Posted by alexandra_k on October 28, 2014, at 19:09:30
In reply to Re: nesting, posted by alexandra_k on October 27, 2014, at 23:11:42
So I just had a nice chat with my mother. which was... nice. It really does seem to depend on what kind of a mood both of us are in. I caught her in the middle of squashing snails in the garden, which is a thing she loves to do, so it was a nice conversation, yeah.
I've been thinking some more about books. After looking into printers and printing costs. Seeing how much variation in price there is in different kinds of paper. Coming to realise that that is one of the things that is nice about my newest books... Glossy white paper yeah. Squeaky under the fingers. High resolution printing. Beautiful colors... I don't need any of that for printing off powerpoint notes... But I see that that is why 700+ double sided books are expensive... And then there is the hardback and the binding...
Something that pisses me off no end is how education people like to go on about 'different learning styles'... And while I do think that there is something legitimate to it I also think that often the notion is bandied about in a way that doesn't do anyone any favors. E.g., Doing a brain storm and getting a bunch of sentences... Throwing them up on the board all disorganised... Then drawing circles around them and strings like balloons really isn't doing anything for the 'visual learners'.
My chemistry friend last semester... I was telling her about how I was writing out the chemistry concepts... And learning to draw pictures. Because past years exams included questions like 'draw a face centered packing cubic unit cell'. She was like... 'Oh, I don't learn like that'. She'd been told that because of her ethnicity she was a verbal (as in talking to people) learner. Unfortunately... No amount of talking to people is going to prepare her for drawing a face centered packing cubit unit cell. That situation pissed me off because... Telling her that she was a verbal learner was preventing her from learning the information that she was going to be assessed on. It was... Harming her. Not helping her.
I got to thinking some more about books... I have really started reading the A&P book for next year and it is super-dense, yeah. Not very many wasted words at all. But the more you go over it... The more sense it makes and the more it sinks in. First reading... Most of it goes straight over, yeah. Second reading... Find myself remembering some of the key words... Third reading... More key words... Covering up parts... Of text... Of pictures... Remembering them. It is hard how a lot of the figures / tables etc referred to in the text involve a lot of page flipping to find... But it is hardest on the first reading when you don't have a mental image of the figure / table referred to. As you start to learn it... It is actually good that you don't use the physical copy so much as a crutch...
Beautiful books... Outlines to prime you of important concepts... Key words in bold... Succint... To the point... No wasted words. Summary. Questions to help you think about what you have learned. The very best teaching there is... Really... It is just wonderful...
I think people are too quick to write off books as being for 'verbal learners'. Which is crap... Because education people have started banding about 'verbal learners' as a label for people who like to crap about in groups... Lots of chatter... Someone who can't shut their pie hole for 5 minutes gets to be called a 'verbal learner' which has... Nothing to do with books, seems to me.
Reading books out loud to yourself... Or trying to recall contents outloud to yourself... Seems to be to be verbal learning. Saying and hearing. There is something about those neural pathways... But there is something about visual information, too... Building a mental picture of the bones and how they fit together... Or of the flow of blood through the heart or the kidneys... Writing and drawing... Kinesthetic... From eyes to hand or from ears to hand or whatever... Different neural circuits... The more the merrier... Slightly different parts of the elephant or something...
I like psychology very much for its stuff on learning. Education... Not to much. What do education people know about learning ffs? You don't typically end up in the school of education if you did well in science... I don't understand why the science people who care about teaching their subject look to Education... Does science really scorn psychology that much?????
I get tired of mistakes... In lecture notes and the like. I think they think that they are teaching people to think. Because people wouldn't think otherwise. It gets me feeling mad and resentful and I don't want to play their stupid little game. That is how I feel about that. If they can't be bothered fixing up their mistakes over however many years of teaching... If they don't can't respect their subject / their students that much... Why should I waste my time for them. Because that is what it is... I try the problem... As best I can... Which takes time. Then I check the answer... And if I got the problem right... I think I got the problem wrong. I could spend a couple of hours trying to figure where I'm going wrong... What am I doing wrong. I could even work myself up into some rationalisation to get the (wrong) answer they got. Congradulations... You just taught me how to do the problem wrong. Thanks so much for that. Not.
Perhaps they should try that teaching strategy on student doctors. Give them a bunch of wrong information about symptoms or drug dosages. You know, to encourage them to think about what they are doing and to learn. Give those doctors to the people who think that is a legitimate learning strategy.
FFs people. FFS
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1058481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20141012/msgs/1072954.html