What makes planets stick to their orbits? Why do they not zig-zag?

Get ready for a dose of inspiration in this edition of the TFG blog. We often think that learning happens in the classroom, but as you’ll see in the story of Shruti the most transformative lessons can come from stepping outside your comfort zone.

Shruti Nair, our newest fellow is on a 3-month journey with TFG and is working towards our shared mission of activating social consciousness amongst Gen Z. She approaches her work with openness, dedication, and a repository of pop culture differences that her students roll their eyes at. Having a love for languages, she is committed to her study of the French language, having already acquired a degree in English literature. Keep reading to hear her story!

At TribesForGood, we believe “learning happens on the job,” which is how I found myself thrown into my first virtual fieldwork session two days into my fellowship. Two TFG students were going to conduct a class on the fundamentals of astrophysics. 

As a student instructor, I was to be the go-to person for assisting them with their content preparation and guiding them during their class to address any complications that may arise or in case things went completely downhill (which is always a possibility when dealing with an adolescent demographic). Luckily, for this particular fieldwork, the content preparation part was already taken care of. I only had to assist them during their class. 

The student changemakers were bright and well-prepared, which was a relief to me. You see, as someone who had majored in English literature and is learning French, I had long abandoned the principles of physics in favor of Shakespeare and Chaucer and am currently in the process of pretentiously working my way towards Moliere. 

About halfway into the session, which had been flowing smoothly, my experienced colleague decided to jump ship. Her message read something like, “Seems like you’ve got this, so I’m leaving them in your care. Bye!” I wanted to respond, “Allow me to tell you, I haven’t got this, Jinal. I don’t get this at all, actually.”

The audience for this session was students from the NGO, Chaitanya Kul. I observed them to be enthusiastic, fast learners. As the TFG students progressed along their session, the CK students asked relevant questions, eventually venturing into what was beyond the scope of the material, leaving the TFG students and yours truly momentarily stumped.

“What makes planets stick to their orbits? Why do they not zig-zag?”

Physics and I hadn’t been simpatico in a hot minute. Nevertheless, I dug deep down into the vaulted recesses of my mind and tried to recall those physics lectures that I religiously zoned out on during high school. “Think Shruti. Why do planets stick to their orbits? Gravity? Gravity sounds about right?” A quick Google confirmation later I prompted the TFG students and watched as their eyes lit up with recognition and they took it forward and confidently elaborated on it until they ran headfirst into another set of questions they didn’t know the answers to.

And thus, we conceded to the 3 most-damaging words to the human ego: I don’t know. That’s when one of the NGO kids said, “Let us know the next time.” And that was how I was reminded of the simple fact that the process of learning is often messy and full of I-don’t-know’s but that there’s always a next time.

Inspired? Take that first step!

Begin your changemaking journey by signing up for the upcoming cohorts of our Global Challenges & Social Justice Program.

Batch starts: 1 Jun, 15 Jun, 1 Jul, 15 Jul, 1 Aug & 15 Aug