Mike Daly said: >He also said that engineers make the worst students. First you have to explain >what you want them to do, then explain _why_ you want them to do it that way and >then they spend time trying to improve on the method. Aw, c'mon, they don't like us to improve _anything_! "If it ain't broke... you can bet an engineer hasn't played with it yet" Sometimes I have a hard time teaching non-engineer types to roll because I over-explain things. Hmmmm.... Shawn *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
<< Mike Daly said: >He also said that engineers make the worst students. First you have to explain >what you want them to do, then explain _why_ you want them to do it that way and >then they spend time trying to improve on the method. >> Mike I am deeply troubled by your comments. Why would you make such assertions. Knowing your purpose would help in formulating the correct response. Secondly if you are going to make such statements there are more effective ways to make your point. Surely you could include more concrete examples. Perhaps the the use of color to highlight the more important points would also be useful. Sincerely (engineering tongue firmly in cheek) Mark J. Arnold. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Mike (both): There is a significant improvement communicating to students and/or other people in general if one identifies the type of learner that you are communicating to. Here is a hasty generalization that ought to get someone going: Engineers are not by nature or training a touchy feelly sort of person and tend to be more thing or fact driven. Example: Rolling is a right brain action. It is not intuitive nor is it mechanical. I can't follow steps one, two, three ........ and expect to be able to roll. Another example is: Try letting your left brain steer a bicycle, drive a car or fly a plane (I couldn't analyze my way to a hover!) - The act and "NOT" the rules are right brain controlled. So, how does one communicate right brain activity to a left brain student? As Nike says: Just Do It! Detail can get in the way of the best and brightest of us! Follow up the lesson with detailed explanation if the student wants it. An interesting perspective is to realize that some people want to know "HOW" it works in order to visualize "Why" it works. As my Brother In Law (a test pilot on the FB-111) once told me when I asked him how in the world they could go so fast at such low altitude and control the aircraft. His response: Computers and Magic! He was afraid to ride in a helicopter with me at 3 feet off the ground and 150 mph flying nap of earth. He just didn't believe that they should work. Know your audience as well as your subject! Both will benefit! Now if we were receiving instruction on designing a boat with all of it detailed dimensions, physics and engineering jargon - I'd be next to lost, though I might grasp the concepts and persist at trying I probably would not do a very good job at it. I salute those left brain folks in this world! Fred At 12:16 PM 10/9/2000 -0400, MJAkayaker_at_aol.com wrote: >Knowing your purpose would help in formulating the correct >response. Secondly if you are going to make such statements there are more >effective ways to make your point. Surely you could include more concrete >examples. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Consider this a clarification, not a flame, please. > > There is a significant improvement communicating to students and/or other > people in general if one identifies the type of learner that you are > communicating to. Take preferred learning styles into account? Sounds good. > Here is a hasty generalization that ought to get someone going: Engineers > are not by nature or training a touchy feelly sort of person and tend to be > more thing or fact driven. > > Example: Rolling is a right brain action. It is not intuitive nor is it > mechanical. I can't follow steps one, two, three ........ and expect to > be able to roll. Another example is: Try letting your left brain steer a > bicycle, drive a car or fly a plane (I couldn't analyze my way to a hover!) > - The act and "NOT" the rules are right brain controlled. So, how does one > communicate right brain activity to a left brain student? As Nike > says: Just Do It! There's way too much misinformation about hemispheric localization (aka right brain/ left brain) floating about. Rolling is a psychomotor skill that uses muscles on both sides of the body; therefore, both right and left motor centers have to be involved. It's not a "right brain action." It may not be intuitive (the mammalian desire to breathe tends to get in the way), but it certainly is mechanical (as opposed to spiritual? mystical? emotional?). And yes, if you do the steps correctly in order, you will come up. Thinking about it may or may not help. There are specialized functions of the right and left cerebral cortices, but they have to do mostly with cognitive and language functioning, not motor skills. It is certainly true that people learn in different ways. I like to analyze and dissect (No, I'm not an engineer), others like to just do it, still others like to watch a while. So, yes, let's take the preferred learning styles into consideration, but let's drop the left/right brain business. Steve (who flunked his dichotic listening test) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Steve: Thank you for clarification. I'm always up to learning something new! Fred At 03:54 PM 10/9/2000 -0400, Steve Cramer wrote: >So, yes, let's take the preferred learning styles into consideration, >but let's drop the left/right brain business. > >Steve (who flunked his dichotic listening test) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Steve (who flunked his dichotic listening test) wrote: <SNIP> So, yes, let's take the preferred learning styles into consideration, but let's drop the left/right brain business. My Ex-wife, a PhD. in Experimental Psychology used to have fits when hearing someone espouse the pop-psychology left brain right brain thing. she would agree with you that way more was made out of the differences than ever actually existed. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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