Part of a team facilitating the design and construction of exhibits for the Mathematics of Planet Earth, an Interactive Math Exhibition designed to make mathematical concepts more relevant and easily understood by all. This was done in collaboration with TIFR, Centre for Applicable Mathematics in 2013.