Motivated to Learn

Did you ever hear my physics story?

When I was in grade 11, we moved house, and so I had to go to a new school. On my first day, I turned up at a physics class.

The teacher who’d never had girls in his class before said, “What are you doing here?” And I told him I’d come to learn physics. He replied, “We’ll see about that!” I was told that I’d have to prove that I was worthy of being in his class.

So, for months, the teacher made life hard for me. He’d call out questions: one for a boy, one for me, one for a boy, one for me… But I was up for the challenge. By the end of the year, the teacher had no intention of throwing me out of the class. I’d achieved an excellent grade, better than most of the boys. And the teacher and I were the best of friends.

So, I know a lot about physics. Well, that’s not exactly true. Once I’d proved that a girl can learn physics, I let all that knowledge go. It seeped out of my brain because I no longer needed it. You see, I was never passionate about the subject.

Many things can motivate us to learn: fear of failing a test, an anticipated reward, a desire to prove a physics teacher wrong.

Or we could be motivated by interest. That’s the best reason for learning, isn’t it? When we’re interested, we retain what we’ve learnt. We learn properly. We don’t just look like we’re learning and then later let everything slip away. That’s a waste of time. Or maybe sometimes it’s not. I no longer know much about physics, but I do have a good story to tell!

Photo

This my husband Andy. We went to school together for a couple of years. Andy didn’t learn physics, but he’s an important part of my physics story. Every day, he’d carry my thick, heavy physics book all the way to school and back. I couldn’t have met the physics challenge without him!

Something Extra

A long time ago, I wrote another story about physics. Love and Physics begins like this:

This morning I asked Charlotte what she was planning to do today. “I might have a look at a periodic table video,” she replied. More chemistry. My third daughter is certainly a keen unschooling chemist.

“Why don’t you broaden your horizons,” I suggested. “You could try some physics. I studied physics when I was at school. I had this great big heavy physics book I had to carry to school every day.” I stopped and corrected myself. “I had this great big heavy physics book Dad used to carry to school for me every day.”

At the mention of ‘Dad’ all the girls gathered around. They wanted to hear a story from those far off days when Andy and I were teenagers going to school together…

So, I’m wondering if you ever learnt anything for an unusual reason. Do you like physics? And did anyone else meet their spouse at school?