Science Meets Simplicity:

The Mind Movers’ Lecture

by Marc Lorlin Z. Navisa 2013-38337

Four years ago, my biology teacher swore on the first day of classes that we were about to embark on a year-long tug with an army of terms. She had never been so honest. Although I fully understood what those fancy terms mean, I pitied my classmates who seemed to host a swarm of floating question marks above their heads, much more how we performed in the National Achievement Test.

According to the National Achievement Test, Philippine elementary and high schools rank 112th out of 138 countries in the field of science (Hayashi, 2014). Where do we trace this? Lack of facilities. This is the problem in schools especially in the provinces—lack of facilities to demonstrate core concepts. However, as the mind movers stressed, all we need are resourcefulness and creativity. An example is how they took advantage of their bodies and engaged us in the states-of-matter dance. Indeed, the body is the cheapest and most accessible equipment we can have.

I also appreciated how the guy from the National Institute of Physics demonstrated how to show a child the planets' distance from the sun. True enough, you would confuse a child with kilometers, much more the light year or astronomical unit.

Mind Museum’s method is a breath of fresh air in science teaching. Adults—elementary and high school teachers, professors of arts and humanities, parents, businessmen, everyone—should also participate in events like this. Admit it, we have that little boy/girl in us who jumps and screams in childish delight at the sight of flying cars or a lipstick which transforms to a light saber. And you don’t want to confuse a child with numbers or hifalutin terms. You try your best to amaze him/her and ignite his/her curiosity. 

Sometimes, we have to be that ever-curious child again, break the stereotype that science are for nerds, and appreciate the underlying simplicity behind the illusive complexity that science radiates.

It’s time for science to meet simplicity.