Tyler DeWitt: Hey science teachers -- make it fun

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

Translator: Nika Ambrožič Reviewer: Nina Ivančič

Let me tell you a story.

Naj vam povem zgodbo.

To je prvo leto mojega poučevanja naravoslovja na srednji šoli

It's my first year as a new high school science teacher,

and I'm so eager.

in sem zelo zavzet.

I'm so excited, I'm pouring myself into my lesson plans.

Zelo sem navdušen in res se potrudim za svoje učne ure.

Počasi pa doumevam nekaj groznega,

But I'm slowly coming to this horrifying realization

in sicer da se moji učenci morda ničesar ne naučijo.

that my students just might not be learning anything.

Nekega dne se je zgodilo tole:

This happens one day:

I'd just assigned my class to read this textbook chapter

mojemu razredu sem naročil, naj preberejo poglavje v učbeniku

about my favorite subject in all of biology:

o moji najljubši temi pri biologiji:

viruses and how they attack.

virusi in kako napadajo.

And so I'm so excited to discuss this with them,

Tako se veselim, da bom z njimi razpravljal o tem.

Pridem v razred in rečem: "Mi lahko kdo, prosim, razloži,

and I come in and I say, "Can somebody please explain

the main ideas and why this is so cool?"

kaj so glavne ideje in zakaj je to tako kul?"

Tišina.

There's silence.

Končno me moja najljubša učenka pogleda naravnost v oči

Finally, my favorite student, she looks me straight in the eye,

and she says, "The reading sucked."

in reče: "Tekst je bil beden."

(Laughter)

Nato je pojasnila. Dejala je: "Veste,

And then she clarified.

She said, "You know what, I don't mean that it sucks.

ne mislim, da je zanič. Pomeni, da nisem razumela niti besede.

I mean I didn't understand a word of it.

It's boring, who cares, and it sucks."

Dolgočasno je. Mislim, koga briga, in še zanič je."

(Laughter)

Po sobi so se zdaj razširili

These sympathetic smiles spread all throughout the room now,

sočutni nasmehi.

and I realize that all of my other students are in the same boat,

Jaz pa sem dojel, da so vsi moji učenci na istem,

da so si morda naredili zapiske ali so si zapomnili definicije iz učbenika,

that maybe they took notes or memorized definitions from the textbook,

a nobeden izmed njih ni zares razumel glavnih idej.

but not one of them really understood the main ideas.

Not one of them can tell me why this stuff is so cool,

Niti eden mi ne zna povedati, zakaj je to tako kul,

zakaj je tako pomembno.

why it's so important.

Popolnoma sem zgubljen.

I'm totally clueless.

I have no idea what to do next.

Pojma nimam, kaj naj storim naprej.

So the only thing I can think of is say,

Edina reč, ki se je spomnim, je:

"Poslušajte. Naj vam povem zgodbo.

"Listen. Let me tell you a story.

The main characters in the story are bacteria and viruses.

Glavni liki v zgodbi so bakterije in virusi.

These guys are blown up a couple million times.

Te tipe povečamo par milijonkrat.

Prave bakterije in virusi so tako majhni,

The real bacteria and viruses are so small

da jih ne moremo videti brez mikroskopa.

we can't see them without a microscope,

and you guys might know bacteria and viruses

Morda poznate viruse in bakterije,

because they both make us sick.

ker zaradi obeh zbolimo.

But what a lot of people don't know

Veliko ljudi pa ne ve, da virusi

is that viruses can also make bacteria sick."

lahko okužijo tudi bakterije."

Now, the story that I start telling my kids,

Zgodba, ki jo začnem pripovedovati otrokom,

it starts out like a horror story.

se začne kot grozljivka.

Nekoč je živela majhna vesela bakterija.

Once upon a time, there's this happy little bacterium.

Don't get too attached to him.

Ne navežite se preveč nanjo.

(Laughter)

Morda plava v vašem želodcu

Maybe he's floating around in your stomach

or in some spoiled food somewhere,

ali nekje v pokvarjeni hrani

and all of a sudden, he starts to not feel so good.

in kar naenkrat se ne počuti tako dobro.

Maybe he ate something bad for lunch.

Morda je pojedel nekaj pokvarjenega za kosilo.

Nato stvari postanejo res srhljive,

And then things get really horrible,

as his skin rips apart,

ko se njegova koža razpara in vidi,

and he sees a virus coming out from his insides.

kako iz njega prihaja virus.

Nato postane grozljivo,

And then it gets horrible when he bursts open

ko se razpoči in iz njega priplava

and an army of viruses floods out from his insides.

cela četa virusov.

Če -- prav imate, auč! --

"Ouch" is right.

če to vidite in ste bakterija,

If you see this, and you're a bacterium,

this is like your worst nightmare.

je to kot najhujša nočna mora.

But if you're a virus and you see this,

Če pa ste virus in to vidite,

prekrižate svoje nogice in si mislite:

you cross those little legs of yours and you think,

"Mi smo zakon."

"We rock."

Because it took a lot of crafty work to infect this bacterium.

Potrebno je bilo veliko iznajdljivosti, da so okužili to bakterijo.

Zgodilo se je naslednje.

Here's what had to happen.

Virus se je pripel na bakterijo

A virus grabbed onto a bacterium

and it slipped its DNA into it.

in vanjo spustil svoj DNK.

Nato je ta virusni DNK naredil tisto snov,

The next thing is that virus DNA made stuff

ki je razsekala bakterijin DNK.

that chopped up the bacteria DNA.

Zdaj, ko smo se znebili bakterijskega DNK,

And now that we've gotten rid of the bacteria DNA,

virusni DNK prevzame nadzor nad celico

the virus DNA takes control of the cell

and it tells it to start making more viruses.

ter ji začne narekovati, da naredi več virusov.

Because, you see, DNA is like a blueprint

Veste, DNK je kot načrt,

that tells living things what to make.

ki živim bitjem pove, kaj izdelovati.

To je nekako tako, kot da bi šli v tovarno avtomobilov

So this is kind of like going into a car factory

and replacing the blueprints with blueprints for killer robots.

in zamenjali načrte s takimi za ubijalske robote.

The workers still come the next day, they do their job,

Delavci pridejo naslednji dan in opravijo delo,

but they're following different instructions.

a sledijo drugačnim navodilom.

So replacing the bacteria DNA with virus DNA

Ko se bakterijski DNK zamenja z DNK-jem virusa,

to spremeni bakterijo v tovarno za izdelavo virusov --

turns the bacteria into a factory for making viruses --

that is, until it's so filled with viruses that it bursts.

no, dokler ni tako polna virusov, da poči.

A to ni edini način, da virusi okužijo bakterije.

But that's not the only way that viruses infect bacteria.

Some are much more crafty.

Nekateri so veliko bolj iznajdljivi.

(Laughter)

When a secret agent virus infects a bacterium,

Ko skrivni virusni agent okuži bakterijo,

malo vohuni naokrog.

they do a little espionage.

Here, this cloaked, secret agent virus

Tukaj ta skrit skrivni virusni agent v bakterijsko celico podtakne svoj DNK

is slipping his DNA into the bacterial cell,

but here's the kicker:

a tu je trik: ne stori ničesar škodljivega -- vsaj ne na začetku.

It doesn't do anything harmful -- not at first.

Instead, it silently slips into the bacteria's own DNA,

Namesto tega se tiho prikrade v bakterijski DNK

and it just stays there like a terrorist sleeper cell,

in tam ostane kot nekakšna teroristična speča celica,

waiting for instructions.

ki čaka na navodila.

And what's interesting about this is now, whenever this bacteria has babies,

Kar je pri tem zanimivo, je, da, ko ima bakterija otročičke,

the babies also have the virus DNA in them.

imajo tudi te otročički v sebi tudi virusni DNK.

Zdaj imamo celo družino bakterij,

So now we have a whole extended bacteria family,

filled with virus sleeper cells.

ki je polna spalnih virusnih celic.

They're just happily living together until a signal happens

Veselo živijo skupaj, dokler ne pride signal

and bam! -- all of the DNA pops out.

in -- BUM! -- ves DNK skoči ven.

It takes control of these cells, turns them into virus-making factories,

Prevzame nadzor nad celicami in jih spremeni v tovarne virsov

and they all burst,

in vse počijo,

a huge, extended bacteria family,

cela razširjena družina bakterij,

all dying with viruses spilling out of their guts,

vse umirajo, ko se iz njihovih drobovij izlivajo virusi,

the viruses taking over the bacterium.

ki so prevzeli bakterije.

So now you understand how viruses can attack cells.

Zdaj razumete, kako lahko virusi napadejo celice.

To sta dva načina: na levi je litičen,

There are two ways:

On the left is what we call the lytic way,

where the viruses go right in and take over the cells.

pri katerem virusi vstopijo v celico in prevzamejo nadzor.

On the [right] is the lysogenic way

Na desni je lizogeni način,

that uses secret agent viruses.

ki uporabi skrivnega virusnega agenta.

To ni tako zapleteno, kajne?

So this stuff is not that hard, right?

And now all of you understand it.

Vi to vsi razumete.

But if you've graduated from high school,

Če ste naredili srednjo šolo,

I can almost guarantee you've seen this information before.

vam lahko zagotavljam, da ste to informacijo že videli.

But I bet it was presented in a way that it didn't exactly stick in your mind.

Stavim pa, da so jo predstavili na način,

ki ni ravno ostal v glavi.

So when my students were first learning this,

Ko so se moji učenci prvič učili o tem,

why did they hate it so much?

zakaj so to tako zasovražili?

No, bilo je nekaj razlogov.

Well, there were a couple of reasons.

Prvič, vam lahko zagotovim, da njihovi učbeniki

First of all, I can guarantee you

you that their textbooks didn't have secret agent viruses,

ne vsebujejo skrivnih virusnih agentov in nimajo grozljivk.

and they didn't have horror stories.

You know, in the communication of science,

Veste, v znanstveni komunikaciji

there is this obsession with seriousness.

vlada obsedenost z resnostjo.

It kills me. I'm not kidding.

To me ubija. Ne šalim se.

I used to work for an educational publisher,

Včasih sem delal pri izdaji izobraževalnih knjig.

Kot pisatelju so mi dejali, da ne smem nikoli uporabiti zgodb,

and as a writer, I was always told never to use stories

or fun, engaging language,

zabavnega ali zanimivega jezika,

because then my work might not be viewed as "serious" and "scientific."

ker mojega dela drugi ne bi videli

kot "resnega" ali "znanstvenega".

Kajne? Mislim, da se ne bi slučajno kdo zabaval,

I mean, because God forbid somebody have fun

ko se uči naravoslovja.

when they're learning science.

So we have this field of science that's all about slime

V naravoslovju je polje, pri katerem se ukvarjamo s sluzjo

and color changes.

in spremembe v barvah. Poglejte si tole.

Check this out.

Imamo pa jasno tudi, kot katerikoli dobri znanstveniki,

And then we have, of course, as any good scientist has to have ...

eksplozije!

explosions!

But if a textbook seems too much fun,

Če pa se učbenik zdi preveč zabaven,

it's somehow unscientific.

je na nek način neznanstven.

Now another problem

Še ena težava je,

was that the language in their textbook was truly incomprehensible.

da je bil jezik v učbeniku resnično nerazumljiv.

If we want to summarize that story that I told you earlier,

Če bi želeli povzeti povedano zgodbo od prej,

we could start by saying,

bi začeli z nečim takim:

"Te virusi izdelajo kopije samih sebe tako,

"These viruses make copies of themselves

by slipping their DNA into a bacterium."

da v bakterijo podtaknejo svoj DNK."

V učbeniku je to izgledalo nekako takole:

The way this showed up in the textbook, it looked like this:

"Bacteriophage replication is initiated

"Reprodukcija bakteriofagov se začne

through the introduction of viral nucleic acid into a bacterium."

z vstavljanjem virusne nukleinske kisline

v bakterijo."

That's great, perfect for 13-year-olds.

To je enkratno, popolno za 13-letnike.

A stvar je taka. Veliko ljudi,

But here's the thing:

There are plenty of people in science education

ki poučuje naravoslovje, bi si to pogledalo in reklo, da niti slučajno

who would look at this and say there's no way

tega ne bi dali svojim učencem,

that we could ever give that to students,

because it contains some language that isn't completely accurate.

ker vsebuje jezik, ki ni popolnoma točen.

For example, I told you that viruses have DNA.

Na primer, povedal sem vam, da imajo virusi DNK.

Well, a very tiny fraction of them don't.

No, majhen delček njih ga nima.

They have something called RNA instead.

Namesto tega majo nekaj, čemur pravimo RNK.

So a professional science writer would say, "That has to go.

Poklicni znanstveni pisatelj bi to obkrožil

in rekel: "To mora ven.

We have to change it to something much more technical."

To moramo spremeniti v nekaj bolj strokovnega."

And after a team of professional science editors

Ko bi se te res preprosto razlage lotila

skupina poklicnih znanstvenih urednikov,

went over this really simple explanation,

bi našli napake v skoraj vsaki besedi, ki sem jo uporabil,

they'd find fault with almost every word I've used,

and they'd have to change anything that wasn't serious enough,

in bi spremenili vse, kar ni dovolj resno,

in vse,

and they'd have to change everything

kar ni 100-odstotno popolno.

that wasn't 100 percent perfect.

Then it would be accurate,

Potem bi bilo natančno,

but it would be completely impossible to understand.

a popolnoma nerazumljivo.

This is horrifying.

To je grozljivo.

You know, I keep talking about this idea of telling a story,

Veste, kar naprej govorim o tej ideji,

da bi pripovedoval zgodbo.

and it's like science communication has taken on this idea

Zdi se, da je znanstvena komunikacija prevzela to idejo,

of what I call the tyranny of precision,

ki ji jaz pravim tiranija natančnosti,

where you can't just tell a story.

kjer enostavno ne smete povedati zgodbe.

It's like science has become that horrible storyteller that we all know

Kot da je znanost postala tisti zanič pripovedovalec zgodb,

ki ga vsi poznamo, ki nam pove vse podrobnosti, ki nikogar ne zanimajo,

who gives us all the details nobody cares about,

where you're like, "Oh, I met my friend for lunch the other day,

ko je nekako tako: "Ah, zadnjič sem šel s prijateljico na kosilo

and she was wearing these ugly jeans.

in je imela oblečene take grde kavbojke.

I mean, they weren't really jeans, they were more like leggings,

Mislim, pravzaprav niso bile kavbojke, bile so kot nekakšne pajkice,

ampak pravzaprav so bile nekako bolj kot mešanica obeh,

but I guess they're actually kind of more like jeggings,

recimo, ampak mislim, da ... " in vi si mislite: "O, bog.

and you're just like, "Oh my God. What is the point?"

Kaj hočeš povedati?"

Ali, kar je še huje, postaja učenje naravoslovja

Or even worse, science education is becoming

podobno tistemu tipu, ki vedno pravi: "V bistvu."

like that guy who always says, "Actually."

You want to be like,

Kajne? Najraje bi rekli: "Model,

"Oh, dude, we had to get up in the middle of the night

morali smo vstati smo sredi noči

in se peljati 150 kilometrov v popolni temi."

and drive a hundred miles in total darkness."

And that guy's like, "Actually, it was 87.3 miles."

In ta tip reče: "V bistvu je bilo 138,8 kilometrov."

And you're like, "Actually, shut up! I'm just trying to tell a story."

In vi rečete: "V bistvu bodi tiho!

Rad bi povedal zgodbo."

Ker je dobro pripovedovanje zgodbe odvisno od čustvene povezave.

Because good storytelling is all about emotional connection.

Svoje občinstvo moramo prepričati,

We have to convince our audience

that what we're talking about matters.

da je to, o čemer govorimo, pomembno.

But just as important is knowing which details we should leave out

Ravno tako pa je pomembno, da vemo,

katere podrobnosti moramo izpustiti,

da še vedno povemo glavno sporočilo.

so that the main point still comes across.

I'm reminded of what the architect Mies van der Rohe said,

To je opomnik na besede arhitekta Mies van der Rotha,

and I paraphrase, when he said that sometimes,

parafraziram, dejal je, da se je včasih

you have to lie in order to tell the truth.

potrebno zlagati, da poveste resnico.

I think this sentiment is particularly relevant to science education.

Zdi se mi, da to še posebej drži

za učenje naravoslovja.

Zdaj, končno,

Now, finally, I am often so disappointed

sem pogosto tako razočaran,

ko ljudje mislijo, da zagovarjam

when people think that I'm advocating a dumbing down of science.

poneumljanje naravoslovja.

To sploh ni res.

That's not true at all.

I'm currently a Ph.D. student at MIT,

Trenutno na MIT-ju pišem doktorat

and I absolutely understand the importance of detailed,

in popolnoma razumem, kako pomembna je podrobna,

specific scientific communication between experts,

natančna znanstvena komunikacija med strokovnjaki,

but not when we're trying to teach 13-year-olds.

a ne, ko poskušamo naučiti 13-letnike.

Če mlad učenec misli, da imajo vsi virusi DNK,

If a young learner thinks that all viruses have DNA,

to ne bo uničilo njegovih možnosti za uspeh v naravoslovju.

that's not going to ruin their chances of success in science.

A če mlad učenec ne razume ničesar pri naravoslovju

But if a young learner can't understand anything in science

and learns to hate it because it all sounds like this,

in ga začne sovražiti, ker vse zveni tako,

that will ruin their chances of success.

bo to uničilo njihove možnosti za uspeh.

To se mora prenehati

This needs to stop ...

in želim si, da bi te spremembe izhajale iz najvišjih ustanov,

and I wish that the change could come from the institutions at the top

ki nadaljujejo s temi problemi,

that are perpetuating these problems,

and I beg them, I beseech them to just stop it.

in prosim jih ter rotim, da naj že prenehajo.

Mislim pa, da je to neverjetno.

But I think that's unlikely.

So we are so lucky that we have resources

Srečo imamo, da imamo vire,

kot je internet, kjer lahko preslepimo te ustanove

like the Internet, where we can circumvent these institutions

from the bottom up.

od spodaj navzgor.

There's a growing number of online resources

Narašča namreč število internetnih sredstev,

that are dedicated to just explaining science

ki so posvečeni razlagi naravoslovja

na preprost in razumljiv način.

in simple, understandable ways.

Sanjam o strani podobni Wikipediji, ki bi razložila

I dream of a Wikipedia-like website

that would explain any scientific concept you can think of

katerikoli znanstveni koncept, ki si ga lahko izmislite,

s preprostimi besedami, ki bi jih razumel katerikoli osnovnošolec.

in simple language any middle schooler can understand.

And I myself spend most of my free time

Jaz preživljam večino svojega prostega časa tako,

da na YouTube dajem takšne znanstvene videe.

making these science videos that I put on YouTube.

I explain chemical equilibrium

Kemijsko ravnovesje pojasnim z analogijo

using analogies to awkward middle school dances,

nerodnega osnovnošolskega plesa

and I talk about fuel cells

in o gorivnih celicah pripovedujem zgodbe

with stories about boys and girls at a summer camp.

o fantih in dekletih na poletnih taborih.

The feedback that I get is sometimes misspelled

Odgovori, ki jih dobim, so včasih napačno črkovani

and it's often written in LOLcats,

in pogosto napisani z SMS jezikom,

(Laughter)

a so vseeno

but nonetheless, it's so appreciative, so thankful

tako pohvalni in hvaležni ,

that I know this is the right way we should be communicating science.

da vem, da je to pravi način,

kako bi morali govoriti o naravoslovju.

There's still so much work left to be done, though,

Ostaja pa še veliko dela

and if you're involved with science in any way,

in, če se kakorkoli ukvarjate z naravoslovjem,

I urge you to join me.

vas spodbujam, da se mi pridružite.

Pick up a camera, start to write a blog, whatever,

Vzemite kamero v roke, pričnite blog, karkoli,

but leave out the seriousness, leave out the jargon.

a izpustite resnost in izpustite žargon.

Make me laugh. Make me care.

Nasmejte me. Naredite tako, da mi bo mar.

Leave out those annoying details that nobody cares about

Izpustite nadležne podrobnosti, ki nikogar ne zanimajo,

and just get to the point.

in povejte bistvo.

How should you start?

Kako naj bi začeli?

Why don't you say, "Listen, let me tell you a story."

Zakaj ne bi kar rekli: "Poslušaj, naj ti povem zgodbo"?

Hvala.

Thank you.

(aplavz)