DANIEL LOY (@danjumbuck)

I'm a science centre professional who occasionally finds himself teaching in the formal classroom. I've been lucky to have had opportunities to visit numerous science centres and museums the world over, and am happy to share what I've experienced through my perspective.

For my other posts (on my travels, leisure, and food), visit my other site at www.danjumbuck.com.

Feel free to reach me at my email or find me on Twitter ( @danjumbuck).

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

Photo: The Cylon rollercoaster ride at Universal Studios Singapore. We all strive for comfort in many forms, and although comfort itself is of course relative, it’s hard to disagree that comfort is a good thing to have. After all, if you are not comfortable, everything else becomes secondary until some level of comfort is achieved. This motivation to discover comfort is a really powerful one especially in learning. Discomfort often encourages and sometimes forces learning to happen - adversity and challenge are great teachers though generally undesirable. A simple analogy will be the utmost discomfort I have at budget terminals of airports. They’re confusing spaces of nitpicking processes - How much should the bags weigh? Did you pay for a meal? Express boarding? Gate has been changed? Unlike ‘full-service’ terminals where a greater level of care is given to your comfort - better seats, clear signages, helpful floor staff - budget terminals are often stressed to provide just the bare essentials. So what happens? People learn. The budget terminals I used have not gotten any much better comfort wise but they’re less of a discomfort because I’ve learned (forced to) how to maneuver and navigate through the maze of confusion. I pre-print my boarding pass, am familiar with the floor plan, know where the shops and toilets are, and am now able to breeze through what is otherwise a high-stress disconcerting alien environment. My initial discomfort has motivated me to find comfort through learning how to be on top of things. And which is why, perhaps my parents, who often just tag along, are still stressed out with the thought of traveling alone as they have never gotten over the discomfort but rather displaced it on me as the guide. Discomfort, or rather the motivation to find comfort, is a most compelling teacher and this works in numerous situations as well. Like when I was fighting g-forces from all sides as I careen and tumble through the air on a roller-coaster ride designed by really evil people. To be fair, there were signs and warnings aplenty during the long queue - however, I rationally concluded that hey, it can’t be that bad with so many people getting through it just fine. Perhaps there was a bit of bravado, or simply Asian ‘cheapskate’ness - I’ve paid for the entrance afterall, but the end result is that I did get on the ride and boy, was it uncomfortable. In the brief 100 seconds or so of being tossed and swung about on a powered high-speed coaster, I had a great many learning insights. Probably motivated by my extreme discomfort. I learned that: 88kmph may not sound like much but when you’re hanging from a seat upside down and sideways, it feels like 8800kmph. I learned that I wasn’t cut out to be an astronaut. The screams you hear are not screams of joy but of sheer terror. I learned that at I’ve probably reached a point where theme parks are no longer my thing. More importantly, I gained a new appreciation for physics and now drive my car with a newfound appreciation of speed and velocity. We all go through periods of discomfort in life and oftentimes, we emerge a stronger better person because we have learned to get through it. Sometimes we may need help but as they say, that which does not kill you only makes you stronger, or in the case of the roller-coaster, weak in the legs.

Photo: The Cylon rollercoaster ride at Universal Studios Singapore.

We all strive for comfort in many forms, and although comfort itself is of course relative, it’s hard to disagree that comfort is a good thing to have. After all, if you are not comfortable, everything else becomes secondary until some level of comfort is achieved.

This motivation to discover comfort is a really powerful one especially in learning. Discomfort often encourages and sometimes forces learning to happen - adversity and challenge are great teachers though generally undesirable.

A simple analogy will be the utmost discomfort I have at budget terminals of airports. They’re confusing spaces of nitpicking processes - How much should the bags weigh? Did you pay for a meal? Express boarding? Gate has been changed?

Unlike ‘full-service’ terminals where a greater level of care is given to your comfort - better seats, clear signages, helpful floor staff - budget terminals are often stressed to provide just the bare essentials. So what happens? People learn.

The budget terminals I used have not gotten any much better comfort wise but they’re less of a discomfort because I’ve learned (forced to) how to maneuver and navigate through the maze of confusion. I pre-print my boarding pass, am familiar with the floor plan, know where the shops and toilets are, and am now able to breeze through what is otherwise a high-stress disconcerting alien environment. My initial discomfort has motivated me to find comfort through learning how to be on top of things.

And which is why, perhaps my parents, who often just tag along, are still stressed out with the thought of traveling alone as they have never gotten over the discomfort but rather displaced it on me as the guide.

Discomfort, or rather the motivation to find comfort, is a most compelling teacher and this works in numerous situations as well.

Like when I was fighting g-forces from all sides as I careen and tumble through the air on a roller-coaster ride designed by really evil people.

To be fair, there were signs and warnings aplenty during the long queue - however, I rationally concluded that hey, it can’t be that bad with so many people getting through it just fine. Perhaps there was a bit of bravado, or simply Asian ‘cheapskate’ness - I’ve paid for the entrance afterall, but the end result is that I did get on the ride and boy, was it uncomfortable.

In the brief 100 seconds or so of being tossed and swung about on a powered high-speed coaster, I had a great many learning insights. Probably motivated by my extreme discomfort. I learned that:

  • 88kmph may not sound like much but when you’re hanging from a seat upside down and sideways, it feels like 8800kmph. I learned that I wasn’t cut out to be an astronaut.
  • The screams you hear are not screams of joy but of sheer terror. I learned that at I’ve probably reached a point where theme parks are no longer my thing.
  • More importantly, I gained a new appreciation for physics and now drive my car with a newfound appreciation of speed and velocity.

We all go through periods of discomfort in life and oftentimes, we emerge a stronger better person because we have learned to get through it. Sometimes we may need help but as they say, that which does not kill you only makes you stronger, or in the case of the roller-coaster, weak in the legs.