As a teacher what I'm trying to do is to make the material hard enough that it's challenging and interesting (so it's not boring)-- but not so hard that's it's frustrating.
The wider this sweet spot will be making it easier to teach. More experienced learners start asking their own questions and making their own complications when material is too easy-- and they are more patient with frustration, but also more brave about admitting that they are lost.
When students are subjected to material out of their sweet spot for too long the sweet spot shrinks!
If everything is either so easy it's boring or so hard they don't know where to start- that's when students learn to disengage. Younger students will be disruptive, find other things to do- older students hide it. They seem to be taking notes, following along, but they aren't really "there" -
Good educational experiences inoculate students to better thrive when they face less ideal teaching.
Some students have been traumatized by either always feeling lost in some subjects OR feeling like they are doing something so simple and boring it's pointless. Their sweet spot has shrunk to a razor's edge. You need to be very responsive and observant to get them engaged again. It's almost like putting on a show-- that magic content that's simple but raises complex questions.
But just getting them engaged isn't enough-- you also need to help them to expand their comfort zone.
It's a running joke in math that many books and lectures start with something like "1+1=2" then 15 min later no one has any idea what's going on.
If you have learned how to learn mathematics you know there is a lot to engage with in that early simple content-- but many students take it as a signal to just tune out--
If the teacher is excited enough and conveys that more is happening? Well sometimes you can get them on board. And that's when the real fun begins.
@futurebird I’m naturally enthusiastic about just about everything I taught, so I didn’t have to put on an act. But it also occurs to me that if a teacher isn’t interested or enthusiastic about a subject, how are the students going to be? They’ll look at the teacher and think, wow, even *they* don’t think this stuff is interesting…
I guess the other pitfall is the tiktoks, reels, YouTube shorts, etc. that everyone produces these days is SO!!!! EXCITING!!! THEY’RE NEVER! CALM! ABOUT! ANYTHING! (viz also the thumbnails that are always 🫨‼️💥) – Not my style, so do I come across as boring compared to that?
You are up against those very short videos, hence the need to keep things interesting.
@zleap @futurebird Yeah, I used to point out to classes that they were being trained to have short attention spans by short videos, jump cuts, 10 second commercials, etc.
We did a comparison between a Carl Sagan Cosmos episode and something more modern by counting the seconds between camera changes. For Carl, it was often over 10 or 15 seconds. I can’t remember the name of the modern series that we looked at. But they would have these jump cuts of scientists and they were so quick you would have one scientist finishing the sentence of another. Personally, I found it really annoying, and never used them in class.
I run a STEM group at Paignton Library I am hoping to make use of ther stack of science kit we have to undertake practical science activities with attendees. On this, some of the parents home school their kids and there is potential I can do this on a more paid basis. I can plan somple activities such as red cabbage indicator for determining if a substance is acid, neutral or alkali, but have some good ideas for other practicals, instructions etc.
So hopefully there is some potential to get more kids / adults in to science at least.
@zleap You would probably do the world a whole lot of good if you could nail down the difference between a hypothesis and a theory, especially among the religious home schoolers.
Good point,. I have some nice resources on critical thinking and some resource from sense about science which looks at finding evidence to back up claims.
https://senseaboutscience.org/
But I will find some definitions for both of those, thanks :)
