It caught my attention when he, through the description of his everyday experiences said that some people âlearnâ, but donât know how to apply what they know. He later makes reference to this while he describes his experience teaching in Brazil. I believe that it is a battle that educators constantly face, but not every educator address. The fact that Mr. Feynman, a great researcher and educator, recognizes this and published it in a book that later became a bestseller is a great beginning in redirecting the focus of education.
His stories kind of reminded me about myself during my College years. Right before graduation I was terrified to go out and get a job. I felt I had so much information, but I didnât know how to use it. At that time, I decided that since I was not ready for a job, and because of the need to get a better training, I ended up applying for graduate school. When I think about my own education, very few professors had an impact in my life, and only those that had me work extra hard and think outside the box are the ones that motivated me to achieve my career goals. Today, as an educator I try to at least impact the careers of some of my students. I believe that focusing in critical thinking skills and applied knowledge is way more important than just memorizing a book chapter that probably will be forgotten the next week. Exercises that work improving writing skills, that promote critical thinking and situations where knowledge needs to be applied are way more important in the process of training good professionals. As I usually tell my students, I worked for a big Pharmaceutical Company and the least I used there in order to fulfill my duties was science. I totally agree with Mr. Feynman, and although I consider him a genius, I believe that there is so much we can do as educators to improve this and to prepare better professionals.
What you say is so true I found great pleasure reading Feynmanâs interpretation of teaching, learning and most of all exploring. It was the explanation of his exploration that was most intriguing to me. Clearly he is an extraordinary person with great far reaching accomplishments, yet he expressed his unique fears of failing that eventually lead him to success in and out of the classroom. For instance, when he described his first thoughts on drawing in the chapter âBut is it Art?â his past experiences made him uncertain that he could find success. His teacher encouraged him to try but then said âOf course you will need to workâ (pg 261).
His fear of trying to draw is represented over and over again in our classrooms when students are challenged to try something they have failed at in the past. It is our responsibility to our students to help them find the courage, patience and desire they must have to overcome their academic challenges and aspirations. If we can encourage them to overcome their fears they will then be able to do the work required to be proficient in an area they once feared or excel in areas that they have set forth high ambitions.