Understanding Science nurtures our curiosity and helps us interact with our environment by asking questions and seeking answers. This question-and-answer process lies at the heart of knowing and doing science. It’s a way of thinking and knowing about the natural and physical components of the world we live in.
To enhance learning and engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, a strong foundation in BASICS is essential for kids. Most premier institutions in our country test the children for their grasp of basics and not how fast they are or how many advanced concepts they know.
A lot of coaching centers now help students to excel at the entrance exam of such premier institutions. Have we ever stopped to check what is being taught in these classes? Majority of these coaching centers rarely focus on the ‘foundation’ aspects but teach concepts from the next grade and since the concepts have already been revised the students who take these classes tend to perform better than those who are learning for the first time. This gets us to ask a pivotal question ‘Does this help on the long run?’ A byproduct is that we have a whole set of engineers that still don’t understand 10th class maths or science.
Most of the students at premier Engineering & Medicine institutes have one thing in common- They have a deep understanding of BASICS and can apply these with ease. To get the facts right, most of them did go to Coaching centers, but the reason they got in was mostly because of their deep understanding of concepts and not the foundation class itself.
Below is a set of questions that should explain basics over concepts.
Square(x) = 16 x + 4 =
- a) 2 b) 4 c) 8 d) 0
Most children in the above problem forget that x can be +/- 4
- a^b + b^a = 1781 Find a set of a and b
Here a simple solution is that 1^anything is one.
It is essential to understand everything that is being taught to your child and not go with the most popular approach. Please choose a program that focuses on BASICS over bombarding your child with shortcuts or advanced concepts. Because if the foundation is not right the building will not rise.
At the end of the day out of the few lakh students who go to these foundation classes only about 6000 manage to get in to the premier institutions.
The focus should not be on ‘success’ but on ‘excellence of subject’. The success will follow.