Why not - Engineering or Science?

 

A senior colleague of mine brought my attention to an advertisement with the tagline "Why not?" by a company called Atomberg. Indeed a wonderful advertisement! But the discussion point was that Engineers and Innovators ask the question "Why not?" whereas scientists ask "why?". It is not true that Scientists do not ask "why not". In fact, only because scientists ask "Why not have the eyes in the back of the head? Why not have an ellipsoid soap bubble?", they have found answers to why the eyes are in the front of the head and soap bubbles are spherical in shape. The question "why not" plays an important role in science and engineering - and our pursuits in knowledge, in general. The only difference I see between science and engineering pursuits is that focus - Science's main preoccupation is that of understanding the world that exists around us, whereas, Engineering's preoccupation is that of making useful products for the human kind. I am hoping that I will be able to tease out more on the similarities between science and engineering in the upcoming posts. 

When are we going to change the way students learn?

I distinctly remember that no one taught me to use Word/Microsoft/.... or any other documentation tool. But today, these are there in the school curriculum. That is a good thing, right? At the outset, yes - but let me also show another dimension to it, which I think is far too harmful. 

It is good because, the world has moved Digital - our children need to be able to cope up with the these aspects, which is kind of very basic skills these days. I agree to this. However, does that mean we have to ask in the question paper something of this sorts: "We use _____ to insert pictures in word document (fill in the blanks)"?? You might have used word in your career - can you guess what should come in the blank space? I wouldn't be surprised if you cannot recall that - I couldn't too, and I had to open my word document to check what it is! We have learnt to use word - which is the most important thing. Remembering that there are tabs called "illustration", "smart art" etc., and "vomitting" it in the question paper serves no help - you agree with me, right? But what does the curriculum do these days? They have successfully brought these into "books" and students have to read through the books to know how to crack the exam. Is this of any value? No, because it does not help them to use word. It is just familiarity of words which has no value. Well, I would still be okay if this does no harm to the kids. Unfortunately, such bookish knowledge of practical skills only bore the children, so much so that, they hate schooling and eventually learning at all. Is that harmful - YES! When are we going to understand how children learn and create a space for them to learn joyfully? It is only when there is a passion in doing things (here, learning), excellence begins. We aspire for a country of self-reliance - which may remain words in white papers unless the curriculum changes!!