Memory pills or imposition, What works?

Adding a bit more sizzle to the lectures would help students remember things better

Last year, on vacation in Coonoor, the boys were intrigued by all the British names in the area and had many questions about them. I began what can only be described as a rambling, wildly inaccurate retelling of Colonial rule in India. Realising that my narration was filled with alternative facts, I turned to social media (yes, I can see the irony) and asked for book recommendations on Indian history. I should have read them more thoroughly, because six months later I realised I was still failing the course.

“Amma, why do we celebrate Republic Day?”
“It’s the day India became a Republic.” “What does that mean?”
“Well… it means that on that day we became a sovere- no social- ummm… Look! A pigeon!”
“Nice try. Amma, is it like in Star Wars? There’s a Republic in Star Wars, with a senate and a chancellor. Like that?”

With due apologies to the long line of history teachers who tried to educate me about how our Government is structured and why the Battle of Plassey was important, you failed. I mean sure, I may have been reading His Housekeeper

Mistress between the pages of my ninth grade history (and physics, and chemistry) text books, but that’s not my fault. If the Rowlatt Act and Bernoulli’s theorem had had a bit more sizzle to them I might have been inclined to pay attention.  The fact that I can recall very little of what I was taught in school is not my fault. Clearly, little has changed in the decades since, as my children have a better grasp of governance in a galaxy far, far away than they do about matters closer home. And it’s not just social science that’s a struggle.

My nine year old took the better part of a week to learn about the reproductive parts of plants, but had a photographic memory when it comes to remembering what went into making a lightsaber. Ask my kid “What’s 13 time 6?” and you will hear crickets chirp. But remembering the bizarre names of a seemingly infinite cast of Pokemon (Crygonal, Conkeldurr, Drifloon), and what their ‘power’ is? That’s a cinch. So it’s not that kids can’t remember, it’s that we aren’t teaching them things in a way that’s memorable. (Aside: One history teacher of mine suggested that a chronically poor performing student try eating Memory Plus tablets to improve her grades. “Why can’t you remember? What’s wrong with you?” was her sentiment. Not, “I’m not getting through to her. What’s wrong with the way I’m teaching?”)

Which got me thinking, what if our education system capitalised on the successful traits of popular culture to impart learning? It’s something Hour of Code is already doing, teaching the tenets of programming through Angry Birds and MineCraft. But imagine trading cards with the names of rulers, despots and bloodthirsty conquerors from history on them. My Gengis Khan trumps your Tipu Sultan! A version of Minecraft where you build actual monuments and fight off real Colonial rulers from the past? One can dream.

And in case you still don’t know why we celebrate Republic Day, it’s a day to remember when India’s constitution came into force, completing the country’s transition toward becoming an independent republic. Yoda was not involved.
I think.

Menaka Raman

Twitter@menakaraman

The writer’s philosophy is: if there’s no blood, don’t call me

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