An introduction to the art & science of learning by Dr. Nithish. T. Jacob

Presented at the Discuss Education BarCamp powered by Linways Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Discuss Education BarCamp powered by Linways Technologies Pvt Ltd, gave a great platform for educators and academic enthusiasts to share different kinds of ideas they had to reform the education system. The BarCamp also turned out to be beneficial for teachers by inspiring them with some simple and innovative ideas that they can take away to practice in the classroom.

Dr. Nithish. T. Jacob’s session was a quiz-based interactive session with which he could demonstrate the liveliness a teacher can bring to a classroom and develop critical thinking skills in students. He stated the importance of Curiosity based learning in a classroom. A common problem that can be seen in classrooms nowadays is that many of the teachers find it difficult to make the students attentive in class. An ideal teacher is one who is able to invoke the natural curiosity in the students and the art and science of teaching hinges on this skill, proposed Dr. Nithish.

Curiosity based learning to improve student engagement in the classroom.

He explained different modes of learning and the present understanding of science in areas like Memory, Procrastination, and different techniques associated with learning. Covering topics like Focussed and Diffused Learning, Importance of Sleep, Procrastination, and how to beat it using the Pomodoro technique, the session gave a brief snapshot into the wide areas of research undergoing in this interesting field.

After explaining the concepts regarding Teaching and Learning, he started explaining the ways in which a tool like quiz can enrich the learning environment. Quiz can be used in the classroom as a powerful tool for invoking curiosity and to hook in the students’ attention to delve better into the subject on hand and to absorb it better. It helps to get the information linked to things the student might already know and to open up new avenues of learning to proceed with the next level. It also improves essential skills in students like Teamwork, logical ability, decision making, and risk-taking

For demonstrating this, he switched the discussion to an interactive quiz session. An example that really stood out; a video clip from a movie was shown to the audience and was asked to guess the city in which the particular scene has been shot. Even for a person who has not seen the movie,  could have worked out an answer by logically interpreting the clues and arriving at an intelligent guess by eliminating various options. The audience also got into the act and some of them cracked it right, with the participation and engagement going up as the session proceeded. When he gave out more such subtly framed Questions, the curiosity of the audience seemingly boosted up to take up more.

Dr Nithish explained that the human brain’s chemistry changes when we are in a curious state, citing medical studies done on this aspect. These studies show that our brains can hold more information and retain it for a longer time when we learn with curiosity. When trivia questions are framed in a particular way,  the pleasure in finding the answer becomes more interesting and the students will remember it for longer periods of time. This holds immense potential to link all subjects and treat it from a different perspective to get better outcomes, for the teacher as well as the student.