If you are wondering Why science is difficult? Let me tell you why.
Now before answering this question directly , let me tell you a story – A story of teacher and student. Here it goes…
It was Ms. Sippy’s very first day in school as a science teacher, located in some small town of India. There was rumour in school that she was new to the town and nobody in the school knew much about her as she never preferred talking about herself. But, if you talk about science to her, you could see a sparkle in her eyes while discussing the subject.
And another character of the story is ajit. He was a notorious boy of the class 6th A. He was never interested in studies as rote memorization was not his cup of tea. But one of the best qualities he had was that he was very observant.
The school bell rang and Ms Sippy entered Ajit’s class. As usual Ajit was not interested in listening to her but the moment she said , today i am going to show you magic.His face lit up. He kept looking at her , thinking about what she would be doing in the class. This was something new for him.
Ms. Sippy didn’t use any fancy things to showcase magic. Just turmeric water and soap water was used . This is readily available in every Indian house. When she mixed both the colour of water changed red. The whole class was clapping and happy. Then she started telling them that when turmeric is added to any basic solution it changes its colour. This way we can identify acid and base.
What was the impact of this small act? Students like Ajit could pay more attention in class and a happy environment was created in the classroom which helped students to understand the subject and relate it to day to day life thus making them more smart and educated about scientific approach to life.
Top 7 reasons why science is difficult
1.Basics of Concepts are not Clear
Based on action research conducted by many education research scholars , students find science difficult because their basic fundamentals are not clear, for example many students could tell the definition of photosynthesis but once asked whether it can take place at night also? Then they were not able to answer. They had confusion that photosynthesis takes place in day as well as night. As per students photosynthesis means process to prepare food thus , it can take place at night.
This is just one example, similarly students can have many concepts which are not clearly understood by them.
2. Rote Memorization Vs Activity Based Learning
“ I hear and i forget,
I see and i remember,
I do and i learn”
According to research , students understand better what they observe rather than what is taught to them through verbal communication. Whatever we see remains in our memory for a longer period of time as compared to what they read in books. In the above story, the teacher demonstrated activity to teach acidic and basic nature of substances and how to identify them using an indicator. Now the same concept if just communicated by talking to them then it’s difficult to understand as they will not be able to relate it easily as every student may not have the same imaginary power. So if they all see then it’s proved to them that science is fact.
3. Science Experiments are Costly
Teachers are unaware that without even using laboratory apparatus or visiting a science laboratory an experiment can be shown to children. Also, they will have to buy all the chemicals which are listed in textbooks to show it to them. But nowadays alternate options are available. As using actual acid or base, natural acidic and basic substances can also be used. Just like the above story.Here, safety issues have to be taken into consideration. Thus, materials which are easily handled and not harmful to environment after disposition has to be chosen to teach the subject
I will be posting more on this , so keep following our website to know more.
4. Use of Mother Tongue in Classroom
This is applicable to countries across the world where many languages are spoken in communities other than English. Country like India where different languages are spoken across the various states like Gujarati in Gujarat. Marathi in Maharashtra and the list goes on for different regions. So using your mother tongue sometimes can help you learn a subject . However this remains controversial because most of the schools use English language as a mode of communication and maintaining unity in diversity is always difficult because schools in metro cities may not have students speaking a similar mother tongue.
5. Science Relevant in Day to Day Life
“ A mind that is open to new ideas never return to original size”
Any knowledge which you cannot utilise in day to day life is wasted. Thus if we understand the science behind day to day phenomena occurring in that subject then it brings interest in knowing the subject more deeply. Here, in the above story Ms sippy used materials which were readily available thus leading to better understanding. Thus educators must teach the relevance of science in daily life. They should be encouraged to pose questions and find answers too. Many students know that color of the sky is blue but i am afraid very few will be able to find reason for appearance of sky blue.
6. Science Educator must be Creative in Teaching and not just Qualified.
Educators should take responsibility on their shoulders to help kids in understanding subject easily. They should incorporate various methods to clear the concept . If students are not taking interest in subject then it’s failure for educators and not students as they are not able to engage them and develop interest as per their needs.So depending on need and resources, educators must be creative to teach the subject.
Keep in mind , there are no poor students who are not able to perform better but there can be incompetent teachers who can not make learning interesting as well as meaningful.
7. Engineering and medical study is costly
In country like India, cost to pursue engineering and medical field is much as compare to other streams like commerce and arts. Therefore parents do not encourage students of secondary school to develop deep interest in the subject. as they think they can’t afford education in these fields in future.(this is applicable in lower class and middle class families) So even if child is interested to study the subject, due to peer pressure they do not learn it with curiosity.
Conclusion
Lastly,
Remember quote by APJ Abdul kalam,
‘science is beautiful gift to humanity, we should not distort it’.
So if you see any young mind finding it difficult, help them to clear their doubts. You are doing this not to just children but to HUMANITY.
