I have been watching Young Sheldon- the spin-off of the Big Bang Theory. This one features Sheldon and his family as he grows in Texas absolutely confident that he would win the Nobel Prize one day. The series begins with the school recognizing that Sheldon is a genius and promoting him to the middle school. Today episode was as usual hilarious. A NASA scientist visits Sheldon's school and manages to put him down. Sheldon sets out to prove that he is right and the NASA scientist is wrong. The episode ends with a visit to the NASA center where the scientist admits that the idea (or rather the Math) is fantastic but they do not have the technical capability to put it into action. Then a shot is shown of space program conducted by Elon Musk, essentially showing that Sheldon's idea has fructified.
But as the episode ended I wondered whether it would ever happen in India. If a child was bright, would he/she be promoted or put through a special program for such children? Would a child be encouraged to think out of the box? Would such ideas be welcomed by our scientists?
I asked this especially as I got the feedback forms from my students yesterday. Till this year one of the senior professor was the coordinator of the course and he never took the feedback forms. But he retired and I became the coordinator of the course and of course, initiated feedback forms. I took feedback both on the course and teaching methodology. As I read the feedback, I was elated and sad. One of the students had written that this was first time he/she had been encouraged to do problem-solving and he/she was now getting the hang of it. This reminded me of a student few years back. After she got into IISc that it was because of my teaching that she was able to answer analytical questions at the time of the interview. Over the years there has been many such episodes. After one exam a student told me that it was so different from any exam she had taken for this was the first time she had been asked to think and analyze a piece of data.
"I enjoyed it so much, Ma'am," she said and I can never forget the joy on her face.
It is so sad. This is something they should have been encouraged to do right from school. It should not take a Master's level course to learn how to think or how to work around a problem or to analyze data.
As we dream of Nobel Prizes, we might want to get our basics right first. Unless our children are allowed to dream and unleash their creativity, we are not going to get anywhere in the near future.
But as the episode ended I wondered whether it would ever happen in India. If a child was bright, would he/she be promoted or put through a special program for such children? Would a child be encouraged to think out of the box? Would such ideas be welcomed by our scientists?
I asked this especially as I got the feedback forms from my students yesterday. Till this year one of the senior professor was the coordinator of the course and he never took the feedback forms. But he retired and I became the coordinator of the course and of course, initiated feedback forms. I took feedback both on the course and teaching methodology. As I read the feedback, I was elated and sad. One of the students had written that this was first time he/she had been encouraged to do problem-solving and he/she was now getting the hang of it. This reminded me of a student few years back. After she got into IISc that it was because of my teaching that she was able to answer analytical questions at the time of the interview. Over the years there has been many such episodes. After one exam a student told me that it was so different from any exam she had taken for this was the first time she had been asked to think and analyze a piece of data.
"I enjoyed it so much, Ma'am," she said and I can never forget the joy on her face.
It is so sad. This is something they should have been encouraged to do right from school. It should not take a Master's level course to learn how to think or how to work around a problem or to analyze data.
As we dream of Nobel Prizes, we might want to get our basics right first. Unless our children are allowed to dream and unleash their creativity, we are not going to get anywhere in the near future.
I had a similar experience when you taught us 'Genetics' and 'Human Genetics' course.I remember how miserably i failed in my first test but did well in the other one. I feel blessed to have your esteemed guidance till this date. Thank you ma'am.
ReplyDeleteHi Supreet:
ReplyDeleteI remember your first test. I was little surprised because I thought you were capable of far more. Of course, you proved me right.
Hello ma'am. I still remember your genetics classes in the first semester and your refreshingly interactive method of teaching. Even the question papers were refreshingly different. I never felt like I was sitting for an examination. It felt like a fun exercise. I believe this is one thing our teachers have forgotten. Their real duty is not to just convey information, for that is abundant in today's age of world wide web. It is instead to stir and excite curiosity within a child's mind regarding a particular subject. Sadly in the face of an education system where completing the syllabus and securing high marks in generalised tests is given priority over nurturing a child's unique abilities and interests, teachers often forget this. However, I must say I'm truly indebted to certain professors in JNU, who like you, who have genuinely tried to break out of the hackneyed system of rote-learning, and have encouraged creative thinking among students.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is the feedback from my students that encourages and keeps me going.
ReplyDeleteIt is only when I went to UVa that I understood how teaching can be made fun. Exams were tough- our Genetics exam was 4 hours long- but the questions tested your ability to think. I did not have to worry whether I remember the exact text book sentence for a question, which is how often we are graded in India. It was then I decided that when I became teacher, I will make my classes interactive and steer away from short answer questions. As you rightly pointed, information is so freely available that it is meaningless to ask students to remember pathways and techniques. The real challenge is whether the we understand the logic and whether we can use apply what we have learnt.
Dear ma’am,
ReplyDeleteI am writing to you after such a long time. But this post of yours is sure to invoke a definite response from most of your latent readers because of its relevance. Bull’s eye.
I am honoured to have you as teacher because of your distinctive style of teaching, and more so, of evaluation. For example, I doubt anyone ever expects to walk in an examination hall and instead be handed over a review article. Then, to dig answers out of that one. It was an absolute delight. Never before I had that much fun while simultaneously scoring marks (without having to scribble down the last piece of relevant information I can remember).
I can only wish that more and more teachers adopt such deviant strategies. Although we all have still a long way to go, but the reform has started. I have seen some teachers and professors trying to change this rote learning system in their own significant ways.
This realization that I want to go ahead in research, because now I know that I am actually capable of doing this (and not because I have respectable score in exams), is all thanks to you. This is what I think that we need. To realize our potential. For this, you are a beacon, ma’am.
How lovely to hear from you! May I say that I enjoyed teaching you all and it was delightful to have you in the lab. Hope things are going well with at BARC. And when you are in Delhi, stop by the lab.
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton for your comments. It encourages me.