[HN Gopher] Engage, don't show
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       Engage, don't show
        
       Author : saikatsg
       Score  : 44 points
       Date   : 2024-07-23 18:04 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
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       | from-nibly wrote:
       | I try to do this as much as possible. Unfortunately some people
       | are not actually interested in knowledge transfer. Those people
       | are just interested in unblocking themselves for the ultimate
       | short dopamine hit. For those people doing this is like nails on
       | a chalkboard.
       | 
       | "Just tell me what I need to do"
        
         | PaulHoule wrote:
         | You catch different people at different places in their
         | journey.
        
         | sublinear wrote:
         | From the article:
         | 
         | > explaining things in context as they become relevant is
         | infinitely better for retention and comprehension than
         | explaining them upfront
         | 
         | At one point in my life "explaining things as they become
         | relevant" was equivalent to not really giving a crap and
         | letting them presumably mess it all up after I showed/told them
         | the bare minimum.
         | 
         | What I found was that they learned on their own quicker than I
         | assumed, didn't really mess up as bad as I thought, and loved
         | me for the simple explanation. That's when I decided this is
         | the way.
         | 
         | I don't know why I'm adding this in, but this strategy is also
         | relevant to other topics such as relationships. Don't rush or
         | get too excited. Don't ever offer more than what they're giving
         | you. Expect people to bail when they got what they wanted.
         | Embrace and reward them for sticking around. You become more
         | than a means to an end when the fear of missing out is a
         | factor. You also automatically filter out people who didn't
         | respect you anyway.
        
           | nuancebydefault wrote:
           | Indeed learning from experience, with just a few hints to
           | fall back on, tends to stick better. I think it might be so
           | because the feedback loops introduced are positive as well as
           | negative. You can't learn how to hold your fork without
           | learning in which ways your food tumbles off.
        
         | soneca wrote:
         | That is common in several occupations. It is worth asking
         | yourself an important question when you are deciding to become
         | something that you are not. _"Do you want to write or to be a
         | writer?"_ , _"Do you want to develop software or be a software
         | developer employee?"_
         | 
         | Often the role/title is desired for its status and/or money. I
         | think that's a fair enough motivation actually, except it
         | should not _solely_ be that. You have to want to learn and
         | practice. Or else, counterproductively, you will have less
         | chance to get the role/title.
        
       | sublinear wrote:
       | Isn't this still just "show, don't tell"? Why are we trying to
       | coin a new term and muddy waters?
       | 
       | "Tell" implies some form of structured information such as music
       | notation. "Show" implies action(s) such as actually playing the
       | piano.
       | 
       | Showing is usually engaging otherwise they wouldn't be there in
       | the first place.
        
         | nuancebydefault wrote:
         | > Showing is usually engaging otherwise they wouldn't be there
         | in the first place.
         | 
         | The problem is, e.g. if you as a teacher show music notation
         | and show low, high, short, long notes on a blackboard, the
         | student will forget what is shown if it does not fulfill a
         | rather short term goal.
         | 
         | Engaging would be playing the piano together while watching and
         | listening. The feedback loop of gratification is much shorter
         | and we animals are programmed to learn well from short
         | positive/negative feedback loops.
        
           | Sirizarry wrote:
           | But that definition of engaging is already what showing means
           | in "show, don't tell". There's no reason to give it a new
           | term and thus again muddying the waters of understanding
        
         | soneca wrote:
         | I think inviting the person to play is much more engaging than
         | just showing them you playing.
         | 
         | Showing the music notation to the student = tell
         | 
         | Playing the music to the student = show
         | 
         | Letting the student play the music = engage
         | 
         | Makes sense to me
        
           | mecsred wrote:
           | But the reason they are a student is because they can't play
           | the music. Showing them the notations and demonstrating how
           | to play it are steps towards them playing it themselves.
        
             | soneca wrote:
             | Not necessarily. Especially the notations are certainly not
             | a necessary step towards the student playing.
             | 
             | Playing for them, sure. But you can play once and invite
             | them to play. Not keeping showing until you think they
             | learned.
        
           | hinkley wrote:
           | High barrier to entry skills like playing a piano don't
           | conduct themselves well to random unguided exploration. And
           | in music there is often a warning that doing so may
           | ultimately restrict your potential in the field.
           | 
           | Internal martial arts has the same warning. Across pretty
           | much all disciplines in the field, the message is that you
           | can only learn these skills kinesthetically. Not talking, not
           | seeing, but feeling instructor corrections with your own
           | body.
        
         | kynetic wrote:
         | It's a semantics debate all around, but the article's main
         | point is that "show" suggests a mere demonstration, whereas
         | "engage" implies active participation by the learner in the
         | process of learning.
        
       | andrewstuart wrote:
       | >> I mentioned to her teacher that kids that age struggle to
       | learn theory for that long without practicing it. He agreed, and
       | said that many kids are motivated to get through the theory
       | because they've heard their teacher play nice music and want to
       | get there too.
       | 
       | Few people are open to advice. Usually results in
       | defensive/justification response.
        
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