one of the best thing i learnt from my physics sir is how to question.crazy isn't it ?.
i still remember the first class i saw my prof. and the questions that popped out from our students side. when i look upon it now , i sit along with a smile in my lips... those were the days when i was not used to distinguish between the two most important divisions of questions "1) questions to be asked & 2) questions not to be asked" ! having a question mark in your mind now eh?
this seems absurd at first. well what the hell are the questions to be asked and questions not to be asked ?. let me quote the incident that took place in my first year discussion. the first day i entered my sir thought the very first topic - 'motion' and gave a statement "whenever we see an particle moving, i associate a quantity called average speed,which i define as the ratio of distance traveled to the time taken" (mind me, he is not a person who makes random statements, in science , he personally believes the importance of "talking science" rather than English) and as soon as he finished the statement there were a dozen hands which rouse with dozen questions in hand! let me recollect a few of the questions
1) "sir, if this is average speed, then what is velocity?"
2)"sir, isn't the speed related to the kinetic energy of the body"
3)"sir, should we not apply limits?"
4)"sir, is the particle in uniform or non uniform motion?"
remember this was the first class and that was the first statement he made and see the questions that has been raised. let me validate each question
1)----at first this question is no way related to the statement made. in science discussion it safe, or rather it "science manners", not to be over inquisitive in asking questions. the statement made by him was to define average speed, from the listeners side the range of questions the ask must lie between the statement's knowledge. no other extra words, or undefined words must be used in the question.
2)----this seems all the more worst!. now the second person is making a statement on his own and not asking question. this doesn't come under the heading "question" in the due course it is sure that the tutor would teach him what kinetic energy is. but thinking he is smart by asking this question,he is actually exposing his ignorance of knowledge to ask question !
3)---this one seems logical, but this shows the understanding of the person. the statement made above was about "average speed" and not "speed"
4)---since no where in the sentence he made he has used the word uniform motion etc. its not his head ache to answer.
these are the questions that fall under the category not to be asked ! well, what then are the questions that can be asked.?
questions that could be asked forms he basic building blocks of learning the subject. often when one reads a book or text, he just skims through it and tries to understand it, but how? he tries to visualize the scene and then comprehend it. but as for as i am concerned a complete learning is one in which a person knows the meaning of each and every word he read in the text. for instance in the above statement my sir made - "whenever we see an particle moving, i associate a quantity called average speed,which i define as the ratio of distance traveled to the time taken" , instead of questioning thinking that you have a sound knowledge before hand ,question as if you are new to this area and you don't know a word in it. a good qualified questions would be like
1) "what is distance?"
2) "how useful is the defined quantity?"
3) "why do we need to define such a thing?"
4) "what do you mean by, when you say particle?"
these questions make your knowledge about the subject deeper and the quality of these questions compared to the previous set is just so high. in a science discussion it is important that right questions pops up at the right time. this improves the discussion and often leads to a sequence of interrelated questions. in fact questioning is a skill. shooting the correct question at an appropriate time needs high thinking skills and analyzing capability.
All time favorite question not be asked ! my sir drew a diagram of inclined plan (wedge) and said "an experimenter is finding the friction coefficient using the set up shown....." and asked us to ask questions relating this
student(seriously) - sir i doubt weter this system would work !
sir - is that so? , why do u think so?
student - in this set up i think since the wedge has no support it would fall down due to
gravity and so the experimenter cant find the friction coefficient !
sir(stumbled!) - ooh! great, now can you answer this."i say again it would fail because there is
no experimenter shown!
student(?) - !@!@$#%
well here the student dint understand the tempo in which the problem is set. it is assumed that the wedge has support and there is experimenter etc. and if he was to question these things then there would be innumerable questions such as will not the body fall after it completes? , wouldn't the wedge break if he body is heavy? would not the body fly off when wind blows? etc... these are some questions ( or worst questions) that are not to be asked and assumed to be answered by our own brain.
thus the questions fall under the two great category - "TO BE ASKED and NOT TO BE ASKED " !!!!!!
and in fact after 2 years of physics with my sir, i still find it harder to put up my questions in these two divisions !
i still remember the first class i saw my prof. and the questions that popped out from our students side. when i look upon it now , i sit along with a smile in my lips... those were the days when i was not used to distinguish between the two most important divisions of questions "1) questions to be asked & 2) questions not to be asked" ! having a question mark in your mind now eh?
this seems absurd at first. well what the hell are the questions to be asked and questions not to be asked ?. let me quote the incident that took place in my first year discussion. the first day i entered my sir thought the very first topic - 'motion' and gave a statement "whenever we see an particle moving, i associate a quantity called average speed,which i define as the ratio of distance traveled to the time taken" (mind me, he is not a person who makes random statements, in science , he personally believes the importance of "talking science" rather than English) and as soon as he finished the statement there were a dozen hands which rouse with dozen questions in hand! let me recollect a few of the questions
1) "sir, if this is average speed, then what is velocity?"
2)"sir, isn't the speed related to the kinetic energy of the body"
3)"sir, should we not apply limits?"
4)"sir, is the particle in uniform or non uniform motion?"
remember this was the first class and that was the first statement he made and see the questions that has been raised. let me validate each question
1)----at first this question is no way related to the statement made. in science discussion it safe, or rather it "science manners", not to be over inquisitive in asking questions. the statement made by him was to define average speed, from the listeners side the range of questions the ask must lie between the statement's knowledge. no other extra words, or undefined words must be used in the question.
2)----this seems all the more worst!. now the second person is making a statement on his own and not asking question. this doesn't come under the heading "question" in the due course it is sure that the tutor would teach him what kinetic energy is. but thinking he is smart by asking this question,he is actually exposing his ignorance of knowledge to ask question !
3)---this one seems logical, but this shows the understanding of the person. the statement made above was about "average speed" and not "speed"
4)---since no where in the sentence he made he has used the word uniform motion etc. its not his head ache to answer.
these are the questions that fall under the category not to be asked ! well, what then are the questions that can be asked.?
questions that could be asked forms he basic building blocks of learning the subject. often when one reads a book or text, he just skims through it and tries to understand it, but how? he tries to visualize the scene and then comprehend it. but as for as i am concerned a complete learning is one in which a person knows the meaning of each and every word he read in the text. for instance in the above statement my sir made - "whenever we see an particle moving, i associate a quantity called average speed,which i define as the ratio of distance traveled to the time taken" , instead of questioning thinking that you have a sound knowledge before hand ,question as if you are new to this area and you don't know a word in it. a good qualified questions would be like
1) "what is distance?"
2) "how useful is the defined quantity?"
3) "why do we need to define such a thing?"
4) "what do you mean by, when you say particle?"
these questions make your knowledge about the subject deeper and the quality of these questions compared to the previous set is just so high. in a science discussion it is important that right questions pops up at the right time. this improves the discussion and often leads to a sequence of interrelated questions. in fact questioning is a skill. shooting the correct question at an appropriate time needs high thinking skills and analyzing capability.
All time favorite question not be asked ! my sir drew a diagram of inclined plan (wedge) and said "an experimenter is finding the friction coefficient using the set up shown....." and asked us to ask questions relating this
sir - is that so? , why do u think so?
student - in this set up i think since the wedge has no support it would fall down due to
gravity and so the experimenter cant find the friction coefficient !
sir(stumbled!) - ooh! great, now can you answer this."i say again it would fail because there is
no experimenter shown!
student(?) - !@!@$#%
well here the student dint understand the tempo in which the problem is set. it is assumed that the wedge has support and there is experimenter etc. and if he was to question these things then there would be innumerable questions such as will not the body fall after it completes? , wouldn't the wedge break if he body is heavy? would not the body fly off when wind blows? etc... these are some questions ( or worst questions) that are not to be asked and assumed to be answered by our own brain.
thus the questions fall under the two great category - "TO BE ASKED and NOT TO BE ASKED " !!!!!!
and in fact after 2 years of physics with my sir, i still find it harder to put up my questions in these two divisions !
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