How I Teach Kids to Love Science | Cesar Harada | TED Talks

Translator: Heli Paudel Reviewer: Deepak Basyal

When I was a kid, my parents would tell me,

म सानो हुँदा, बा आमाले भन्नुहुन्थ्यो -

"You can make a mess, but you have to clean up after yourself."

"तिमीहरु लथालिंग त पार्न पाउछौ, तर पछि आफैंले सफा गर्नुपर्छ " ।

So freedom came with responsibility.

स्वतन्त्रता उत्तरदायीत्व संगै आउंथ्यो ।

But my imagination would take me to all these wonderful places,

म भने कल्पनाको संसारमा ती आश्चर्यजनक ठाउंहरुमा पुग्थें,

where everything was possible.

जहाँ जे पनि सम्भव थियो ।

So I grew up in a bubble of innocence --

यसरी, म सरलताको संसारमा हुर्कें ----

or a bubble of ignorance, I should say,

अथवा भनौं, अज्ञानताको अन्धकारमा हुर्कें,

because adults would lie to us to protect us from the ugly truth.

किनकि, तितो सत्य देखि रक्षागर्न हाम्रा अग्रजहरु झुठो बोल्नुहुन्थ्यो ।

And growing up, I found out that adults make a mess,

हुर्कदै जाँदा मैंले बुझें, ठुलाहरू पनि भद्रगोल गर्छन,

and they're not very good at cleaning up after themselves.

उनीहरुपनि आफुले गरेको भद्रगोल राम्ररी सफा गर्दैनन् ।

Fast forward, I am an adult now,

अब म बयस्क भइसकें र अहिले

and I teach citizen science and invention at the Hong Kong Harbour School.

हङकङ हार्बर स्कूलमा नागरिक विज्ञान र आविष्कार बिषय सिकाउछु ।

And it doesn't take too long

मेरो बिद्यार्थीहरुलाई-

before my students walk on a beach and stumble upon piles of trash.

समुद्रको किनारमा दौडिन र फोहोरको थुप्रोमा ठोक्किन कत्तिपनि बेर लाग्दैन ।

So as good citizens, we clean up the beaches --

एउटा असल नागरिक बनेर, हामी सामुद्रिक किनार सफा गर्छौं,

and no, he is not drinking alcohol, and if he is, I did not give it to him.

उसले मदिरा पिउंदै गरेको होइन, भएपनि म उसलाई कहाँ दिन्छु र!

(Laughter)

----- (हाँसो)------

And so it's sad to say,

दु:खका साथ भन्नुपर्दा,

but today more than 80 percent of the oceans have plastic in them.

अहिले समुद्रहरुमा ८०% भन्दा बढी प्लास्टिक मिसिएको छ ।

It's a horrifying fact.

यो डरलाग्दो सत्य हो ।

And in past decades,

विगतका दशकहरूमा,

we've been taking those big ships out and those big nets,

ठुला पानीजहाजमा ठुला ठुला जालीहरू थापेर

and we collect those plastic bits that we look at under a microscope,

प्लास्टिकका टुक्राहरु संकल गरेर माईक्रोस्कोप हेर्दै,

and we sort them,

हामी तिनलाई छुट्याउथ्यौं,

and then we put this data onto a map.

र ती डाटा नक्सामा प्रस्तुत गर्थ्यौं ।

But that takes forever, it's very expensive,

तर त्यो काम कहिल्यै नसकिने, खर्चिलो,

and so it's quite risky to take those big boats out.

र जहाजको कारणले खतरापूर्ण पनि थिए।

So with my students, ages six to 15,

त्यसैले ६ देखि १५ बर्ष भित्रका बिद्यार्थीहरु मिलेर

we've been dreaming of inventing a better way.

अनुसन्धान गर्ने सजिलो तरिकाको खोजी गर्दैछौं ।

So we've transformed our tiny Hong Kong classroom into a workshop.

यसैको लागि, हामीले सानो कक्षा कोठालाई प्रयोगशाला बनाएका छौं ।

And so we started building this small workbench,

हामीले काम गर्ने टेबल बनाउन थाल्यौं ,

with different heights, so even really short kids can participate.

जून, होचा केटाकेटीहरुले समेत काम गर्न मिल्ने विभिन्न उचाईको थियो ।

And let me tell you, kids with power tools are awesome and safe.

हातमा बिभिन्न उपकरण बोकेका केटाकेटीहरु आकर्षक अनि सुरक्षित देखिन्छन, हैन त ?

(Laughter)

----- (हाँसो)------

Not really.

खासमा चैं होइन ।

And so, back to plastic.

प्रसंग फेरी प्लास्टिककै,

We collect this plastic and we grind it to the size we find it in the ocean,

हामी यी प्लास्टिक जम्मा गर्छौं र पिंधेर समुद्रमा भेटिने जत्रै आकारको

which is very small because it breaks down.

बनाऊछौं, जून अत्तिनै सानो हुन्छ ।

And so this is how we work.

हामी यसैगरी काम गर्छौं ।

I let the imaginations of my students run wild.

म केटाकेटीहरुलाई कल्पनाको संसारमा छोडीदिन्छु ।

And my job is to try to collect the best of each kid's idea

मेरो काम, प्रत्येक केटाकेटीहरुको राम्रो कल्पना टिप्ने

and try to combine it into something that hopefully would work.

र ती सबैलाई जम्मा गरेर काम गर्न सकिने एउटा बिचारमा रुपान्तरण गर्नु हो ।

And so we have agreed that instead of collecting plastic bits,

अहिले हामीले प्लास्टिक जम्मा गर्नुको सट्टा

we are going to collect only the data.

डाटाहरु जम्मा गर्ने योजना गरेका छौं ।

So we're going to get an image of the plastic with a robot --

हामी रोबोटबाट प्लास्टिकको प्रतिलिपि बनाउदै छौं ---

so robots, kids get very excited.

रोबोट भनेपछि, केटाकेटी दंग पर्छन ।

And the next thing we do -- we do what we call "rapid prototyping."

हामीले गर्ने दोश्रो काम हो - तिब्र प्रतिलिपिकरण ।

We are so rapid at prototyping

प्रतिलिपिकरण गर्न हामी

that the lunch is still in the lunchbox when we're hacking it.

यति तिब्र छौं, खाजा खानपनि बिर्सिन्छौँ ।

(Laughter)

----- (हाँसो)------

And we hack table lamps and webcams, into plumbing fixtures

हामी टेबल र वेबक्याम बिगारेर प्लम्बिङ्गमा फिट गर्दिन्छौं ।

and we assemble that into a floating robot that will be slowly moving through water

ती सबै सामग्री लगेर पानीमा तैरिरहेको रोबोटमा जोडजाड पर्छौं

and through the plastic that we have there --

र हामीले जम्मा गरेको प्लास्टिकहुँदै

and this is the image that we get in the robot.

अगाडी बढाऊछौं र यस्तो प्रतिलिपि बनाऊछौं

So we see the plastic pieces floating slowly through the sensor,

हामी सेन्सरमा प्लास्टिकका टुक्राहरू बिस्तारै तैरीरहेको देख्न सक्छौं,

and the computer on board will process this image,

त्यहाँ रहेको कम्प्युटरले प्रतिलिपि बनाउन थाल्छ,

and measure the size of each particle,

प्रत्येक टुक्राहरुको आकार नाप्छ,

so we have a rough estimate of how much plastic there is in the water.

जसको आधारमा हामी, पानीमा कति प्लास्टिक छ भन्ने अनुमान लगाउन सक्छौँ ।

So we documented this invention step by step

हामीले यस प्रबिधिको प्रत्येक तहको राम्ररी टिपोट बनायौं

on a website for inventors called Instructables,

र अविस्कारकहरुको वेबसाइटमा राख्यौं,

in the hope that somebody would make it even better.

हामीलाई बिश्वास छ अरु कसैले यसलाइ अझ राम्रो बनाउनेछन् ।

What was really cool about this project was that the students saw a local problem,

यो प्रोजेक्टको राम्रो पक्ष - बिद्यार्थीले स्थानीय समस्याहरु देख्नु,

and boom -- they are trying to immediately address it.

र देख्नासाथ समाधानको उपाय खोज्न थाल्नु हो ।

[I can investigate my local problem]

(स्थानीय समस्या आफैं अनुसन्धान गर्न सक्छु)

But my students in Hong Kong are hyperconnected kids.

हंगकंगका मेरा बिद्यार्थीहरु निकै जिज्ञाशु छन् ।

And they watch the news, they watch the Internet,

उनीहरु TV, Internet हेर्छन्

and they came across this image.

र नयाँ विचार लिएर आऊछन् ।

This was a child, probably under 10, cleaning up an oil spill bare-handed,

लगभग १० बर्षको यो बच्चा नाङ्गो हातले पोखिएको तेल सफागर्दै छ-

in the Sundarbans, which is the world's largest mangrove forest in Bangladesh.

बंगलादेशको सुन्दर बनमा, जुन मानब निर्मित संसारकै सबै बन्द ठुलो जंगल हो ।

So they were very shocked,

यो देख्दा उनीहरु आश्चर्यचकित परेका थिए,

because this is the water they drink, this is the water they bathe in,

किनकि यहि पानी, उनीहरुले पिउने, नुहाउने

this is the water they fish in -- this is the place where they live.

माछा मार्ने र यहि सेरोफेरोमा बस्ने गरेका थिए ।

And also you can see the water is brown, the mud is brown and oil is brown,

तपाईंदेख्न सक्नुहुन्छ- पानी खैरो छ, माटो र तेल पनि खैरो छ,

so when everything is mixed up,

सबैकुरा एकै ठाउंमा घुलमिल हुँदा

it's really hard to see what's in the water.

पानीमा के छ, देख्न सकिन्न ।

But, there's a technology that's rather simple,

एउटा साधारण प्रबिधि छ-

that's called spectrometry,

स्पेक्ट्रोमेट्री,

that allows you see what's in the water.

यसबाट हामी पानीमा के छ, देख्न सक्छौं ।

So we built a rough prototype of a spectrometer,

त्यसैले हामीले स्पेक्ट्रोमीटरको प्रतिलिपि बनायौं ।

and you can shine light through different substances

बिभिन्न पदार्थहरुबाट आएको उज्यालोले,

that produce different spectrums,

बिभिन्न स्पेक्ट्रम बनाउछ,

so that can help you identify what's in the water.

जसले पानीमा के छ, थाहा पाउन सहयोग गर्छ ।

So we packed this prototype of a sensor,

हामीले यस्तै सेन्सरको प्रतिलिपिहरु बनायौं,

and we shipped it to Bangladesh.

र बंगलादेश पठायौं ।

So what was cool about this project

यो प्रोजेक्टको रमाइलो पक्ष,

was that beyond addressing a local problem,

स्थानीय समस्याहरुलाइ सम्बोधन गर्नु, वा

or looking at a local problem,

स्थानीय समस्या हेर्नुको साथै,

my students used their empathy and their sense of being creative

मेरा बिद्यार्थीहरुले स्थानीय केटाकेटीहरुको अवस्था महसुस गरेर ,

to help, remotely, other kids.

आफ्नो सिर्जनात्मकताको प्रयोग गर्न सके ।

[I can investigate a remote problem]

(म टाढाको समस्या पत्तालगाउन सक्छु)

So I was very compelled by doing the second experiments,

दोस्रो अनुसन्धानबाट म अत्यन्त उत्साहित भएर

and I wanted to take it even further --

अझ गहिरो अनुसन्धान गर्ने बिचारमा पुगें--

maybe addressing an even harder problem, and it's also closer to my heart.

अझ कठिन कठिन समस्याहरु पत्ता लगाउने ।

So I'm half Japanese and half French,

म आधा जापानी र आधा फ्रेन्च हुँ ।

and maybe you remember in 2011 there was a massive earthquake in Japan.

तपाईंहरुलाई याद पनि होला, जापानमा सन् २०११ गएको भुकम्प ।

It was so violent that it triggered several giant waves --

त्यो यति खतरनाक थियो कि, त्यसले बिशाल छालहरु उत्पन्न गर्यो -

they are called tsunami --

जसलाई सुनामी भनिन्छ --

and those tsunami destroyed many cities on the eastern coast of Japan.

त्यस सुनामीले जापानका धेरै शहरहरु र पुर्बी तट ध्वस्त बनायो ।

More than 14,000 people died in an instant.

त्यस घटनामा १४००० भन्दा बढी मानिसको ज्यान गयो ।

Also, it damaged the nuclear power plant of Fukushima,

साथै फुकिसिमा प्रान्तको आणविक भट्टी समेत

the nuclear power plant just by the water.

केवल पानीले क्षति पुर्यायो ।

And today, I read the reports

अहिलेको प्रतिबेदन अनुसार

and an average of 300 tons

लगभग ३०० टन जस्तो

are leaking from the nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

आणविक भट्टी बाट प्रशान्त महासागरमा चुहावट छ ।

And today the whole Pacific Ocean has traces of contamination of cesium-137.

अहिले पुरा प्रशान्त महासागर सेसियम -१३७ द्वारा प्रदुषित छ ।

If you go outside on the West Coast, you can measure Fukushima everywhere.

पश्चिमी तटतिर गएर हेर्ने हो भने, त्यसको असर जता ततै देख्न सकिन्छ ।

But if you look at the map, it can look like most of the radioactivity

नक्सामा हेर्दा, एस्तो लाग्छ, सबै रेडियो तरंग

has been washed away from the Japanese coast,

जापानी तटबाट पखालिएका छन् ,

and most of it is now -- it looks like it's safe, it's blue.

र हेर्दा लाग्छ पानी नीलो र सुरक्षित छ ।

Well, reality is a bit more complicated than this.

तर बास्तबिकता यो भन्दा जटिल छ ।

So I've been going to Fukushima every year since the accident,

त्यो दुखद घटना पश्चात म हरेक बर्ष फुकिसिमा गैरहेछु,

and I measure independently and with other scientists,

म स्वतन्त्र रुपमा तथा अन्य बैज्ञानिकसंग मिलेर

on land, in the river --

जमिन एवं नदीमा प्रभाव नाप्ने गर्छु--

and this time we wanted to take the kids.

यो पटक मैंले बिद्यार्थीहरुपनि लिएर जाने विचार गरेको थिएँ

So of course we didn't take the kids, the parents wouldn't allow that to happen.

नि:सन्देह अविभावकहरुले अनुमति दिएनन् र हामीले लगेनौं ।

(Laughter)

---- (हाँसो)------

But every night we would report to "Mission Control" --

हरेक रात हामी फरक मुखुण्डो लगाउने

different masks they're wearing.

"मिसन कन्ट्रोल" संग सम्पर्क गर्थ्यौं ।

It could look like they didn't take the work seriously, but they really did

यस्सो हेर्दा, उनीहरुले त्यति ध्यान दिएका जस्तो नदेखिए पनि, ध्यान दिन्थे ।

because they're going to have to live with radioactivity their whole life.

किनकि उनीहरुलाई पुरै जीवन Radioactivity संग बिताउनु छ ।

And so what we did with them

हामी उनीहरुसंग

is that we'd discuss the data we collected that day,

हरेक दिन संकलन भएका डाटाहरुको छलफल गर्थ्यौं,

and talk about where we should be going next --

जानुपर्ने अर्को स्थानको बारेमा कुरा गर्थ्यौं,

strategy, itinerary, etc...

भावी रणनीति तयार गर्थ्यौं . ...आदि ।

And to do this, we built a very rough topographical map

यो कार्यको लागी, हामीले एउटा साधारण Topographical Map बनायौं

of the region around the nuclear power plant.

जुन, आणबिक भट्टी वरिपरिको थियो ।

And so we built the elevation map,

नक्सामा अग्लो होचो बनायौं ।

we sprinkled pigments to represent real-time data for radioactivity,

Radioactivity जस्तै देखाउन रंग स्प्रे गर्यौं,

and we sprayed water to simulate the rainfall.

पानी छर्केर वर्षा भएको देखायौं ।

And with this we could see that the radioactive dust

यसबाट हामी देख्न सक्थ्यौं कि, Radioactive धुलोहरु

was washing from the top of the mountain into the river system,

पहाडहरुबाट पखालिंदै खोला तर्फ जाँदै थिए

and leaking into the ocean.

र बिस्तारै समुद्रमा मिल्दै थिए ।

So it was a rough estimate.

यो सम्भावित अनुमान मात्रै हो ।

But with this in mind, we organized this expedition,

यहि कुरा दिमागमा राखेर हामीले एउटा अभियान चलायौं,

which was the closest civilians have been to the nuclear power plant.

यसकालागी हामीले आणविक भट्टी नजिकका बासिन्दासँग सम्पर्क गर्यौं ।

We are sailing 1.5 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant,

हामी आणविक भट्टी भन्दा १.५ कि.मि. टाढा छौं

and with the help of the local fisherman,

र हामीलाई सहयोग गर्दैछन स्थानीय माझीहरु ,

we are collecting sediment from the seabed

हामी समुद्रमा थिग्रिएको लेदो संकलन गर्दैछौं,

with a custom sediment sampler we've invented and built.

हामी आफैले आविस्कार गरेर बनाएको नमुना संकलन यन्त्रको मद्धतले ।

We pack the sediment into small bags,

हामी यी लेदोहरुलाई सानो सानो ब्यागमा पोको पार्छौं,

we then dispatch them to hundreds of small bags

सयौंको संख्यामा यस्ता ब्यागहरु तयार गरेर

that we send to different universities,

विभिन्न यूनिवर्सिटीमा पठाऊछौं ,

and we produce the map of the seabed radioactivity,

र सामुद्रिक पिंधको Radioactivity को नक्सा बनाऊछौं,

especially in estuaries where the fish will reproduce,

बिषेसगरि माछाले प्रजनन गर्ने मुहानहरुमा ,

and I will hope that we will have improved

अनि आशा राख्छौं, केहि सुधार भएको छ-

the safety of the local fishermen and of your favorite sushi.

स्थानीय माझीहरु र उनीहरुको प्यारो खाना - सुशीको ।

(Laughter)

----- (हाँसो)------

You can see a progression here --

यहाँ केहि प्रगति देख्न सकिन्छ --

we've gone from a local problem to a remote problem to a global problem.

हामी स्थानीय समस्याबाट टाढाको हुदै संसारकै समस्या हेर्न थालेका छौं ।

And it's been super exciting to work at these different scales,

विभिन्न तहमा,

with also very simple, open-source technologies.

साधारण र सर्वसुलभ प्रबिधिद्वारा काम गर्न रमाइलो छ ।

But at the same time, it's been increasingly frustrating

कहिलेकहीं अत्याश पनि लाग्छ,

because we have only started to measure the damage that we have done.

हामी केवल हामीले बिगारेको कुरा मात्रै नाप्दै छौं ।

We haven't even started to try to solve the problems.

समस्या समाधानको बिषयमा केहि थालेको छैन ।

And so I wonder if we should just take a leap

कहिले कहीं मनमा लाग्छ, हामीले ठुलो फड्को मारेर

and try to invent better ways to do all these things.

यी कामहरु गर्न अझराम्रो तरिकाको आविस्कार गर्न सके !!

And so the classroom started to feel a little bit small,

यो सोचाई संग संगै, हामीलाई यो कक्षा कोठा सानो लाग्न थाल्यो ।

so we found an industrial site in Hong Kong,

हामीले हंगकंगमा एउटा औद्योगिक क्षेत्र भेट्यौं ।

and we turned it into the largest mega-space

र यसलाई हामीले बिशाल कार्यशाला बनायौं

focused on social and environmental impact.

र हामीले वातावरणीय प्रभाबलाइ बिशेष ध्यानमा राख्यौं ।

It's in central Hong Kong,

हंगकंगको केन्द्रमा रहेको

and it's a place we can work with wood, metal, chemistry,

यो स्थानमा हामी काठ, फलाम, रसायन

a bit of biology, a bit of optics,

अलि अलि जीवबिज्ञान, थोरै प्रकाश ,

basically you can build pretty much everything there.

लगभग चाहिएको सबै बनाउन सक्छौं ।

And its a place where adults and kids can play together.

यो यस्तो ठाउंहो जहाँ बयस्क र केटाकेटी संगै खेल्न सक्छन् ।

It's a place where kids' dreams can come true,

यो यस्तो कोठा हो जहाँ, ठुला मान्छेको मद्धतले

with the help of adults,

सानाको सपना साकार हुन्छ,

and where adults can be kids again.

अनि प्रौढ फेरी केटाकेटी बन्न सक्छन् ।

Student: Acceleration! Acceleration!

बिद्यार्थी: फटाफट है फटाफट !

Cesar Harada: We're asking questions such as,

सेसर हरदा: हामी प्रश्न गर्दै छौं, जस्तै:

can we invent the future of mobility with renewable energy?

नवीकरणीय ऊर्जाले भविष्यको यातायातको आविष्कार गर्न सक्छौं ?

For example.

एउटा उदाहरण ।

Or, can we help the mobility of the aging population

अथवा, हामी बृद्धहरुको यातायातको लागि

by transforming very standard wheelchairs into cool, electric vehicles?

साधारण व्हीलचेयरलाइ इलेक्ट्रिकमा रुपान्तरण गर्न सक्छौं ?

So plastic, oil and radioactivity are horrible, horrible legacies,

प्लास्टिक, पेट्रोलियम, विकिरण आदि स्वास्थ्यको लागि हानिकारक छन्,

but the very worst legacy that we can leave our children is lies.

हामी त्यो भन्दा अझ हानिकारक कुरा सिकाउदै छौं - झुठ ।

We can no longer afford to shield the kids from the ugly truth

हामी डरलाग्दो सत्यबाट केटाकेटीहरुलाई लामो समय टाढा राख्न सक्दैनौं ।

because we need their imagination to invent the solutions.

यी समस्याको समाधान उनीहरुको कल्पनाबाटनै सम्भव छ ।

So citizen scientists, makers, dreamers --

तसर्थ बैज्ञानिक, निर्माता, परिकल्पनाकार, नागरिकको रुपमा

we must prepare the next generation

हामीले अर्को पुस्ता तयार गर्नुपर्छ,

that cares about the environment and people,

जसले हामी, हाम्रो बाताबरणको हेरचाह गर्नको साथै

and that can actually do something about it.

बास्तविकरुपमै केहि काम गरेर देखाउन सकुन्

Thank you.

धन्यवाद !!

(Applause)

----- (ताली)------