In the last one month, it has always been my goal to go through my jotters for two reasons.
Firstly, all my jotters are recycled books, books that I used before but didn’t finish. “Sapa” has not allowed me to purchase new ones and besides I want to be eco-friendly.
Secondly, my jotters contain bits of wisdom that I want to recycle and share with the world.
I promised myself today that I would do a little of all my over 30 tasks I planned for the day. I wanted to do a little of each of them since I found out it would be unrealistic to finish them all.
I started by reviewing a twenty-leaf notebook. It was one of my jotters. In my secondary school days, we all had separate twenty-leaf notes for tests.
On the second page, I saw a question. It goes thus: Define the term cubical expansivity of a substance.
Firstly, it’s supposed to be cubic expansivity of a substance. Secondly, it would have been less abstract for me at the time if I was asked to describe what was meant by “cubic expansivity of glass”. Thirdly, there were no quotation marks before the “cubical” and after the “substance” in the question.
My answer to the question was this: Cubic expansivity (I had corrected the teacher even when I was just in SS1 🤓) is the increase in volume per unit volume per degree rise in temperature.
This definition is so esoteric for an SS1 student.
A wise sage once said that in simplicity lies greatness. Albert Einstein is credited to have said that if you can’t teach a 6 year old what you claim to “know”, then you really don’t have full knowledge of it yet.
A better definition goes thus: Cubic expansivity of a substance is extent to which the volume of that substance will increase when its temperature is raised by 1°C or 1Kelvin.
Let what we’re teaching this kids really make sense to them. Let’s stop encouraging cramming. Let’s do research and find out how to deliver the knowledge we want them to acquire through us in the best, most creative and fun way possible.
Lessons for Teachers
- Let your students have a separate note for their assignments and tests instead of papers. With papers, the not-too-serious ones do not keep records of their mistakes so they can learn from them. It is also our responsibilities as teachers to show them these mistakes, teaching them that it isn’t bad to make these mistakes but to learn from them.
- Teach your wards in a simple way. By so doing, we make the world easier and better to live in.
- Language is more important than Mathematics. If one knew all the meanings of the word “cube” and the etymology of the word “expansivity”, one can accurately guess the meaning of the term “cubic expansivity of glass” without attending a single Physics class! Isn’t that what we want for our children today?
I’m Kalu Torty Kalu, an education enthusiast! May the world become anew!
Feel free to share.
Seasons Greetings 🙇🏾♂️
Ingenuity 