No one will read this!

No one will read this… but everyone should.

It is long, it relates to nothing we are doing in science (grade 6 or grade 8), and it has no pretty pictures, diagrams, or animations.  Well just one, of Richard Feynman, a very (VERY!) smart guy.

This is Feynman:

Once again, let me repeat:  no one will read this article.  Prove me wrong. Comment or email me.   mister.buracas@gmail.com

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Feynman on Education in Brazil

From Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!:

In regard to education in Brazil, I had a very interesting experience. I was teaching a group of students who would ultimately become teachers, since at that time there were not many opportunities in Brazil for a highly trained person in science. These students had already had many courses, and this was to be their most advanced course in electricity and magnetism – Maxwell’s equations, and so on.

The university was located in various office buildings throughout the city, and the course I taught met in a building which overlooked the bay.

I discovered a very strange phenomenon: I could ask a question, which the students would answer immediately. But the next time I would ask the question – the same subject, and the same question, as far as I could tell – they couldn’t answer it at all! For instance, one time I was talking about polarized light, and I gave them all some strips of polaroid.

Shift happens

Did you know?

And so… what is our role as teachers in the 21st century?  What is your role as a students?  And the parents of students, what should they be demanding of the system?

It’s a brave new world out there.  And while the change is profound, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we throw out all that we know about teaching and learning. Even though the question “why do we have to learn this stuff?” will persist, the answer (it’s not the information, it’s the process you come by it) is no less correct now than a hundred years ago. Or ten.

I don’t think we as teachers (or we as an education system) have done enough to explain why we do what we do, or why it’s important for you (the student) to do it as well.