Boring tasks: Children often find maths difficult

How would you react if your university arranges for a magic show as a supplementary to your regular curriculum? Wouldn’t it be nice if some boring lectures of molecular biology or quantum physics are replaced by a few funny tricks?

A recent issue of Nature has featured a magician from Munich. Prof. Thomas Fraps, a physicist by training and magician by profession, is often hired by universities to put up his shows.

Fraps uses scientific ideas to accompany traditional magic tricks. In one of his performances, he takes a long rope representing a DNA molecule. In his hand, the rope becomes two, and then four, depicting the self-replicating property of the DNA. In another trick, he vanishes a piece of that rope (DNA) using invisible scissors, brings in another piece and joins the two with an invisible glue. His rope tricks expose onlookers to the marvels of of biotechnology, showing them how experts cut, manipulate and join DNA molecules. In Metamagicum, his two-hour quantum physics show, Fraps teleports a sock in a sealed milk bottle to elsewhere ? a place he calls ‘a parallel Universe’.

Take two more instances. At the University of Minnesota, Prof. Jim Kakalios has designed a course in which physics is taught with the help of comics. He has framed problems to find out whether it’s possible for their heroes to have supernatural powers. The physics department of the University of Central Florida uses film clippings to develop concepts on electricity and magnetism, mechanics, relativity and even time travel.

Why can’t we run such programmes at our universities? Quite happily, we often put the blame on the lack of funds and infrastructure. Does the implementation of Kakalios’ ideas need huge sums? Are sophisticated accessories required for running a project like that of the Central Florida University? Is arranging a magic show very difficult?

It’s not a question of funds or facilities, but an attitude. From the very beginning, every attempt is made here to make science uninteresting. Bland textbooks, stereotype problems and an excessive emphasis on conducting exams have destroyed the fun of learning science. At all the levels ? be it middle or high school, college or university ? fun or entertainment does not find any room in science lessons. A magic show is a far cry, students are hardly allowed to go beyond the curriculum. Even if some students think differently, they fail to nurture their ideas due to the rigid structure of our educational system.

All we require is a love, or, better still, passion, for science. The fact that science hasn’t become a part of culture in our society is because we don’t have that passion. Unless we break every barrier between science and our culture, we will not be able to create the right atmosphere for scientific research in India. Only boasting of the huge numbers of science graduates in the country won’t be of any use.