2026-07-19 10:55 UTC
I think the following works:
1. Showing students the awesome new things one can do with the particular tool and method and object. Getting them invested into a 'I want to be able to do this myself'.
2. Taking a step back & focus on the foundational understandings and skills. Now they know why they need to learn such 'basics'.
3. Only after that start with the application you want the course to focus on.
(This assumes students with differing former knowledge/understanding/skills.)
2/2
Replies (1)
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@hyc@mastodon.social 2026-07-19 14:24
@lavaeolus@fedihum.org this seems so obvious - always explain the why. I don't get why so much of teaching fails to explain the motivation for a topic. I hated Linear Systems in college. Had no idea why I should care about Fourier Transforms. After graduation, I went to work at JPL in Radar Sciences and learned about SAR image processing, which is just endless FFTs. And then I applied that understanding to my own interest in music, digital audio, audio compression. It all clicked once I had context.