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School is an institution of thought and nurturing, one that guides a student through how what and why of the sciences that govern us and the world affairs that dictate us. A right-of-the-bat ninth grader, who is introduced to the three musketeers of science- biology, chemistry & physics, finds himself in a dilemma most of us are aware of (and those that aren’t, the dilemma awaits you). Whether or not science is one’s cup of tea or should science go completely? In my limited knowledge, no individual has been inclined to biology and physics equally. It’s one or the other, always. And this inclination becomes a major deciding factor in future career prospects.
A student can have a favorite subject, a subject they would like to pursue further, and create a career. But how is it that a student inclines towards a specific discipline? Is it good teaching or just good intuition? As for intuition, it relies on an individual’s curiosity and zeal but good teaching plays, I believe, a large part in turning simple concepts into woah moments. Over the course of this article, I will go over the contributing factors in the inclination towards a subject(s).
Teaching- a golden eight-letter action verb that largely defines education and an underestimated power tool that can change the course of how we perceive education. A subject in itself can be the most intriguing one, but if not introduced properly to a fresher, it can deter that student from ever pursuing that subject. Teaching here plays an important role in making that effective introduction possible. Teaching in its purest form, a form that empathizes with learners, understands how a concept needs to be projected and conveyed such that it doesn’t just sit with a learner, but makes one question and dive further into its facet.
Let’s take chemistry for example. in hindsight, Chemistry is equally complicated as any other discipline of science. But chemistry haters are an army. Why? Is it confusing? Does it dive into a hole too deep for our good? Not really. However, we have painted chemistry as a subject that sends the head spinning with all physical, organic, and non-organic domains. To add on, Organic Chemistry is a domain entirely based on the behavior of C-atom, and it doesn’t make it any easier than it’s just ONE element. But that’s not a valid enough reason to dislike and hate. A quick Google search on why chemistry is most disliked returns the response as “Chemistry has been as a difficult subject for students by many researchers, teachers and science educators [7-8] because of the abstract nature of many chemical concepts, teaching styles applied in class, lack of teaching aids and the difficulty of the language of chemistry”. And it is to be noted here that teaching styles applied in class are among the primary reasons. However, are the teachers to blame? Yes and no. The modern education system as progressive as it gets also binds education to a structured assessment model, which restricts and further binds concepts to timed deadlines. Moving ahead, what are the possible ways to get ahead of this situation? Do we train our teachers better or do we improvise our education models? Reinvent education.
What does “Reinventing Education” mean?
Reinventing education is pushing boundaries, asking more, and understanding a lot more. Students need to take into account the competition they face and the rat race is not encouraging in the least. But we need to understand education is not bound to books of RD Sharma and HC Verma and exams preparations. Education is so much more. Education is whatever one is passionate about and gains knowledge in that domain of choice. It could be a relatively trivial discipline like meteorology or as large a discipline as history. Whatever it may be, education is what defines you.
The idea of reinventing education goes around the inclusivity of various interests and disciplines. It trumps the notion that one is to pursue engineering or business. It paves way for varied ideas, allowing better and more effective solutions to modern-day problems. Because it is empathetic that way!
