Re: Attention Experienced Professionals

Christopher Browne <cbbrowne_at_acm.org> wrote in message news:<2t8st7F1rpih6U1_at_uni-berlin.de>...
> Quoth Lemming <thiswillbounce_at_bumblbee.demon.co.uk>:
> > On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 07:54:21 -0400, "Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>I used collaboration to the hilt, especially in lab work. If one student
> >>already "got it" and explained it to another student who didn't "get it",
> >>as far as I was concerned, real education was going on. Of course, I
> >>wasn't responsible for certifying these people. The only certificate
> >>Digital gave them was a certificate of attendance.
> >
> > I concur. And perhaps surprisingly to those who have never worked as
> > a trainer, the person who gains the most from such collaboration is
> > often the person who you describe as the one who has already "got it".
> > One of the best ways to learn, or to consolidate learning, is to
> > explain it to someone else.

This has been one of my longtime catch phrases:  if you really want to learn something, try teaching it to someone else.

It's one of the reasons I'm here so often in this group, ie to learn.

>
> What was a pain when I was taking Stats 311 (linear regression, taken
> from 'first principles'), was that I wound up doing a fair bit of that
> "explanation," and then saw some of the 'explainees' (my classmates)
> getting better marks than I did...
>
> Of course, I always hated stats...

I had the same experience with Freshmen Chemistry. I would explain the concepts to a friend and she would then score better than me on the exam. She eventually switched from Chemistry to Physics (my major). She continued to score better than me there too, even without my study help. (I guess she really must have been smarter than me.)

Here's to teaching and learning!

   Ed Received on Fri Oct 15 2004 - 20:46:32 CEST