UPRIGHTING 'STEM' EDUCATION WITH 7x24 LABS

Education 2047 #Blog 04 (13 AUG 2020)

Imagine the scene in a physics laboratory, a 12th class student struggling to find out refractive index of a bar magnet. Sounds bizarre, isn't it? Possibly his teacher was wide-off the mark of what Benjamin Franklin observed, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”. The teacher started his job well by telling and teaching but did not finish it by involving the student who, evidently never learnt what was intended to be. This is a first-hand experience narrated in one of the alumni meets by my teacher Dr. J.K. Sharma who superannuated as HOD, Department of Physics, St. John’s College, Agra. He was to examine students appearing in Physics practical examinations conducted by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education Uttar Pradesh in the late 80s/ early 90s, somewhere in a remotely located and poorly connected school in adjoining Etah district. The students who are supposed to perform two experiments had already been allotted by the time he reached and were busy doing them. This student was allotted two experiments- the first one required tracing magnetic lines of forces formed around a bar magnet using a magnetic compass and the second one, to find the refractive index of a prism; both experiments interestingly required the use of a drawing board and get recounted after 40 years.  

Dr. Sharma confronted this student, who would have been next attempting to trace magnetic lines of forces using the prism! Clearly, the student had never seen a prism or bar magnet and upon being questioned, the teacher admitted that students were indeed never shown the items and kept locked, as the school feared them of being stolen. Curious Dr Sharma asked why the items were taken out that day and what makes the teacher confident that they will not be smuggled out that day, the teacher pointed towards a person seated at the gate to frisk the examinees leaving the school! A passionate teacher as he is, Dr. Sharma took the student aside and demonstrated the two experiments leaving him happy but he was himself unhappy having hit the pit, which actually is the tip of the proverbial iceberg!  Isn't it that doors are shut not only on the laboratory equipment but also on the aspiration of millions of students wanting to explore the world from the prism of science, drawn by the magnetic charm of discovering the world, by themselves? Yes, the practical component of science education isn’t placed where it should be and this is glaringly visible at higher levels as well! STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering & Mathematics) education isn’t upright!
 

One of the commonly heard grouse heard, again and again, year after year and from employer after employer is that our students are not employable and lack basic skills. The fact is, this deficiency in skills and expectation at work-places is linked with the culture and environment that we offer to our students not just in our colleges but in our schools and even our homes. Working with hands is considered lowly, degrading or subservient and abhorred, fully cognizant that skills like swimming or surgery cannot be learnt using touchscreens! It is through practical experiments and experiences that psycho-motor skills develop which are measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures and techniques in execution. Unfortunately, the practical work, the practical classes and equipment/ infrastructure for practical- all stand marginalized or ignored, evident from the low weightage accorded in academic scores; largely because of being out of comfort zones and requiring extra resources and efforts from teachers as well. No wonder ‘working with hand’ to conduct the experiments and feel them, prompts ‘washing  hands off’ instead!
 

It is a common observation that in most of the well-to-do and aspirational families, the children are diverted to studies whenever they are confronted with manual activities or physical labour. The children too, these days find an opportunity to glue to their devices and gadgets, which at best put their thumbs into labour. Most grow up these days without having seen how food is cooked or laundry done or toilets cleaned. Most move into colleges without ever seeing any gadget opened for repair or having carried a load themselves. Thus, a disconnect with the real-world starts from homes- with head, hands and heart seldom getting the chance to work together and the trend continues in the formal learning spaces.
 

In our schools, we have compulsory science education up to the 8th grade and laboratory work for sciences till 12th. This is an opportunity for the students to confront and appreciate the very basic and simple concepts in science and fire the scientific temper. But the reality on the ground remains that most teachers tell their students to concentrate on the theory by assuring them of good scores in practical examinations. Many use it as a ploy to force students to take private tuition from them and give them good marks in return. In many cases, it is left to the lab assistants to facilitate while teachers bunk the classes. I am sure in many more, the practical classes are conducted to complete the course and not with an intent to complete the learning. Lesser importance to lab work in secondary education is also attributable to the near absence of the test of experimental skills in JEE type competitions. 

It is not a surprise that experiments get axed when it comes to funds for maintenance of lab infrastructure or equipment. Even the classroom/ lecture hall/ open-air demonstrations which were common earlier stand sacrificed to theory, which may otherwise introduce the students to a physical phenomena whose explanation they may look for or search in theory class. Lot of well-intended  activities are identified in the textbooks, to be performed by the students or teachers or both, but one wonders if they are conducted in true spirit. Clearly, the importance of experimental work remains low and many of the skills that should actually get picked in schools, remain wanting.  Possibly we have not developed the right tools and methodology to assess the performance in practical; one more reason why practical component remains at a low pedestal.   

 

Our system grades students as eligible for science and technical courses for which the eligibility conditions require the student to have 'learnt' sciences (mathematics included). These subjects have a practical component dominated by theory, and the format is such that theory precedes or drives the practical for hands-on training, sounding too prescriptive for graduating students.  With the lab-work that we currently have and the ‘generosity’ in its evaluation, one can see the learning stripped of skills. With rapid advances in information and communication technologies in recent decades and their incursion in education, there are multiple opportunities and options to teach/ learn theory and the same is not true for practical which remain irreplaceable. Shouldn’t the cart and the horse be placed right? 

 

Experience too suggests that it is practical classes that cause better appreciation of sciences, whet the interest of students and motivate them to move towards career in sciences. And this can be realized effectively only if the time-table is centered around practical classes and not the theory. Yes, the STEM education should be built around “7x24 labs” in the academic institutions; the labs should open at least 7 hours a day and for 24 days in a month, to ensure that capital investment is genuinely utilized in full measures. The basic idea should be to expose the students adequately to connect the real world they experience (both inside and outside the labs) with the theory, motivate them and charge them up to dive deeper. Technologies like Immersive Virtual Reality, Internet-of-things, Robotics, Drones, Holograms, Volumetric Screens, Mobile Apps, Wearables, Haptic interfaces can further amplify the joy of learning STEM. It should, however, be remembered that mobile apps, simulated or virtual labs can help in completing the course, not the learning and should, if at all required, be used for repeating a physical experiment.  
 

With free access to knowledge thanks to the internet, the discovery learning can be reinvigorated and the minds made more inquisitive, imaginative and creative. Why not let the students, for example, observe a natural phenomenon like a rainbow and then look for its explanation in the laws of reflection, refraction, total internal reflection and dispersion of light. After all, in the real-life too, we begin to talk first and then learn the grammar; learn to ride a bicycle and then appreciate laws of motion; begin to eat and realize the importance of nutrients and it is not the other way round. In short, we experience the world around us first and then connect with the knowledge, resulting in learning that outlasts the one acquired through memorization. Why not then get the pieces right- teach theory as an extrapolation of practical instead of peddling as interpolation of theory?  With (theoretical) knowledge fully democratized and accessible at a click or gesture (or thought in future), the differentiator for academic institutions in future will be the practical or experiential learning imparted in their "7x24 labs".  

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Author is an Adviser with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on deputation from Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC).

Views are personal.

Feedback/ comments are appreciated and can be given in the comment box below. Thanks!

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