Comments on: The failure of experimental science in India

By: Karthik

Karthik — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:22:31 +0000

the problem is those who want to teach dont seem to be getting the point that teaching is
a)add on to exams , its the other way round
b)not merely telling(blabbering out some stuff)

this is what usually happens
btw i am UG student @ loyola

By: Gaurav Mishra Insights » Taare Zameen Par

Gaurav Mishra Insights » Taare Zameen Par — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:03:37 +0000

[...] This reminds me of a very motivating views of a person whom i respect a lot Mr. Gora Mohanty , You can read them here [...]

By: buckycat

buckycat — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:59:28 +0000

Dear Sunder,

Thanks for that link. The demonstrations were absolutely wonderful, as was the sheer enthusiasm of Prof. Miller. Simple, inexpensive demonstrations that immediately show the principle in question are indeed great. Some of my happiest times were spent in the demonstration room as a teaching assistant. The most impressive one that I have seen was welding two rods together in the arc from a Tesla coil, while holding them in your bare hands. The voltage was strong enough to have an arc jump a foot of air, but one could safely do this as the high-frequency current passes through your outer skin.

You are right that few of our students are encouraged to try and apply the laws that they learn out of a book. In India I have yet to see a comparable setup of demonstrations, and a planned set of labs to match those used in undergraduate teaching in the US. Labs are places where you fudge your results to have them come out as expected.

This is a malaise broader than physics. Biology should be taught by students walking through the fields, getting their hands dirty examining leaves, and pond scum. The good news is that there are people working on simple demos using material readily available in Indian homes. More on this later.

Regards,
Gora

By: buckycat

buckycat — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:23:07 +0000

Dear P.Ganesh, and Ashutosh,

You are absolutely right in that finding fault is easier than the long, hard work of coming up with solutions, and that it is up to us to solve the problem. There are also no easy solutions, and nothing that will work over night.

I also do realise that there are people doing wonderful work in improving Indian education. I strongly believe that a real solution can only come from involving everyone, rather than from within the ivory towers of academia. In my opinion, we need to: (a) Face up to the problems. I submit that many people in the establishment are still unwilling to admit that there are systemic problems, (b) Reach out to people outside the establishment to come up with innovative solutions that do more than offer pablum.

We are working with various people in this regard, and I will follow up with some ideas on this front. I am a little pressed for time these days, so you might want to take look at a planned event in Feb. Please see the Freed.in 2008 site

By: Rajul Ranjan Choudhury

Rajul Ranjan Choudhury — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:34:43 +0000

I totaly agree with your view point and appreciate your effert to speakout, cause one can think of changing only after realizing that change is required.

By: P Ganesh

P Ganesh — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:28:26 +0000

You have just proven that finding faults in others is better than correcting oneself. Nothing in life is easy. We should still be great full that we can do science in a great country like India and make a decent living. What more should a scientist want?

By: Ashutosh

Ashutosh — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:54:48 +0000

Dear,

Your analysis is ture picture of indian science. We all know the problems. But main question is: if not we, then who will solve it……….

US citizan or British people won’t………

We have to and we should do it…

By: Sunder Sahayanathan

Sunder Sahayanathan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:16:11 +0000

Hi Gora! I accidentally came across this you tube video. Just have a look at it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCcZyW-6-5o
I liked the way Prof. Miller explaining Bernoulli’s principle. The experiments he demonstrates doesn’t require hifi equipments. But how many of us (i mean Indian students) have seen such demos to understand physical laws in our high school days? during our school days we all are experts in mugging up the physical laws and vomiting it in the exam papers (including the comma) without digesting it. As we grow up in colleges and universities we do experiments in our practical classes (Young’s modulus, torsional pendulum, diffraction, etc. etc.) which were very well dictated step by step in the practical books as well as there will be instructors who do the steps for u because u may break the instrument. Have we ever attempted to do an experiment of our own to demonstrate a physical law or did our education system encouraged us to do so. I feel these may be one cause for our utter failure in experiments because we never realized its importance.

By: buckycat

buckycat — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:31:59 +0000

Dear Manojendu,

Thank you for your comments. I think that the need of the hour is for practising scientists to speak out, as well as those who have left science in India for greener pastures.

At the same time, the picture is not all gloomy. I am a chronic optimist, and there are also many encouraging signs nowadays in India. I will try to find time to follow up with a post on such issues.

By: Manojendu Choudhury

Manojendu Choudhury — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:19:55 +0000

First of all, let me tell you that you have spoken the words out of my mouth. Secondly, I have forwarded this mail to a host of my friends, I am sure you won’t mind that.