To teach or not to teach

How should we train our young scientists?

When asked what he would do with his students, Henry Augustus Rowland, first Professor of Physics at the Johns Hopkins University, was supposed to have replied: “Why, I shall neglect them, of course!” (N. Grauer “The Six Who Built Hopkins” Johns Hopkins Magazine, April 2000 (http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0400web/31.html)). I interpret that to mean that he would let them alone — to learn on their own.

These days, I am involved in the teaching of university students who are pursuing their own careers in science. How should I teach them?

Clearly, it depends on what sort of scientist the students want to be. A student may simply wish to add to knowledge that is already known, or he/she may want to start an entirely new field of knowledge, in other words, be innovative, or do something in between.

Every student who wants to pursue a career in science needs a solid background in the basics (math, physics, chemistry, biology or others). They get that during their undergrad years. Then, they learn more specialized stuff when they take graduate courses. It is when they start doing thesis research that they more or less decide what sort of scientist they want to be. That is when the role of a teacher becomes vital.

My belief is that the best way to learn known facts is to be taught by someone who knows, while the best way to learn to think is to think things out on one’s own.

There are those who prefer to be led. Some would even prefer to be led all their lives. They would rather let others do all the thinking. Instead of spending time thinking things out, they develop skills and hone those skills to perfection, and that allows them to do very good work. To those scientists I will gladly teach everything I know.

Then there are those who prefer not to be led. They may even resent being told what to do. They prefer to be independent.

(I have a granddaughter who is very “independent.” There were times when she was only two, when she needed to do something and we would offer to help. She would push us away declaring emphatically: “I do it! I do it!”)

Indeed, there are many of us who wish simply to be let alone — to fail or to succeed, to learn from our mistakes or successes, on our own. And there are places, like Hopkins, where one is expected to be able to do things on one’s own.

(When I joined the lab where I was going to do my thesis research, the first thing I was told to do was: “Align the photoreader!” I thought: photoreader? What is that? In those days (mid-60s), computer programs and research data in the lab were stored in punched paper tape, which were then read using a photoreader. So, aided only by a manual, I aligned the photoreader. It took me two days to do it. During those two days, the other students in the lab did other things — things that didn’t require the use of the computer. To my relief, nobody — not even my professor — looked over my shoulder while I learned the workings of the photoreader. A few months later, I was ready to collect data using an X-ray diffractometer. You guessed it. Before I got to start data collection, I was told to align the diffractomer. So, aided only by a manual… Being “independent” like my granddaughter, I loved it.)

Mistakes can be costly — in terms of time, equipment, and resources. Being asked to be independent may not be a good idea here in the Philippines. Here, we must avoid making costly mistakes. Nevertheless, we can learn a lot if we make mistakes.

Here’s a quote: “The road to success? Why it’s plain and simple to express. Err and err and err again, but less and less and less.” (J. Thornton (1988) Nature 335:11)

We are an inventive people (as children, we devised new games, we even made our own toys — remember?) and many Filipino students, if given the choice, would prefer to be “independent.” Those I will let alone. I will gladly not teach them. In this regard, I am like Professor Rowland.

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Eduardo A. Padlan is a corresponding member of the NAST and an adjunct professor in the UP Marine Science Institute. He can be reached at [email protected].