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<blockquote data-quote="John Roberts" data-source="post: 48527" data-attributes="member: 126">Re: The Dangers of Learning Without UnderstandingIt is hard to expand upon the title of this thread, that says it all (almost). There is danger in &quot;rote&quot; learning where the student it told to just accept some principle on faith (like sticking a ground rod in dirt to provide a safety ground path connection), versus explaining that the purpose of the ground rod is to complete an electrical circuit. If that example was a metal pail instead of plastic, it might complete a ground path to earth through the metal walkway, and the ground rod leaning against the metal railing is almost accidentally making a connection (but probably not). I have seen several instances (in seminars mostly) of instructors that don&#039;t truly understand the material so they just repeat things they learned by rote, and try to blind the students with jargon when questioned, to shut them up by making them as confused as the instructor*. IMO you must understand the course material to teach it effectively, while a good text or course materials can go a long way to overcome poor instruction.&nbsp; JR* I believe it is part of the human condition for us to think we understand stuff better than we do, this frees us from being paralyzed by the complexity around us, for better or worse.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="John Roberts, post: 48527, member: 126"] Re: The Dangers of Learning Without Understanding It is hard to expand upon the title of this thread, that says it all (almost). There is danger in "rote" learning where the student it told to just accept some principle on faith (like sticking a ground rod in dirt to provide a safety ground path connection), versus explaining that the purpose of the ground rod is to complete an electrical circuit. If that example was a metal pail instead of plastic, it might complete a ground path to earth through the metal walkway, and the ground rod leaning against the metal railing is almost accidentally making a connection (but probably not). I have seen several instances (in seminars mostly) of instructors that don't truly understand the material so they just repeat things they learned by rote, and try to blind the students with jargon when questioned, to shut them up by making them as confused as the instructor*. IMO you must understand the course material to teach it effectively, while a good text or course materials can go a long way to overcome poor instruction. JR * I believe it is part of the human condition for us to think we understand stuff better than we do, this frees us from being paralyzed by the complexity around us, for better or worse. [/QUOTE]

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