Giving back
I thoroughly enjoyed learning maths and science during when I was preparing for engineering entrance exams and olympiads solely because of my teachers who were very talented engineers and extremely passionate about teaching. They helped me to build a strong foundation and encouraged me to ask questions. Since then I developed a fascination for teaching. It was such a powerful position to hold, you get to inspire and mould hundreds of young minds every year.
I come from a small town in a tier two city of India where students have the potential and aspirations but lack adequate coaching and guidance. After graduating I decided to go back home to teach for sometime before moving to the industry. I taught physics and advanced physical chemistry to 550 students over the span of one year. This was a dream fulfillment for me. I kept using my electronics and programming skills to build interactive kiosks, apps and demonstration apparatus for students.
Chemistry in Atomionics
My teaching journey made me more patient, confident and empathetic towards others but apart from the experience, the chemistry knowledge I had gained, surprisingly turned out to be extremely useful in Atomionics. It is not possible for someone to build a vacuum chamber without knowing about surface chemistry and metallurgy. Similarly, without a stronghold on the concepts of atomic structure, electrochemistry and chemical kinetics, it is hard to synthesize a perfect magneto-optic trap. I have started believing that knowledge never goes in vain and it keeps coming back to you in one way or the other.
On the right is the list of all major topics I covered. I personally like physical chemistry a lot because it is a wonderful combination of maths, physics and chemistry. I still try to stay connected to the institute, visiting for guest lectures whenever time permits
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Making it interactive
In my personal practice I ensured that the lecture never felt like a monologue. I encouraged students to challenge me or the theories I taught. This inspired students to think critically and always kept them engaged during the class.
I made a standee kiosk with an app that helped them give feedback or write their doubts. The kiosk also flashed one difficult question everyday and whoever answered it correctly got excited rewards.
I modified their plain textbooks and added QR code after every topic that took them to the best youtube videos either showing application of the theory or an animated simulation.