How to build scientific temper in schools – Do we work on teachers?

Some days back, one of my colleagues asked me to write on this topic and suggested the title of the blog. 

As I mentioned in my previous blog, children are born scientists, full of curiosity, exploring and asking questions. In school, teachers, their first role models, have a very important role to play in nurturing this inborn curiosity. A teacher during a child’s formative years must encourage them to ask unconventional questions and not punish, shun or dissuade them from pursuing their own frame of logic. It is seen that outstanding scientists often encounter great teachers in school. Dr. Mashelkar, Former Director General, CSIR often told that his Physics teacher taught him how to focus. The physics teacher one day took the students out of the classroom with a lens and a piece of paper to show that if the sunlight falling on the lens was focused on the paper placed at the focal distance, the paper catches fire. This incident, I am told by Dr. Mashelkar changed the course of his future and had a great influence on his subsequent scientific career. It is often seen that teachers in our primary schools, discipline students in such a manner that they stop asking questions and are afraid to find alternate answers to the questions that are in their textbooks. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that the Teachers Training Program includes extensive sessions where teachers are taught how to encourage students to ask questions in the class. This trait needs to be nurtured from the very young days. Many students may not do well in the exams, but raise unusual questions in the class which often embarrasses teachers as they find themselves unable to answer. It is important for teachers to recognize such students and instead of dissuading them from asking such questions in the pretext of creating indiscipline in the class, use such opportunities to raise debates in the class among the students. This way, learning becomes enjoyable and fun. While it is crucial that teachers impart the learning, it is also essential that the independent thinking and natural talents of the students are not stifled. However the present education system fails to do so. This is indicated subtly by Kaviguru Shri Rabindranath Tagore in “The tale of the parrot”.

“Once there was a bird. It sang songs, but did not read the scriptures. It flew; it jumped, but did not have the faintest sense of etiquette. The King said, “Educate the bird. The King's nephew was given the responsibility of educating the bird. An exquisite golden cage was made where the education of the bird was to take place, which attracted many visitors. Teachers copied and recopied pages of books for the bird to swallow. At last when the education of the bird was over, the critics said that the bird has died while the nephew claimed that the bird’s education was complete.

The King asked, “Does it still jump?''

The nephew said, “God forbid.''

“Does it still fly?''

“No.''

“Does it sing any more?''

“No.''

“Does it scream if it doesn't get food?''

“No.'' 

The bird was brought. The King touched the bird. It neither opened its mouth nor uttered a word. All that he felt was the rustle of the pages from the books, stuffed inside its stomach, while the birds which did not attend the school were singing and dancing outside, heralding the arrival of the spring”. 

While Tagore was defining the state of education imparted by the British education system a century back, it is unfortunate that we haven’t moved beyond that system, while today’s world need young children in school to be explorative. 

I have had the privilege of visiting the rural schools of Bengal and have also had the opportunity to interact with students from all major metropolitan cites. As I walked into a school in Jalpaiguri district of Northern part of Bengal, one summer afternoon, I asked a young boy of class sixth to recite a poem. The boy smartly recited a famous poem by Tagore: 

“Bahu din dhare bahu krosh doore

 Bahu vyay kari bahu desh ghure

Dekhite giyechchi parvat-mala,

Dekhit giyechchi sindhu 

Dekha hoy naai chakshu meliya

Ghar hote shudhu dui paa pheliya

Ek ti dhaner shisher upare 

Ek ti shishir-bindu”

(I walked for miles for many days, spent time and money to see mountains, seas and oceans. I saw everything that was there to see. But I never stepped out of my own home to see a drop of dew swinging from the ear of a paddy.)

I turned around and asked “Can you show me, the dew drop on a paddy?” To which another boy unhesitantly replied “You cannot see it now. You can only see it on a winter morning.” I was impressed by the child’s ability to observe and learn from ground realities and was reminded of the differences between a wild bird and a caged bird from Tagore’s poem on two birds, translated by Joy Forever. 

“The wild bird sings sitting outside

All his jungle songs,

The caged bird speaks lines he was taught –

No match between their tongues.

The wild bird says, “Brother caged bird,

Sing some jungle songs please!”

The caged bird says, “Brother wild bird,

Let’s see you learn up these.”

The wild bird says, “No,

I don’t want songs that are taught.”

The caged bird says, “Alas,

Jungle songs I know not.”

                                                           

Learning’s from life’s experience

We indeed need to focus on the teachers. The teachers must be trained to encourage the students in school to ask questions like a wild bird that sings its own songs, flaps its wings and jumps around. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”

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