Deleted UserOctober 09, 2017 at 19:241425 views2 comments
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Jake TarragonOctober 09, 2017 at 20:31#1130390 likes
My university education (maths degree) consisted of rather bad lectures with lots of copying from the board into an exercise book. Modules seemed deliberately to be composed so as not to follow any particular textbook, thus making it difficult to access good printed material. I didn't do very well, but no doubt the idea was to force a spread of grades, because the education system was, and still is, self serving and propped up by the minority who manage to emerge well.
The idea of this thread is that we restrain ourselves from theorizing about either learning or teaching, but instead briefly describe learning experiences we've had, to the end of allowing others to read them and draw from them what lessons they may on both learning and teaching.
I was a kid - 5th grade? Not sure. I have always loved reading newspapers, especially the comics and especially on Sundays. There was a comic called "The Phantom" which was about a crime fighter who fought crime in purple tights and a black mask. I always call it "The Pontom" to myself. I guess I'd never heard the word out loud. Then one day I heard some one pronounce it "The Fantom." I felt two things. One - I was happy I'd never made a fool of myself by saying "Pontom" out loud. The other was that I found out that I can be really wrong about something, even though it seems obvious.
Second story - same lesson. I was a senior in high school, in Physics class. We were learning about gravity and acceleration. When you throw a ball up in the air, the force of gravity pulls it down until it stops and falls back down. I was talking about it with a girl in the class. She explained that at the peak, the ball had zero velocity but was accelerating. I knew that couldn't be true and I was really mean to her. I think I called her stupid. Later on it just came to me - of course you can have acceleration when the velocity is 0. Otherwise, how would the ball turn around. I've always felt bad that I didn't apologize to that girl.
Comments (2)
I was a kid - 5th grade? Not sure. I have always loved reading newspapers, especially the comics and especially on Sundays. There was a comic called "The Phantom" which was about a crime fighter who fought crime in purple tights and a black mask. I always call it "The Pontom" to myself. I guess I'd never heard the word out loud. Then one day I heard some one pronounce it "The Fantom." I felt two things. One - I was happy I'd never made a fool of myself by saying "Pontom" out loud. The other was that I found out that I can be really wrong about something, even though it seems obvious.
Second story - same lesson. I was a senior in high school, in Physics class. We were learning about gravity and acceleration. When you throw a ball up in the air, the force of gravity pulls it down until it stops and falls back down. I was talking about it with a girl in the class. She explained that at the peak, the ball had zero velocity but was accelerating. I knew that couldn't be true and I was really mean to her. I think I called her stupid. Later on it just came to me - of course you can have acceleration when the velocity is 0. Otherwise, how would the ball turn around. I've always felt bad that I didn't apologize to that girl.