Better to have questions you can’t answer than answers you can’t question.
Innovation has always been an intriguing word. It is interesting how culture plays a big part in helping with innovation. India has relied on the “sage on the stage” approach, where the teacher or ‘expert’ knows everything and the students blindly accept it. Learning is by reading. The US allows students pushing back, questioning things and learning by doing.
Recently, I witnessed a camp at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) Chicago. 10-12 years olds could dream of any new product that might be needed and pitch that idea to a group of ‘venture capital’ leaders who can help bring it to life. The kids learned the basics of customer need analysis, USP, budgeting basics, etc. The kids also created impressive PowerPoint Presentations marketing their idea and honing their communication.
There are many TV shows in the US that highlight this concept: the most famous one being a programme called Shark Tank (where famous billionaires listen to start up pitches and invest their own money on those they think make sense).
Another centre is a high-tech playhouse of technology where kids can design, build an experiment on various things – robots, drones, LED hats, programmable cars, etc. This center allows kids to come in and work on exciting projects, using engineering, coding, 3D printing, laser cutting, etc.
A couple of kids built a drone from scratch – using a milling machine to cut wood, design the drone on CAD software, learn to install electronics and understanding the basics of flight.
India is fantastic at many things, but the focus on theoretical knowledge and limited practical applications or skills around communication, innovation, etc. are limiters.
In the end, the approach we need seems to be: start young(er), entertain all questions, push to learn through experimentation and failure and always let people be curious about the possibilities.
Dr. Karthik Ramani of Purdue University pointed to the University offering short summer programmes spread over a couple of weeks to children drawn from across the globe. There is broad interest in the ten-day course attracting young students from far away China and other countries for a fee of $2400. Assisted by the undergrad students, senior professors provide training to these kids for designing engineering, programming, and production of a wide variety of sophisticated toys. – SV
