= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
a_gramsci comments on Calibrate your self-assessments - LessWrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (117)
You're right, I really wasn't thinking of a specific method of comparison, rather I was just kind of ranting on how much I dislike it. Of the teaching methods we have: Lecturing- Above average students might be bored if the teacher is telling them information they already knew, but it many times has just a blanket boredom effect
Demonstrating- Even if certain students already know information, can still be interesting if they try to extend their thinking on the demonstration. The opposite of a lecture, many times has a blanket engaging effect
Socratic- See above post So really, there is no silver bullet, only what you say of devoting attention to specific subsets of class. Apart from the limited use cases of a demonstration, the only way to maximize what part of the class is interested is by catering to the largest subset
Well, there is of course the alternative of getting away from the idea of one-teacher-many-students altogether, by encouraging students to teach one another, or by creating autodidactic tools that students can explore on their own, or by segmenting students differently, etc.
But yeah, if we're restricting the scope of discussion to traditional teacher-led classrooms, the segmentation problem is hard to get away from.
That said, I'm rather fond of Socratic inquiry myself.
I partial to the Socratic method as well, but whenever I'm explaining something to someone, I have to constantly remind myself to stay away from it. Unfortunately, in my experience (which may not be representative), the Socratic method elicits very strong negative emotions in the target audience, and it does so very quickly. Making people hate you is not a good educational technique.
I find it works moderately well for me, but then again I am usually operating in a community of peers where it's not a given who is teaching whom. I ask questions that are designed to elicit clear thought about areas of uncertainty, and either my interlocutor answers them sensibly and I am enlightened, or they fail to and they are.
I can see where it would be different if I went into the exchange convinced I was the instructor.
Yeah, the actual Socratic method is designed more to instill doubt than it is to explain concepts. (The student takes a position, then you shred it with pointed questions.)
The 'modern' Socratic method of asking leading questions doesn't work all that well because of inferential distances and awkwardness. You standing there expectantly waiting while they think something through is oftentimes an unpleasant experience for them.
In any form of teaching, expecting an appropriate inferential distance is important. I wonder to what degree that can be trained explicitly.
That's why I think that the basic concept of "building block" schooling works-you essentially keep the distance constant, but teach them ever more challenging topics. The one time where there is a large gap is in the introduction of completely new ideas or subjects. For example, in physics when people first learn of general relativity there is a large inferential distance, which is very hard to remedy.
Amount you need to understand to get from what you currently understand to also understanding the new thing.
Eliezer talks about it in a piece well worth reading.
Interestingly, the one time that I find that the modern Socratic method works is math. Because it is so much more helpful in math to have an innate understanding of the subjects, you have to be able to explain why an equation or theorem works/is true. So when time permits, guiding them with questions is very helpful, as figuring something out sticks in your mind more than having it on a board.