A teacher stands in front of a classroom and draws formulae or sketches a solution to a problem on a whiteboard. Students are either scribbling notes or listening to the teacher. This is the most common teaching method in our schools and colleges. What is wrong with it?
The problem is that there are more effective ways of teaching Science, Engineering, and Maths. Many have observed that most students taught this way forget memorised formulae soon after the exam is over and grades are assigned. In an interconnected, globalised world, a web-based search or AI application such as ChatGPT4 can supply the solution, provided one asks the correct queries. However, the students fail when deeper theoretical foundations are needed to solve challenging problems, particularly those with multiple possible solutions and where tradeoffs are needed to choose, considering the proper context.
Learning by doing
Recent advances in learning Science have shown that a classroom-based lecture-and-examination teaching model is the worst form of learning. An alternative method — learning by doing — makes students absorb new knowledge deeper, and use it more effectively. This method asks students to observe or do an experiment. Then they are asked questions to get them to think critically about why things work the way they do.
Consider how students will learn about the nature of light and the laws of optics through this method. A teacher will begin by showing an experiment whereby one observes that objects underneath water seem nearer than they are. This is because the light rays bend their paths when entering the water from the air. A teacher could lead students to ask questions about this phenomenon, making them think about why these light rays bend, how much they bend, why different colours of light rays have different bending angles, why they do not ben smoothly but change path abruptly, as they enter the water and what property of the medium determines how much bending would occur. Making students think and search proactively for answers to such questions leads to a deep understanding of the nature of light.
Similarly, an experiment with floating objects in water could be used to explain Archimedes’ law of floating objects. Critical thinking about that will lead to understanding the viscosity of fluid and surface tension.
Skills required
Skills learned to innovate are closely linked with this highly effective method of teaching STEM subjects. To innovate, one begins by observing a product, a process, or how products get used and must think critically about the observations and ask “what-if” questions. These habits of observation, curiosity, critical thinking, and generating alternatives are what students learn by doing in STEM education. Being innovative is essential to being a good scientist and an engineer. Our teaching of STEM subjects would be more firmly grounded if it also integrated teaching innovation for all students.
A facility like an innovation lab or hub can be used to teach the art of innovation to students. A typical facility would include space that allows small groups to meet and brainstorm ideas and mechanical and electronic equipment for building prototypes. A useful innovation frequently emerges from interdisciplinary work, thereby fostering teamwork. Many successful innovation labs provide for student visits to factories, urban surroundings, and rural areas, where they are likely to encounter real problems that need solutions.
Innovation hubs also end up being incubators for innovative startups. Currently, most of our start-ups tend to copy a business model or a product that has worked well abroad. The only innovation that is pursued is to indigenise it to suit local tastes or to reduce costs. Start-ups that emerge from innovation hubs are observed to be more innovative.
IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras both have vibrant innovation hubs that have led to the building of several deep-tech start-ups and unicorns. With the help of alumni support, engineering institutes such many of the IITs and BITS Pilani have created innovation hubs that typically include Tinkerers’ Labs, which are open to all students 24x7 and managed by students; courses teaching prototype building; courses using active learning methods; and classrooms that support those courses. Empirical evidence collected at these facilities supports the idea that a vibrant innovation ecosystem developed at these institutions has led to an increased number of innovative startups. Independent measurements of outcomes conducted over the years at these institutes also show the effectiveness of such programmes in imparting better education to students in STEM disciplines.
The writer is the Founder, Maker Bhavan Foundation
