Formulaic science does not help creativity. Linking science to life does.
‘Science is more about doing things, rather than reading or writing. Science should be taught in a manner that the child applies to his life and surroundings. Formulaic science does not help creativity. If indeed India aims at emerging as a scientific power, scientific curriculum should incorporate teaching of scientific method rather than merely formulae’.
This is how Dr Qazi S Azher opines about the teaching of science in India. A prominent science educator and physician, Dr Azher is associate director of pathology at Hurley Medical Center, at Detroit and clinical associate professor at Michigan State University. An expert in organising science fairs, Dr Azher has been the moving spirit behind a series of annual science fairs being organised in towns and cities of South India. Keeping a punishing schedule, Dr Azher visited 16 places in an 18-day tour during December 2007 either organising science fairs or lecturing on methodology of science teaching. He presided over such fairs in Sholapur, Usmanabad, Bidar, Bijapur, Vaniyambadi, Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, Belgaum and Hubli.
A graduate from Gulbarga’s PDA Medical College, Dr Azher’s keen interest in science teaching owes itself to his B.Sc and B.Ed degrees which he acquired before stepping into the MBBS course. Despite having built a successful medical career in the United States, Dr Azher has pursued science fairs with passion. He is also on the advisory board for selecting the science curriculum of schools in Michigan State.
His science fairs have won appreciation from governments all over the southern States and Maharashtra. Constant prodding by him has spawned a clutch of science activists which prepare the ground for his science fairs in towns and cities. Science fairs have caught the fancy of even madrassa (Arabic theological schools) students inasmuch as two students from Madrassa Darul Abrar in Bijapur have developed two science projects on ‘Effects of smoking on blood pressure’ and ‘Toxic effect of tobacco on the concentration of oxygen in the blood of tadpoles’. These projects were displayed at the one-day science fair held at the Al-Ameen College in Bangalore some time ago. (The fair was inaugurated by Ms Vanditha Sharma, director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan).
Dr Azher cautions against confusing science exhibitions with science fairs. He says, “Science exhibitions merely display models and book experiments while science fairs comprise research projects. They are the outcome of how a scientist thinks and comes up with an innovative idea. Science fairs stimulate curiosity and involve scientific methodology.”
Dr Azher says most Indian students who approach American universities for admission may have done models for science exhibitions, but are deficient on original research. This is attributable to teaching of formulaic science in schools which does not trigger any original thinking. Children tend to mug up lessons for fear of punishment from teachers and poor scores at examinations. The turquoise blue colour of the oceans propelled Sir C V Raman to discover the Raman Effect. Haven’t we all seen apples (or other fruit) falling to the ground every day? All this leads us to conclude that for being a scientist one need not be a postgraduate or PhD. All it needs is to trigger curiosity and a mechanism to identify such talents and support it.
Dr Azher who helped set up the Committee for Promoting Interest in Science in Bijapur five years ago, advises schools to set up bodies to offer boys and girls quality science related activities that will fascinate them with the wonders of scientific discovery and spark their interest in future scientific curiosity. He also recommends designating a day as ‘Science Career Day’.
Most Western countries include science fair in their school curricula which make the students solve day-to-day problems. For instance, a student worked on as to why her mother first cuts and cooks palak (spinach) among the vegetables. He found out that since palak had more water content, it was more likely to decompose earlier than other vegetables. Most kids look askance at formulas such as (a+b)2 which does not relate to any application in their lives. Kids tend to memorise only when they do not comprehend things. That’s why our science teachers and classes need to provide hands-on experience to the students. Kids do not look at a watch and open the manual that come s with it but try to dismantle the watch part by part. A child has a strong urge to use all his senses.
How to maximise use of Brain?
The human brain has the unlimited capacity to accommodate knowledge and information. It functions better when it is used more and more. Most people use it to just about 15 per cent of its capacity. A major portion of the brain gets developed in the childhood stage itself. At birth the brain weighs about one pound and by the time a child is six years old, his or her brain attains 90 to 95 per cent of its would-be size in the adult age.
On an average an individual is gifted with about 100 billion neurons or brain cells. 30,000 neurons can fit on the head of a pin. Each neuron has fingers spreading out of its fringes which are called dendrites. These dendrites link up with dendrites of neighbouring neurons and form a web and that is how the human brain develops cogent thinking by bringing together pieces of knowledge falling under different compartments. More linkages between dendrites make an individual more knowledgeable. A child’s brain during the first two years of birth has the maximum capacity to absorb knowledge as neurons work with enormous capacity and expand their web.
It is advisable at this stage to teach by doing things. For example, “A for Apple” by showing a picture is more effective than just uttering the word. But if the apple could be actually shown, the child can preserve its colour, size, etc in several compartments and dendritic connections blossom up when the word apple is referred to him subsequently. If he could taste the apple, one more compartment gets opened in his brain and the comprehension of the fruit is still better. Between the age of two and seven, which is known as pre-operation stage, the child can grasp several languages at a time. As many languages he listens or learns, that many language centres get opened in his brain and all of them function independently. He learns more by seeing and doing rather than by abstract thinking. Between the age of seven and 11, he/she is able to manipulate thoughts and ideas and can still learn more by doing. It is why activity based education is necessary in all these years of growth. Between the age of 11-15, he/she develops high order of thinking and that’s where rationalisation begins.
It is necessary that children are taught in simple language. In the United States, children are taught addition and subtraction by putting things on the table and mixing and separating them. Teachers are advised to say ‘put together’ for addition and ‘take away’ for subtraction.
Often certain myths like brain stores images are propagated. The human brain does not store pictures. Those who use the brain less, are more vulnerable to develop Alzheimer’s disorder at an advanced age.
