The Learning Jetpack
My 7th grade History class was my favourite class in school. Calling that one year we spent with her a History ‘class’ would really be a disservice because it was so much more -
We spent one afternoon hearing the narration of a bustling market in Mughal India - eyes closed and imaginations running wild
Our homework was to design the armour of Razia Sultan - unlike everything else in school, there were no wrong answers here
One assignment was to write a first person account of a foot soldier in Allaudin Khilji’s army. I remember using my grandfather’s typewriter for this - hands hurting like crazy but proud of the end outcome
The ‘Portfolio’ we had made to keep all these activities together is still with me having moved multiple houses over the years. History was never this fun and each moment of her class is etched into my mind as if it were only yesterday!
Looking back, that one year made History visible and tangible.
You can adopt these strategies to learn and teach pretty much anything.
To learn Ohm’s law in Physics -
Taking pictures around you where you see it in action (E.g. A fan regulator) can help make your learning visible
By doing a project where you use the law can help making your learning tangible
Similarly, while learning about blockchain -
Publishing your learnings on a Twitter thread can make your learning visible
Creating a actually building a project on the blockchain will make your learning tangible
By making learning visible, we learn to appreciate our own progress. By making learning tangible, we learn to apply our learnings in different contexts. Both allow us to share what we’re doing with others and get different perspectives, ideas and feedback.
Organisations today are more interested in what you can do rather than where you come from. Portfolios are easy way to showcase what you can do - from personal websites to blogs to Instagram to Twitter to a good old slide deck - pick the format that works best for you!
So the next time you’re learning something new? Remember to carry the Learning Jetpack, eyes & hands - you just might be surprised at where that takes you.