Tyler DeWitt: Hey science teachers -- make it fun

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

Prevodilac: Isidora Bacic Lektor: Mile Živković

Let me tell you a story.

Da vam ispričam jednu priču.

Prve godine kada sam počeo da predajem nauku u srednjoj školi,

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

and I'm so eager.

bio sam veoma revnostan.

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

Uzbuđen sam, uživeo sam se u pravljenje nastavnog plana.

Ali polako, na moj užas, shvatam

But I'm slowly coming to this horrifying realization

da moji učenici možda ipak ništa ne uče.

that my students just might not be learning anything.

Ovo se dogodilo jednog dana:

This happens one day:

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

zadao sam svom odeljenju da pročitaju jedno poglavlje iz udžbenika

about my favorite subject in all of biology:

o mojoj omiljenoj temi iz cele biologije:

viruses and how they attack.

o virusima i kako napadaju.

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

I bio sam uzbuđen da razgovaram sa njima o tome,

ušao sam i pitao: "Da li može neko da objasni

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

the main ideas and why this is so cool?"

glavne ideje i zašto je ovo toliko super?"

Tišina.

There's silence.

Na kraju, moja omiljena učenica me je pogledala pravo u oči,

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

and she says, "The reading sucked."

i rekla: "Čitanje je baš bilo trulo".

(Laughter)

A onda je pojasnila. Rekla je: "Znate šta,

And then she clarified.

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

ne mislim da je trulo. Mislim da nisam ništa shvatila.

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

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

Dosadno je. Koga briga za to i trulo je".

(Laughter)

Osmesi razumevanja

These sympathetic smiles spread all throughout the room now,

su se onda proširili po celoj učionici

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

i shvatio sam da su svi ostali đaci bili u istoj situaciji,

možda su hvatali beleške ili memorisali definicije iz udžbenika,

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

ali niko od njih nije shvatio glavne ideje.

but not one of them really understood the main ideas.

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

Niko od njih nije umeo da mi kaže zašto je to tako super,

zašto je tako važno.

why it's so important.

Ništa mi nije bilo jasno.

I'm totally clueless.

I have no idea what to do next.

Nisam znao šta dalje da radim.

So the only thing I can think of is say,

Jedino što mi je palo na pamet da kažem bilo je:

"Slušajte. Hajde da vam ispričam priču.

"Listen. Let me tell you a story.

The main characters in the story are bacteria and viruses.

Glavni likovi u ovoj priči su bakterije i virusi.

These guys are blown up a couple million times.

Ovi likovi su uvećani nekoliko miliona puta.

Stvarne bakterije i virusi su tako mali

The real bacteria and viruses are so small

da ih ne možemo videti bez mikroskopa,

we can't see them without a microscope,

and you guys might know bacteria and viruses

možda znate za bakterije i viruse

because they both make us sick.

jer se od njih razbolite.

But what a lot of people don't know

Ali mnogi ljudi ne znaju da virusi

is that viruses can also make bacteria sick."

takođe mogu da razbole bakterije."

Now, the story that I start telling my kids,

Sada, priča koju pričam svojoj deci,

it starts out like a horror story.

počinje kao horor.

Nekada davno živela je mala, srećna bakterija.

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

Don't get too attached to him.

Nemojte previše da je zavolite.

(Laughter)

Možda pluta po vašem stomaku

Maybe he's floating around in your stomach

or in some spoiled food somewhere,

ili negde u nekoj pokvarenoj hrani

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

i odjednom počne da se loše oseća.

Maybe he ate something bad for lunch.

Možda je nešto loše pojela za ručak,

a onda se dešava nešto stvarno užasno,

And then things get really horrible,

as his skin rips apart,

koža joj se kida na delove i ona vidi virus

and he sees a virus coming out from his insides.

koji izlazi iz njene utrobe.

A onda stvari postaju stvarno užasne

And then it gets horrible when he bursts open

kada se pokida i horda virusa

and an army of viruses floods out from his insides.

ispliva iz nje.

Ako - Aauu - da u pravu ste! -

"Ouch" is right.

Ako vidite ovo, a vi ste bakterija,

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

this is like your worst nightmare.

ovo je vaša najgora noćna mora.

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

Ali ako ste virus i ovo vidite,

lepo se zavalite i pomislite:

you cross those little legs of yours and you think,

"Mi smo carevi."

"We rock."

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

Jer ste morali biti prilično lukavi da biste zarazili ovu bakteriju.

Ovo je moralo da se dogodi.

Here's what had to happen.

Virus je uhvatio bakteriju

A virus grabbed onto a bacterium

and it slipped its DNA into it.

i ubacio svoj DNK u nju.

Dalje, taj DNK virusa je napravio stvari

The next thing is that virus DNA made stuff

koje su iseckale DNK bakterije.

that chopped up the bacteria DNA.

I sada kada smo uklonili DNK bakterije,

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

DNK virusa preuzima kontrolu nad ćelijom

the virus DNA takes control of the cell

and it tells it to start making more viruses.

i naređuje joj da pravi još virusa.

Because, you see, DNA is like a blueprint

Jer, znate, DNK je kao šablon

that tells living things what to make.

koji kaže živim stvarima šta da prave.

Nešto kao da odete u fabriku automobila

So this is kind of like going into a car factory

and replacing the blueprints with blueprints for killer robots.

i zamenite njihove šablone šablonima robota ubica.

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

Radnici i dalje dolaze svaki dan, rade svoj posao,

but they're following different instructions.

ali slede druga uputstva.

So replacing the bacteria DNA with virus DNA

Znači zamena DNK bakterije sa DNK virusa

pretvara bakterije u fabriku za pravljenje virusa -

turns the bacteria into a factory for making viruses --

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

tj. sve dok ne bude toliko puna virusa da pukne.

Ali to nije jedini način da virusi zaraze bakterije.

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

Some are much more crafty.

Neki su mnogo lukaviji.

(Laughter)

When a secret agent virus infects a bacterium,

Kada tajni agent virus inficira bakteriju,

on se malo bavi špijunažom.

they do a little espionage.

Here, this cloaked, secret agent virus

Ovde, ovaj maskirani, tajni agent virus ubacuje svoj DNK u ćeliju bakterije,

is slipping his DNA into the bacterial cell,

but here's the kicker:

ali evo brilijantnog dela: Ne radi ništa štetno - barem ne na početku.

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

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

Umesto toga, nečujno se ubacuje u DNK same bakterije

and it just stays there like a terrorist sleeper cell,

i tu ostaje poput neaktivne terorističke ćelije,

waiting for instructions.

čekajući na uputstva.

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

I ono što je zanimljivo jeste da kad god ova bakterija ima bebe,

the babies also have the virus DNA in them.

bebe takođe imaju DNK virusa u sebi.

Sada imamo celu širu porodicu bakterije,

So now we have a whole extended bacteria family,

filled with virus sleeper cells.

punu neaktivnih ćelija virusa.

They're just happily living together until a signal happens

One žive zajedno u sreći dok ne dobiju signal

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

i - TRAS! - sav DNK izbija napolje.

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

Preuzima kontrolu nad tim ćelijama, pretvara ih u fabrike virusa

and they all burst,

i sve pucaju,

a huge, extended bacteria family,

ogromna, proširena porodica bakterije,

all dying with viruses spilling out of their guts,

svi umiru sa virusima koji ispadaju iz njih,

the viruses taking over the bacterium.

virusi preuzimaju bakteriju.

So now you understand how viruses can attack cells.

Sada razumete kako virusi mogu da napadaju ćelije.

Postoje dva načina: levo je ono što nazivamo litičnim načinom,

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.

kod koga virusi upadaju odmah i preuzimaju ćelije.

On the [right] is the lysogenic way

Desno je lizogeni način

that uses secret agent viruses.

koji koristi viruse tajne agente.

Znači nije toliko teško, zar ne?

So this stuff is not that hard, right?

And now all of you understand it.

I sada i vi svi shvatate.

But if you've graduated from high school,

Ali ako ste završili gimnaziju,

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

mogu da vam garantujem da ste već čuli ove informacije.

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

Ali mogu da se kladim da su vam bile objašnjene

tako da vam nisu ostale u sećanju.

So when my students were first learning this,

Zato kada su moji učenici prvi put ovo učili,

why did they hate it so much?

zašto su to toliko mrzeli?

Postoji par razloga.

Well, there were a couple of reasons.

Prvo, mogu da garantujem da njihovi udžbenici

First of all, I can guarantee you

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

ne govore o virusima tajnim agentima niti horor pričama.

and they didn't have horror stories.

You know, in the communication of science,

Znate, u naučnoj komunikaciji

there is this obsession with seriousness.

postoji opsednutost ozbiljnošću.

It kills me. I'm not kidding.

To me uništava. Ne zezam se.

I used to work for an educational publisher,

Radio sam za izdavača udžbenika

i kao piscu, uvek su mi govorili da ne koristim priče

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

or fun, engaging language,

niti zabavan, razumljiv jezik.

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

jer se onda moj rad možda neće smatrati

"ozbiljnim" i "naučnim."

Zar ne? Jer ne daj bože da nekome bude zabavno

I mean, because God forbid somebody have fun

dok uči nauku.

when they're learning science.

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

Zato imamo celu ovu naučnu oblast koja je puna ljigavaca

and color changes.

i promene boja. Pogledajte ovo.

Check this out.

I onda imamo, naravno, kao što svaki dobar naučnik mora da ima,

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

eksplozije!

explosions!

But if a textbook seems too much fun,

Ali ako udžbenik izgleda kao da je previše zabavan,

it's somehow unscientific.

onda je nekako nenaučan.

Now another problem

Još jedan problem je bio

was that the language in their textbook was truly incomprehensible.

što je jezik u njihovom udžbeniku bio stvarno nerazumljiv.

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

Ako bismo hteli da sažmemo priču koju sam vam malopre ispričao,

we could start by saying,

mogli bismo da počnemo ovako nekako:

"Ovi virusi prave kopije sebe

"These viruses make copies of themselves

by slipping their DNA into a bacterium."

ubacivanjem sopstvenog DNK u bakteriju."

Način na koji se o tome govorilo u udžbeniku je izgledao nekako ovako:

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

"Bacteriophage replication is initiated

"Replikacija bakteriofaga započinje

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

uvođenjem virusne nukleinske kiseline

u bakteriju."

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

To je divno, savršeno za decu od 13 godina.

Ali stvar je u ovome. Ima mnogo ljudi

But here's the thing:

There are plenty of people in science education

koji se bave naučnim obrazovanjem koji bi ovo pogledali i rekli nema šanse

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

da to ikad damo učenicima,

that we could ever give that to students,

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

jer sadrži jezik koji nije savršeno tačan.

For example, I told you that viruses have DNA.

Na primer, rekao sam vam da virusi imaju DNK.

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

Pa, veoma mali procenat njih ga nema.

They have something called RNA instead.

Umesto toga imaju nešto što se zove RNK.

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

Zato bi profesionalni pisac naučnih tekstova to zaokružio

i rekao: "To mora da se izbaci.

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

Moramo to da promenimo u nešto mnogo stručnije."

And after a team of professional science editors

I nakon što je tim profesionalnih naučnih urednika

prošao kroz ovo zaista jednostavno objašnjenje,

went over this really simple explanation,

našli bi grešku u skoro svakoj reči koju sam upotrebio

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

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

i morali bi da promene sve što nije dovoljno ozbiljno,

i morali bi da promene

and they'd have to change everything

sve što nije 100 posto savršeno.

that wasn't 100 percent perfect.

Then it would be accurate,

Onda bi bilo tačno,

but it would be completely impossible to understand.

ali i skoro potpuno nemoguće za razumeti.

This is horrifying.

To je užasavajuće.

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

Znate, stalno govorim o ovoj ideji

pričanja priče

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

i kao da je naučna komunikacija pod

of what I call the tyranny of precision,

nečim što nazivam tiranijom preciznosti,

where you can't just tell a story.

gde ne možete jednostavno da ispričate priču.

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

Kao da je nauka postala onaj užasan gnjavator

koga svi znamo, koji vam priča sve one detalje koje nikoga ne interesuju,

who gives us all the details nobody cares about,

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

kada vi kažete nešto poput: "Srela sam drugaricu na ručku pre neki dan

and she was wearing these ugly jeans.

i imala je na sebi one ružne farmerke.

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

Mislim, zapravo nisu bile farmerke, zapravo više, znaš, helanke,

ali, su zapravo bile nešto između farmerki i helanki,

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

znate, ali mislim -", a u sebi mislite: "Dobro bre,

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

u čemu je poenta?"

Ili još gore, naučno obrazovanje postaje

Or even worse, science education is becoming

nalik onom liku koji uvek govori: "Zapravo."

like that guy who always says, "Actually."

You want to be like,

Znate na šta mislim? Želite da mu kažete: "Čoveče,

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

morali smo da ustanemo u sred noći

i da se vozimo stotinama kilometara kroz mrkli mrak."

and drive a hundred miles in total darkness."

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

A on kaže: "Zapravo bilo je 139,68 kilometara."

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

A vi mislite: "Zapravo, ućuti!

Samo hoću da ispričam priču."

Za dobro pripovedanje važna je emotivna veza.

Because good storytelling is all about emotional connection.

Moramo da ubedimo našu publiku

We have to convince our audience

that what we're talking about matters.

da je ono o čemu govorimo bitno.

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

Ali podjednako bitno je znati

koje detalje treba izostaviti

da bi se shvatila glavna poenta.

so that the main point still comes across.

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

To me podseća na ono što je rekao arhitekta Mis van der Roe,

and I paraphrase, when he said that sometimes,

i parafraziram ga, ali je rekao da ponekad

you have to lie in order to tell the truth.

morate da lažete da biste rekli istinu.

I think this sentiment is particularly relevant to science education.

Mislim da je ovaj stav posebno važan

u naučnom obrazovanju.

Sada, na kraju,

Now, finally, I am often so disappointed

često sam razočaran

kada ljudi misle da se zalažem

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

za zaglupljivanje nauke.

Ne radi se uopšte o tome.

That's not true at all.

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

Trenutno sam na doktorskim studijama na MIT univerzitetu

and I absolutely understand the importance of detailed,

i apsolutno shvatam važnost detaljnog,

specific scientific communication between experts,

konkrentnog naučnog komuniciranja između stručnjaka,

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

ali ne i kada pokušavate nešto da naučite decu od 13 godina.

Ako mladi učenik misli da svi virusi imaju DNK,

If a young learner thinks that all viruses have DNA,

to neće uništiti njegove šanse da uspe u nauci.

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

Ali ako mladi učenik ne razume ništa u nauci

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

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

i zamrzi je jer sve zvuči ovako,

that will ruin their chances of success.

to hoće uništiti njegove šanse da uspe.

To mora da prestane,

This needs to stop ...

i želim da promena dođe od institucija

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

na vrhu koje ovekovečavaju te probleme,

that are perpetuating these problems,

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

i molim ih, preklinjem ih da jednostavno prestanu s time.

Ali mislim da su šanse za to male.

But I think that's unlikely.

So we are so lucky that we have resources

Srećni smo jer imamo sredstva

kao što je internet, gde možemo da zaobiđemo te institucije

like the Internet, where we can circumvent these institutions

from the bottom up.

od dna na gore.

There's a growing number of online resources

Postoji sve veći broj izvora informacija na internetu

that are dedicated to just explaining science

posvećenih objašnjavanju nauke

na jednostavne, razumljive načine.

in simple, understandable ways.

Sanjam o vebsajtu nalik Vikipediji koji bi objasnio

I dream of a Wikipedia-like website

that would explain any scientific concept you can think of

bilo koji naučni pojam koji vam padne napamet

jednostavnim jezikom koji može da razume dete u višim razredima osnovne škole.

in simple language any middle schooler can understand.

And I myself spend most of my free time

I ja provodim većinu svog slobodnog vremena

praveći naučne video klipove koje postavljam na YouTube.

making these science videos that I put on YouTube.

I explain chemical equilibrium

Objašnjavam hemijsku ravnotežu koristeći analogije

using analogies to awkward middle school dances,

sa neprijatnim školskim igrankama,

and I talk about fuel cells

i govorim o gorivnim ćelijama sa pričama

with stories about boys and girls at a summer camp.

o dečacima i devojčicama u letnjem kampu.

The feedback that I get is sometimes misspelled

Povratne informacije koje dobijam su često nepravilno napisane

and it's often written in LOLcats,

i često koriste LOLcat internet žargon,

(Laughter)

ali ipak

but nonetheless, it's so appreciative, so thankful

veoma cene to, zahvalni su

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

pa znam da sam na pravom putu

kako treba da predajemo nauku.

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

Ali ima još puno toga da se radi, ipak,

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

i ako se bavite naukom na bilo koji način

I urge you to join me.

pozivam vas da mi se priključite.

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

Uzmite kameru, napravite blog, šta god,

but leave out the seriousness, leave out the jargon.

ali izbacite ozbiljnost, izostavite žargon.

Make me laugh. Make me care.

Zasmejte me. Neka mi bude stalo do toga.

Leave out those annoying details that nobody cares about

Izbacite dosadne detalje koji nikoga ne zanimaju

and just get to the point.

i pređite na suštinu.

How should you start?

Kako da počnete?

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

Probajte da kažete: "Slušaj, hajde da ti ispričam priču."

Hvala vam.

Thank you.

(Aplauz)