Modes of knowledge transfer

In earlier days when the Gurukul system of education existed in India, children from the kingdom used to go to a forest area where a school was established by a Guru (Teacher). This school was called as 'Gurukul' in Sanskrit. The children used to reside in this place for a decade to learn from the Guru. Among such students, there would be a group of students who learnt when taught only once. There was another group which learnt when taught twice and there was another group which learnt when taught thrice. Based on the number of repetitions a student would take to learn a lesson, there were different groups of students made and the lessons were taught accordingly. Learning was the same but the method was different for different sets of students.

In the current world, there are people with different abilities. Some need to be taught by teaching directly with words. Some need to be taught by exposing to practical exposure. Some can be taught by just speaking over phone. Some can be taught through online video tutorials. Some can be taught by asking them to perform certain tasks. The modes of learning differ from one person to the other. It becomes very important for the mentor/ teacher/ trainer to choose the right mode for the right student. I do accept that it's not easy for someone to spot the right methodology for every student instantly. One has to try every available method to find out which method exactly works for the students. The quickness in choosing the right method shall be achieved as one garners more and more experience. This option of choosing the right method doesn't apply only for the person who is sharing lessons. It applies to the student also who is learning the lessons. It's the individual's responsibility to work and find out which type of learning works right for him/her. Once again the method which sounded right some days back might not sound apt some days later. So, one should be ready to change and adapt to new modes of learning as time moves on. Different information demand different modes to reach a person. So, one should be ready to explore different streams to embody different kinds of information.

While one is battling through different modes of knowledge transfer to choose the right one, a student or a teacher might get into conflict while choosing the right method. A method which looks lucrative might not be practically implementable for a certain student. But the feelings attached cannot be erased until the wrong implementation is proved. So people must be ready to face bitter consequences too while exploring and experimenting with different modes of learning and teaching. At the end of the day, what's important is, learning the lesson. If the right lessons aren't passed between the mentor and the mentee then not just one person is at fault, it's the relation which is at fault by default.

Let me give an example

You would have heard this phrase a million times till now. To explain any particular concept, everyone tends to use an example to assist the authenticity of their concept. We see that examples exist even in our text books to prove the theory mentioned previously. Each one's life is an example to someone else. My only question is, how many times do we actually give or get the right examples?

 

First of all, let's see what is the necessity of giving an example. Whenever something explained to us, we may not understand it to an extent to which it has been explained. Let me give an example for this. When someone says that s/he has headache, you/I might just understand the existence of pain but we will not be able to understand the extent of the pain. When the same person gives an example that he is feeling the pain which happens when someone is hammering your head continuously, immediately we understand that the amount of pain is too much to sustain. Examples emphasize the depth of the concepts and situations. They help in better understanding and learning. Examples work as similes. Our brain can remember things by correlation. Hence every concept associated with an example is easy to remember and reproduce.

 

However, giving example is also a skill is what I believe. Unrelated examples completely take away the integrity of our understanding itself. One can give more examples only if one has read a lot, travelled a lot, met a lot of people and experienced a lot. Only when you can explain a simple concept by giving multiple examples do you become a great teacher and can spread your knowledge to a large mass of audience. Please feel free to share your feedback on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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Feels nice to be remembered

It was around a couple of days back when I had been to the gym by 9pm or so that I saw a lady who reminded me of someone whom I had met before. By the time I gave few seconds to my brain to search its memory bank I recollected that the lady in the gym was none other than my beloved teacher who taught me during my kindergarten schooling. Immediately I rushed towards her and asked if my guess was really right. I was almost 100% sure that she would feel happy that I still remembered her but definitely she wouldn't be able to recollect my name because it had been a gap of more than 2 decades since I passed out of my kindergarten.

I went near her and uttered her name just for confirmation and to my surprise the reply wasn't a 'yes' or a 'yeah'. The reply was 'Mohan!!!!!' pointing at me. I was just astounded. How on earth could this teacher of mine remember my name so clearly after 2 decades????? I was just amazed by her memory. I just thanked her for remembering my name. Then throughout my workout I was only smiling that my teacher could remember my name even after 20 long years. I was just patting my back that I was so famous in school that no teacher could ever forget my name. It's very natural for students to forget the name of 50 and odd teachers' names that they witness during their lifetime of education. The teachers interact with hundreds of new students every year. When a student cannot remember just 50 teachers' names how can one expect a teacher to remember all the students' names. Might be no teacher remembers all his/her students' names but if he/she remembers your name even after 20 years then you might just be one of those lucky pets of his/her.

This small incident taught me so much about remembering people. Even after 3 days of the incident I am still happy that my nursery teacher remembered my name. Just imagine how much of happiness you can create for a person by just remembering him/her. You need not help or serve or give anything to the person to make him/her feel happy. Just remember their name until eternity and that itself shall serve as the best gift you could possibly ever present because it feels really nice to be remembered. Do let me know if you remember my blogs on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Water Car enters my resume

Many of us prepare our resumes for our placements. In our resume we enter all our skills, talents, academic and extra-curricular achievements. In doing so, I had included a project of mine which I had done in my 9th std while many include only those projects which they would have done only during the graduation time period. The project 'Water Car' was one of the remarkable achievements of mine is what I felt and hence I included it. I will let you know the inside story of how this happened.

In my 8th std, for the annual science exhibition I had made a model on the use of solar cells for providing electricity to houses. I couldn't bring the original solar cells as it would be very costly and hence had made just a look-alike of solar cells with paper. I had displayed this model and asked my friend to explain so that I could roam around the school seeing all other projects. By evening when I returned I got to know from my friend that my model had got the worst reviews possible. Both the science teacher and our headmistress had ridiculed saying it was a dummy model and had given very bad comments. I couldn't take this as I had spent entire night to make this model itself. I went to a nearby ground and was in tears that I had failed miserably. At that moment there was a small hope or desire inside me which told that in the next year science model exhibition I would get praises from the same people who had ridiculed my project.

I was in 9th std and one fine day, my friend showed me a magazine which had a picture of a car which could run on hydrogen and oxygen gases and would produce distilled water. One of my friends and myself went to IISC with this idea along with our science teacher. The first professor whom we met said that this idea was practically non-implementable. Then we met another professor in another department who surprised us by saying that we could demonstrate the model and even take it from IISC for demonstration at our science exhibition. We were really excited and my friend and myself worked in IISC for 3 days under the guidance of the professor. Just on the previous day of the science exhibition we made all our display ready for our projects. My friend made another project since he was in another group and I took the Water Car project for my group. On the day of the exhibition I woke up late due to last night's additional work and the rest of the day had some really unforgettable moments.

I didn't even have breakfast and got some snacks from a bakery while going to school in an auto. I had to get the apparatus from IISC to demonstrate my project and I went to call my friend but his group teacher didn't send him because judgement wasn't over yet. I went to my science teacher and even she disagreed to come as I was late and scolded me. I couldn't control my tears as all my efforts would go a waste on the final day. Then I decided to go on my own to IISC and one of my other friends accompanied me. In IISC, to my shock I was informed that the scientist of the lab was out of the country and without his permission they couldn't give us the apparatus. I stood persistent over there to get it at any cost. The professor was even worrying that I hadn't got any teacher along with me but finally made up his mind to take a risk of providing me the apparatus. I collected it and ran back to school and thanked God that the judgement had still not started. Finally the chief guest, judge, principal and headmistress came near my project. I explained the concept and connected the apparatus but the motor didn't run which gave a jolt in my heart. The chief guest just touched the fan attached to the motor and it started running immediately. It was just stuck due to some rust. I was overjoyed and the principal even mentioned to the Chief guest that my model was selected for INTEL district level science exhibition.

By evening, I was more than happy that lot of people who watched my project were really happy and the results announcement time had arrived. My science teacher came and informed me that I had won the award of 'Best Science Model of the year' and I was satisfied that all my struggle had finally paid off. I could just recollect those moments exactly one year back when I was at the receiving end of the worst comments against my project. In one year God had helped me to receive appreciation and award from the same people who had ridiculed me a year back. It was a big moment of triumph for me and hence even today I include this project 'Water Car' in my resume.
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What a day!

A wonderful day with varied kinds of experiences comes into a blog now. As I took off from home in the morning, I became a marketing executive and went on to meet the clients to discuss about one of the upcoming novel competitions. After finishing my meetings with the clients, by afternoon I became a Physics teacher for class XI and engaged in 90 minutes of session. By later afternoon, I turned into a trainer to train kids from first to third standard on public speaking. By evening, I took the position of a event co-ordinator to work on sponsorships for one of the upcoming mega events in Bangalore. By late evening, I was exicted watching a live achievement of my team at an international conference. By night I turn into a blogger to convey my experience. I just don't know what else the day has in store for me.

 

No wonder that I hoped and believed to live a day like this than a routine day of going to one single place and doing a job. It was fabulous for me to interact with people of different age groups ranging from principals to teachers to teenagers to kids. The travelling between different places just keeps you going all the time. Probably I haven't even experienced an ounce of what a big-time entrepreneur relishes enjoying every moment of the day involving in various kinds of work. But I can be sure of one thing and that is 'it all starts here'. Every single day that we breathe into the past of our life should enter at least one page of our memory, else the day fades away soon even from others' memories. The day has witnessed different kinds of emotions and feelings in me and everytime a moment goes by it just asks me as to what I did out of it.

I am more than sure that the busy schedule that can keep you on your toes can take the best out of you. The freedom of working as an entrepreneur just brings in loads of responsibilities along with it and I can clearly understand that I was destined for these. It would be great to read your reviews on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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