If someone has to play a game like cricket in which bowlers ball, batsman bats and fielders field, but there is no score, no record and no competition, this would become a boring activity for players and there would probably be nobody interested in such activities. Activities are same as game of cricket but the thrill and excitement are brought in through numbers by quantification and competition.     Same holds good in study. A bit of quantification and gamification can do wonders. For example, while solving mathematics questions from books, consider one run for successfully solving a question and a wicket in failing to solve a question. Solve the questions one after other. So, if you solve 25 questions successfully and then fail to solve one, the score becomes 25 for 1. You can have test match kind of scoring with two teams in which you are solving numerical questions and maintaining score based on questions solved or unsolved. It becomes fun and great way of learning when you try ha

  Be Connected with Your Roots -- Back to Basics My parents used to take us to our village (ancestors house) and nearby quite often. The lesson was to be connected with the roots. Being with our own people there, listening to them, understanding their way of living, embracing their way of caring etc. used to create so many valuable memories that I still consider those experiences on the top of the list of valuable experiences. These memories provide new energy, new way of looking at various situations and help in understanding the nuances of various challenges in life better. This doesn't mean that one should leave his present projects of life and go back to the roots. But, going back to the roots (physically or mentally) provides such understandings that helps in handling present challenges better. We take few examples from Cricket and Mathematics to substantiate it. Here, being connected with roots translates to going back to the basics.     The same applies everywhere. I remembe

  Every student has some goal like becoming an Engineer, Doctor, CA, IAS, Designer, Lawer, etc. The list can be quite big. For any of these, one has to take some competitive examination either for admission in some course or to qualify for job or for both. At some point in school education, one starts planning to take the required examination at later stage to pursue his goal. If someone wants to become an Engineer, he starts thinking about IIT or engineering admission tests. Similar options are available for other goals as well. Lots of effort go into finding answers to questions like where to prepare, when to prepare, how to prepare etc. Also, the focus remains on getting good marks in the school examinations while rest of the things related to learning wait for the time to come. For example, if a student studying in Grade 8 is learning "Ratio", he will learn definitions of related terms, formulas etc., solve many questions depending on the examination pattern and may try t

  The general attitude among students towards learning is an attitude of dread. Lectures are usually boring and so are many of the textbooks. Very few students actively want to learn. Given the choice, most of them will prefer spending all their time playing games or watching TV instead of doing their homeworks. It’s not completely their fault though. Most lectures, textbooks and homeworks are, in fact, just too boring! On the other hand, Hogwarts---the magic school from the Harry Potter novels---seems to excite the kids a lot. If asked to redesign their school so that it becomes more enjoyable, they might just make it more like Hogwarts. This is also quite understandable. Hogwarts is a  magic  school, for god’s sake! They teach you to do  magic  in there! If you learn a course properly, you can show off your skills by turning your friend into a rat! The skills you learn at a magic school are immediately applicable to your daily life---the things you really care about. Stuck in traffic