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CATALYST CIRCLE

A Teacher Development Program. A Community of Excellence — a global collaboration between Param Foundation and Carnegie Science Center (CSC), USA, built for the teacher who refuses to become optional.

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About Partners​

Param Foundation, India

Param is building an ecosystem, committed to transforming education through science, technology, innovation and hands-on learning. Param believes in making learning immersive, interactive and impactful, with a mission to empower educators and inspire the next generation of thinkers and problem-solvers.

Carnegie Science Centre, USA

The Carnegie Science Center, USA is a premier institution focused on inspiring curiosity and advancing knowledge in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Through interactive exhibits, hands-on learning experiences and educational programs, it engages individuals of all ages and empowers educators to foster innovation and critical thinking.

ABOUT CATALYST CIRCLE

Catalyst Circle is a year-long teacher transformation programme by Param Foundation and Carnegie Science Center, USA. Not a workshop. Not a webinar. A year, because the shift we’re asking of teachers — from delivering content to designing thinking — doesn’t survive a single Saturday.

It’s for every educator, not just science and math teachers – language teachers, PE teachers, arts faculty, coordinators, subject heads and school administrators have all been part of past cohorts. And it works across curricula – CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB and beyond – because the training is on the methodology of teaching, not subject content.

Catalyst Circle is a four-phase, year-long system built on structured self-evaluation, SMART goals, feedback loops and continuous mentoring, designed for a transformation that outlasts the programme itself, not a slide deck that’s forgotten by the following term.

And it isn’t a promise. Cohort 1 already proved this works – the numbers are above, verifiable, not projected. The only open question is whether your teachers are in the next one.

55 Teachers  |  10 Schools  |  48 Hours of Training  |  58 Feedback responses – overwhelmingly positive

AT A GLANCE

Duration: 48 hours across the academic year

Structure: 4 phases — Foundation → Practice → Innovation → Mastery

Format: 6 in-person interventions, hands-on delivery

Includes: STEM workshops · Experiential sessions · AI integration module ·  Design Thinking ·  Open makerspace access · Final showcase & certification

Next cohort: September 2026

WHY NOW?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI can already explain a concept, answer a question and grade a worksheet. What it cannot do is design a learning experience, read a room, or make a fifteen-year-old care. That is the one part of teaching that has just become more valuable, not less — and almost no one is training teachers for it.

Every school in this city will eventually have an AI policy. Very few will have a teacher who actually knows what to do with one.

Classrooms must adapt to how this generation actually learns. Students need more inquiry, application and creativity, not more content delivery. Teachers need to stay continuously relevant, not despite AI, but because of it. Catalyst Circle exists to answer one question every teacher is quietly asking right now: “What do I do that a machine can’t?” We built a creative gym for exactly that — a structured space where educators practise, reflect and evolve their pedagogy, together, before the answer is decided for them.

Certification

All teachers trained through this model will receive a Param–Carnegie Certificate, endorsed by the

Carnegie STEM Excellence Pathway.

Param - Carnegie Certificate

WHY THIS IS A MOMENT, NOT A TREND

Every wave of educational change has a small number of schools that adopted it early and a much larger number that spent the next decade explaining why they didn’t. This is one of those moments. AI in the classroom isn’t a future trend to plan for eventually — it’s already sitting in every student’s pocket, right now, in this academic year.

As one of the early partner institutions, your school doesn’t just adopt a programme — you help define what AI-literate, inquiry-driven Indian classrooms look like.

In five years, no school will advertise that it “uses AI.” That’ll be like advertising that classrooms have electricity. What will still be worth advertising is that your teachers knew what to do with it before everyone else’s did.

What’s in It for the School?

Catalyst Circle is built around two frameworks schools already track — NEP 2020’s mandate for structured teacher CPD and experiential pedagogy, and SANKALP’s outcome-focused, industry-relevant skilling model. Enrolling is a natural extension of that work, not a parallel initiative.

Know Your Trainers

Athul Dinesh

Designer | Associate Faculty, National Institute of Design | Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London

Shivaram K R

Co-Founder, CEO @ Hue Learn | AI Expert | Innerverse 360 | TEDx Speaker

Sai Phani Utkarsh Kethana

Experience Curator @ Param Science Experience Centre

Pranav Sriram

Science Programming Lead @ Param Science Experience Centre

Testimonials

My understanding of STEM education changed completely during this journey. What initially seemed unfamiliar gradually became a practical approach that I could confidently integrate into my lessons.
Smitha AbhiramRashtrotthana Vidyakendra, Somanahalli Bengaluru
Integration of multiple subjects in a classroom set up is also another important take away from this training. I, as a Vibgyor high teacher have done that but after the training, I did it more consciously.
Moutushi NagVibgyor High School, Bengaluru
The sessions encouraged me to move beyond traditional teaching methods and create learning experiences where students explore, question, collaborate, and discover concepts on their own. I have become more confident in designing hands-on activities, integrating real-life applications into lessons, and making my classroom more engaging and student-centered.
GayatriRastrotthana Vidya Kendra, Ramamurthy Nagar, Bengaluru
One of my biggest takeaways was understanding the importance of nurturing creativity in every child. The PARSEC field visit was especially inspiring — it challenged us to think beyond the obvious, look at problems differently, and truly think outside the box.
Harshitha PRastrotthana Vidya Kendra, BSK 6th stage, Bengaluru
As we began integrating STEM into our classrooms, we witnessed remarkable changes. Students became more engaged, asked thoughtful questions, worked collaboratively, and approached problems with confidence and creativity.
RamyaRastrotthana Vidya Mandir, Mysuru
Initially, STEM felt like an entirely unfamiliar language. However, through the workshops and learning opportunities provided by PARAM, I gradually developed a deeper understanding of its concepts and classroom applications.
Sulochana KRastrotthana Vidya Mandir, Mysuru

Catalyst Circle

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School Name(Required)
Please let us know what's on your mind. Have a question for us? Ask away.

FAQ'S

Catalyst Circle is for every educator, not just science and math teachers. Language teachers, PE teachers, arts faculty, coordinators, subject heads and school administrators have all been part of past cohorts — the programme is about how learning is designed and delivered, which applies to every subject and every role in a school, not a STEM-only skillset.

Yes — CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB and beyond. Catalyst Circle doesn’t teach subject content — it trains the methodology behind teaching itself: how to design a lesson, hold a room, and bring inquiry and creativity into whatever you’re already delivering. A CBSE geography teacher and an IB English teacher walk away with the same core skill, applied to their own syllabus and board.

The programme runs across the full academic year through 6 in-person interventions — 48 hours of training in total: 36 hours of hands-on workshops plus 12+ hours of pre-reads and peer meetups in between sessions. Teachers also get ongoing access to Param’s makerspace and expert mentorship throughout the year, so the learning doesn’t stay theoretical between sessions, it gets used.

Sessions are mostly scheduled on weekends, specifically to avoid disrupting the school day or asking teachers to choose between the programme and their classroom.

Four phases — Foundation, Practice, Innovation, Mastery — delivered through 6 in-person interventions across the year. It includes Carnegie-led STEM workshops, Param’s experiential learning sessions, a dedicated AI integration module, design thinking sessions, open makerspace access, and a final showcase where teachers present their own classroom projects.

In-person, hands-on delivery. The programme is built around experiential sessions and makerspace access, which don’t translate to a screen.

Yes. Every teacher who completes the programme receives a Param–Carnegie Certificate, endorsed by the Carnegie STEM Excellence Pathway, awarded at a final showcase in front of school leadership and an invited jury.

Yes. The full 48-hour programme covers the large majority of the NEP 2020 mandate of 50 hours of Continuous Professional Development per teacher, per year, in one structured, expert-led programme — not scattered one-off workshops.

Most AI-in-education or teaching workshops are a few hours, once, with no follow-through. Catalyst Circle runs for a full year with built-in self-evaluation, SMART goals, feedback loops and continuous mentoring — designed for a transformation that outlasts the programme itself.

Teachers catch up through weekly peer meetups, so nobody falls behind the cohort or has to sit out a phase because of one missed date.

Each cohort runs with 30–50 teachers. Schools with larger staff can opt for multiple cohorts rather than being capped at one.

The next cohort is proposed to begin September 2026.

Fill out the form on this page with your name, school and contact details, or write to us directly at membership@paraminnovation.org.