The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Help students discover their own ways of learning'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Help students discover their own ways of learning'

Staff Reporter

ADVICE: Scientist C.N.R. Rao addressing a workshop in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: An Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) professor was so lost and confused while teaching the "brilliant students" at the institute that he often went late to classes to ensure that he spent only minimum time teaching. "It is pathetic to see the state of a teacher in a class of bright students," joked renowned scientist C.N.R. Rao.

An audience of about 100 science teachers from various schools in the city laughed as Mr. Rao cited several incidents to drive home his point at a workshop here on Tuesday.

"Do not try to teach everything you know. Anyone can read a textbook and learn things. Make the subject interesting and most importantly, a relationship with the student is more important than the subject," Mr. Rao said.

"There are hardly any interesting books in science these days. Even NCERT books are quite average and not interesting at all. But unfortunately you are stuck with it," he said.

Use the Mahabharata, the Quran and the Bible to narrate stories and make science interesting, he said.

"No one knows the secret of creativity. But you can help the students to discover their own ways of learning new things," Mr. Rao said.

Later, Indumathi Rao presented a demonstration using a compact disc on various aspects of science. The compact disc was one of the ways in which science could be made interesting, she said.

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