Internet and Education.
My friend Achyuta was talking about a certain student who was saying... “If we go to the internet parlour and give that guy 6 bucks(how accurate!!!) then he will download and print the information about Bhaskaracharya and I can submit it in school”... Is this the way technology has to be applied in the classroom? Is there any point in giving such teachers LCD projectors?? Most teachers have no clue about how to check plagiarism on the net nor the time to do the same. In fact even some high profile competitions don't seem to care. Do they even realize that their duty as teachers has changed dramatically from how they were brought up. An iPod can store thousands of times more info than all the stuff a brilliant kid manages to memorize or write down or submit in his entire education.
Here are some thoughts I recollected when I was thinking of what students should do with the internet. Search google to solve a “google hard problem”... I once challenged my brother's friend arun who is a doctor ... ”Ask me some M.B.B.S question and I will answer you using google.” He started off with a lot of lame questions that had easy keywords... then I discussed with him how easy it was for me to get him the answer. If that was what doctors did, then I promised him never to visit a doctor again. I asked him to ask me a real bouncer. So he asked... “A girl had a long bone fracture. The next day she died. Why?”. I searched and answered him. And I was not using any magic knowledge as a programmer. That is kind of question a layman can solve with Google today. Try this and tell me why the girl died... You just need some imagination and familiarity with search engines.
The previous example did not mean that the internet is now a substitute for my doctor. But I can use the net to detect if my doctor is incompetent or careless. I can check whether my doctor is taking me for a ride to fill his own pockets or not. And so on. If my doctor can spend 15 mins on my problem, I can spend 15 days or 15 months. So even if I am not an expert I can get valuable insight that will be useful to me as a patient.
Never ask a question of the form “Who is Bhaskaracharya?” when the internet is involved. At least make it somewhat interesting and ask, “Who can bring me the most interesting Bhaskaracharya controversy?”. I have never checked Bhaskaracharya anyway. But I assume every person whose name is known to a school kid has a maze of controversies surrounding him. What were the 3 smartest things Aristotle said? What were the 3 dumbest things he said?
Recently, I gave myself a question and an open ended project. How long will it take for 1 square meter of solar panel to make another square meter of solar panel on the moon assuming we are limited to our current knowledge of chemistry and physics and dreams like nanotechnology may not materialize. How does doubling of capital on the moon compare with doubling of capital on the earth? If you were Warren Buffet and you had $500bn with you right now what part of it would you invest on the moon or earth orbit and what part would you invest on earth? How fast would your wealth grow? I cooked this question up myself, just for some timepass when I was bored.
And there is no right answer. NASA royally goofed up with the economics of its so called “reusable space shuttles” and turned it into an economic disaster. So the student has every right to be wrong. The exploration is the only thing that matters and it is immensely enjoyable. It could even become more interesting if one of the groups tries to argue... “I won't spend a single penny on space because it eats up precious resources like a black hole and produces no real benefits.”... But all arguments should be based on solid logic and reasoning.
In fact, while searching for this I unknowingly stumbled into some of the work that had been done by some of my favorite nanotech inspirers. It was really nice to know that really capable people have addressed this issue in a professional manner. I thought I was just day dreaming. I was really amazed at what you could do with space in spite of very little new science. I realized that, it was not surprising that companies like Google are coming out with things like the lunar challenge. I thought it was just a PR stunt. But now I guess, these guys really mean business.
The real challenge on the internet is to solve problems using partial information from various sources having variable trustworthiness. If a child can't be taught how to exploit that, then there is no point in using the net. I can instantaneously get the enthalpy of formation of silica. But I can never find how many people saddam hussein or hitler actually killed using the net. But if I am a good googler, my figures are going to be more interesting than what CNN or BBC would try to tell me.
Here is another question that occurred... There is so much noise pollution in the cosmetics industry. So are there things that really work that are advertised? Can hairs grow by eating proteins and vitamins from shampoo? Do sunscreens work? What is a bleach? Do moisturizers work? And million other such questions... Challenge every apparently technical looking claim and check the amount of truth. Try to help the student learn to distill the truth from the partial truths.
A couple of days ago, one of my friends raghunath asked me where I got the poem “Playthings” for one of the blog posts. He asked me to forward the link. I said, Sorry Go find!!! In two minutes he had what he wanted. He also skimmed though similar other poems. Anything you can recollect is just fingertips away always. Learn to use your brain to only remember things that are worth googling and not the data itself. And never forget things that you should not have to google. Eg your girfriend or boyfriend's name.
If using the internet for acquiring knowledge means going to the parlor and paying for the print, I would prey that every single microprocessor and network connection on this planet should evaporate this very moment. Only then we will be able to give our next generation an education. And let the poor kids go to ice cream parlours instead of net parlours. At least it will produce some happiness.
Here are some thoughts I recollected when I was thinking of what students should do with the internet. Search google to solve a “google hard problem”... I once challenged my brother's friend arun who is a doctor ... ”Ask me some M.B.B.S question and I will answer you using google.” He started off with a lot of lame questions that had easy keywords... then I discussed with him how easy it was for me to get him the answer. If that was what doctors did, then I promised him never to visit a doctor again. I asked him to ask me a real bouncer. So he asked... “A girl had a long bone fracture. The next day she died. Why?”. I searched and answered him. And I was not using any magic knowledge as a programmer. That is kind of question a layman can solve with Google today. Try this and tell me why the girl died... You just need some imagination and familiarity with search engines.
The previous example did not mean that the internet is now a substitute for my doctor. But I can use the net to detect if my doctor is incompetent or careless. I can check whether my doctor is taking me for a ride to fill his own pockets or not. And so on. If my doctor can spend 15 mins on my problem, I can spend 15 days or 15 months. So even if I am not an expert I can get valuable insight that will be useful to me as a patient.
Never ask a question of the form “Who is Bhaskaracharya?” when the internet is involved. At least make it somewhat interesting and ask, “Who can bring me the most interesting Bhaskaracharya controversy?”. I have never checked Bhaskaracharya anyway. But I assume every person whose name is known to a school kid has a maze of controversies surrounding him. What were the 3 smartest things Aristotle said? What were the 3 dumbest things he said?
Recently, I gave myself a question and an open ended project. How long will it take for 1 square meter of solar panel to make another square meter of solar panel on the moon assuming we are limited to our current knowledge of chemistry and physics and dreams like nanotechnology may not materialize. How does doubling of capital on the moon compare with doubling of capital on the earth? If you were Warren Buffet and you had $500bn with you right now what part of it would you invest on the moon or earth orbit and what part would you invest on earth? How fast would your wealth grow? I cooked this question up myself, just for some timepass when I was bored.
And there is no right answer. NASA royally goofed up with the economics of its so called “reusable space shuttles” and turned it into an economic disaster. So the student has every right to be wrong. The exploration is the only thing that matters and it is immensely enjoyable. It could even become more interesting if one of the groups tries to argue... “I won't spend a single penny on space because it eats up precious resources like a black hole and produces no real benefits.”... But all arguments should be based on solid logic and reasoning.
In fact, while searching for this I unknowingly stumbled into some of the work that had been done by some of my favorite nanotech inspirers. It was really nice to know that really capable people have addressed this issue in a professional manner. I thought I was just day dreaming. I was really amazed at what you could do with space in spite of very little new science. I realized that, it was not surprising that companies like Google are coming out with things like the lunar challenge. I thought it was just a PR stunt. But now I guess, these guys really mean business.
The real challenge on the internet is to solve problems using partial information from various sources having variable trustworthiness. If a child can't be taught how to exploit that, then there is no point in using the net. I can instantaneously get the enthalpy of formation of silica. But I can never find how many people saddam hussein or hitler actually killed using the net. But if I am a good googler, my figures are going to be more interesting than what CNN or BBC would try to tell me.
Here is another question that occurred... There is so much noise pollution in the cosmetics industry. So are there things that really work that are advertised? Can hairs grow by eating proteins and vitamins from shampoo? Do sunscreens work? What is a bleach? Do moisturizers work? And million other such questions... Challenge every apparently technical looking claim and check the amount of truth. Try to help the student learn to distill the truth from the partial truths.
A couple of days ago, one of my friends raghunath asked me where I got the poem “Playthings” for one of the blog posts. He asked me to forward the link. I said, Sorry Go find!!! In two minutes he had what he wanted. He also skimmed though similar other poems. Anything you can recollect is just fingertips away always. Learn to use your brain to only remember things that are worth googling and not the data itself. And never forget things that you should not have to google. Eg your girfriend or boyfriend's name.
If using the internet for acquiring knowledge means going to the parlor and paying for the print, I would prey that every single microprocessor and network connection on this planet should evaporate this very moment. Only then we will be able to give our next generation an education. And let the poor kids go to ice cream parlours instead of net parlours. At least it will produce some happiness.
posted by Unknown @ 12:21 PM
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