Learning how to learn

I hated physics in middle school. It was a subject I found bizarre, tough and most of all filled with vague formulae that made no sense to me. I used to fear asking questions in class . Even if i did, teachers used to dismiss it as “out-of-portions” . We were taught time and again, how to score marks and how to become a school topper. Never in my school life,I was fascinated by science. It was just a means to an end.

But in my high school ,I just couldn’t take it. I wanted a teacher who would teach me physics from ground up. Thanks to my mom’s networks, I heard about a wonderful teacher who taught IIT Physics in Chennai. I was hooked in his first class. I remember his exact words were “You don’t utter a physics term without defining it first” .The first term was velocity , not nuclear physics. But we were stuck. We realised that to learn any subject, asking the right questions is really important. If I had asked my physics teacher to help me define it back in 6th grade,I would have been a happier physics learner. Instead I was stuck there, in a limbo,in an education system which places emphasis on rote learning and memorisation. Now when I interact with my American friends, I realize how they had chosen their subjects with passion and eagerness to learn while I sailed through my school days memorising silly answers to textbook questions.

The wise physics teacher always says, to learn anything, there should be intellectual discomfort ,yet psychological safety. His physics classes made me like the subject and if I could owe my University education to one person,it would be him.If not for his encouragement and unassuming approach to teaching ,I would have failed miserably in physics. He made me love a subject I never dreamt I would. My friends who already loved physics took it as a career,because of him alone.

School days are wonderful opportunities to make mistakes and learn. Learning to ask questions is the first step to education. I missed out on that. So what can I do to rectify a journey bygone? Not letting anybody I know get down by it.

Make time to learn how to learn!