Forty-four physics trainees at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) just recently invested half an hour checking out a comics in class. It was not a break from the lesson however the lesson itself.
< source media ="(min-width:768px)" alt ="The opening page of the comic book. (SOURCED)" > < img src ="https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2026/08/01/400x225/The-opening-page-of-the-comic-book---SOURCED-_1785613518196.jpg"alt ="The opening page of the comic book. (SOURCED)"title ="The opening page of the comic book. (SOURCED)"width ="360"height ="202"loading ="eager">The experiment outgrew a familiar class obstacle. According to teacher Manoj Kumar Harbola of the department of physics, numerous trainees view quantum mechanics as one of the most challenging topics they come across throughout their research studies. His goal was to alter that understanding before presenting them to the mathematical rigour the topic is understood for.
The concept pertained to him while listening to a talk on quantum physics.
“I heard somebody discussing quantum physics and it struck me that what occurs around us every day is quantum physics,” Harbola stated.
“I believed, why not very first assistance trainees identify that? If they understand quantum mechanics is not something restricted to books however is all around them, the subject ends up being less daunting. As soon as interest establishes, the subject ends up being a lot easier to approach.”
That believed ultimately ended up being a comics.
Composed by Harbola and highlighted by IIT Kanpur’s style group, the comic informs an easy story constructed around daily scenarios rather of formulas. One page, for example, utilizes a dawn to describe that even the light discharged by the Sun is an effect of quantum procedures.
When Harbola dispersed the comic amongst 44 trainees throughout a current class, the response was among surprise. Some smiled. One trainee searched for and asked, “Sir, yeh physics ki hi class hai na? (This is physics class, right?)”
Harbola smiled back. “Yes,” he responded. “Now read it and inform me where quantum physics appears in this story.”
There were no worksheets and no assisting concerns. For the next 30 minutes, trainees check out the comic silently before starting to recognize quantum principles concealed in the story. By the end of the workout, they had actually shortlisted 8 to 10 subjects that will now be used up for in-depth class conversations.
According to Harbola, the goal was never ever to streamline the science however to alter the method trainees approached it.
“The comic is just a medium,” he stated.
“The science stays precisely the very same. We are attempting to engage trainees through playfulness since playfulness types interest, and interest enhances finding out results.”
Harbola stated he was uninformed of another technical organization utilizing comics as part of class mentor for quantum mechanics and thinks IIT Kanpur might be amongst the very first to explore such a method, though he stopped short of declaring it was the very first of its kind.
The comic is the most recent action in a wider effort by the institute to make science more interesting. In 2025, IIT Kanpur developed the Centre for Educational Research and Teaching Excellence (CERTEX) to motivate development in class mentor.
Even before CERTEX was established, the institute had actually started utilizing storytelling to stimulate interest in science. Because the 2022-23 scholastic session, IIT-Kanpur’s dramatics society has actually staged a yearly play around researchers and clinical concepts.
The very first production was Copenhagen, Michael Frayn’s play checking out the popular 1941 conference in between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg and the ethical concerns surrounding nuclear science. It was followed by a production on British mathematician and computer system researcher Alan Turing, whose work laid the structures of modern-day computing. The most current play drew motivation from a Nobel Prize-winning deal with DNA, utilizing theatre to describe not simply the discovery however the clinical procedure behind it.
“The plays are not merely bios of researchers,” Harbola stated. “They assist discuss what science is and how clinical concepts develop. Almost a thousand individuals from throughout the school now go to these efficiencies every year, and the audience continues to grow.”
For Harbola, the yearly plays and the brand-new comic are driven by the very same approach: trainees are most likely to engage with hard clinical concepts when they initially experience them through stories that provoke interest instead of through solution alone.
