teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulation

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a
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teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulation

Post by a »

Many have noticed the phenomenon that when you teach
someone something, even if you do all the talking,
somehow it has a great effect on learning new things.

This seems a paradox: You actually get no new
information - you are merely transmitting what you
already know - and yet somehow it seems to spark new
ideas that are actually something NEW in what you
already knew.

Why is that?
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

Because although you already know the facts, you must, cannot avoid, even in the areas where you didn't realize you hadn't, integrate the knowledge into coherent concepts in order to teach it.

If you want to really learn something, teach it.

If you want to discover your own blind spots in a subject, teach it.

When the student is ready, the teacher will arrive.

That's my personal experience, distilled into aphorisms at least.

PJW
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ChicagoMedStudent
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Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by ChicagoMedStudent »

I've had personal experience with this as a guitar and bass teacher. I agree that it is a bit mysterious.

I think one reason it may happen is that if you're a decent teacher, you try to teach and explain things in a way best suited to the individual student, which requires seeing things from the student's perspective, and seeing something you know from someone else's perspective can make you see new things.
Passions are the only orators which always persuade. - François de La Rochefoucauld
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nisiprius
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Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by nisiprius »

a wrote:Many have noticed the phenomenon that when you teach
someone something, even if you do all the talking,
somehow it has a great effect on learning new things.

This seems a paradox: You actually get no new
information - you are merely transmitting what you
already know - and yet somehow it seems to spark new
ideas that are actually something NEW in what you
already knew.

Why is that?
I think it's simply because teaching forces you to think about whatever you are trying to teach.

It is the same phenomenon as "thinking about" something. After thinking about something for a while, you often know more, even though you have added no new data.

Of course, even if you do all the talking, you are constantly receiving information by observing the student's reaction. Some mentalists--magicians who pretend to be mind-readers--are very effective at eliciting information by observing or feeling slight involuntary reactions from the subject.
Last edited by nisiprius on Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Topic Author
a
Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by a »

Coherent, I think, is a good choice of word.

ChicagoMedStudent, I think what you say has
something of the answer.

nisiprius, I have also been surprised at the
productivity of sitting and thinking about
something. (Especially with writing added.)
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bottlecap
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Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by bottlecap »

I think it's because when you have to explain something, you have to thoroughly think through it, almost as if you didn't know it. You find yourself thinking about the justifications for the things you are teaching the student.

I think you can also lose the basics of a subject when applying it to complex problems. A return to the basics often demystifies the complex.

I'm not a teacher, but have experienced this on many occasions.

JT
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Re: teaching / "confessional debugging" and brain stimulatio

Post by LadyGeek »

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