It's like essay-writing courses at the university. There isn't much to teach, other than by example and constructive criticism of exercises.
Model-building (like problem-solving or designing algorithms) is a craft, a skill, "an art not a science". "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
Take away the scary quotes and you have a good definition of what teaching involves. You could, I think, replace "taught" with "educated". The reason I don't think you need the scare quotes is that you seem to imply that the opposite of teaching is what happens.
Reminds me of the "I am a lecturer, not a teacher," arguments, where...in my experience "Drone, drone, drone, drone." Are we done? Right. What books are we supposed to read? Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
If I know something you don't, I can tell it to you, and that's all we need to do.
If I can do something you can't, it's going to be a whole lot harder. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
But if you (as my teacher) produced an atlas, got me to look up Mozambique and find its capital...
So it would depend if there was a teaching context to the passing across of knowledge.
(Very annoying at the train station if you ask, "When's the next train to Huddersfield?" and a helpful person starts explaining the layout of the station, where the boards are with the times, etc... Well, very annoying if you just want the answer "10:15." But also, unless you are in a hurry, very useful for the next time and all other times when you need to know the time a train leaves.) Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
I thought you were saying that teaching involved standing in front of people and telling them things (they didn't know.) I'm sure I got that wrong. Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
My thought is that you seem to have an idea of a difference between coaching, instructing, setting up scenarios (to relate this back to modelling)...and teaching; whereas I would say they are all teaching methods, though I would use "teaching" to mean perhaps the wider idea of "imparting knowledge (by these various mechanisms) even to those who won't, can't or refuse to learn," with that specific emphasis (and a specific set of skills and potential issues related to it.) I suppose that runs against the idea of someone being "unteachable" and supports the idea that, in principle, no one is "unteachable". But I got the idea from your original comment (plus scare quotes) that you have a specific and different idea of what teaching is, which precludes drills, coaching, skills-training etc... Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Teaching is an action in which the teacher is active and the student passive. Learning is an action in which the learner is active and the instructor passive.
Knowledge can be taught, while skills must be learned.
Any discipline is a combination of knowledge and skills, in varying proportions.
ATinNM lists a whole bunch of areas of knowledge that he thinks are relevant to the skill of model building. But those knowledges are usually imparted independently without reference to model building. Conversely, if the goal is model-building, spending a lot of time teaching all that stuff is not going to be very productive. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
?
So in the case of model building:
Teaching = How to build a model Learning = Building a specific model
? Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
So, for you: What is a skill? Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Teaching epistemology, mathematics, systems theory... Learning how to build a model... [the teacher can guide the student through worked examples]
One thing we are forgetting is that in order to build a model of something (model-building is a skill that is applied to something else) you have to know something about it (model-building is possible only from knowledge of that thing which one wants to model). Which is what made it next to impossible to teach "applied linear algebra" to people who had no knowledge of anything to which to apply the linear algebra. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
I want to build a model of the hill near my house. I need yadda yadda info about the hill (photos, measurements, pictures, etc...) but...
I don't know how to build a model! What materials should I use? Which ones work better than others? Has anyone done this before?
Then (with the help of a teacher (trainer/instructor/etc. in this scenario) I lay out my materials and have a go. The teacher gives me knowledge about "how to build a model". I then apply that knowledge. To the extent that I can effectively apply the knowledge...(inculding how to smooth surfaces, create realistic grass etc...) then I can now attempt to model the hill...
I mean "I can now attempt to build a model of the hill." Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Hey, New Mexico is...stunning!
Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
A doo run-run-run, a doo run-run
...as long as we're interested in educating those bloody lazy skills. I will now save this example for my next course titled, "Trials & Tribulations With The Out Of Context Pronoun"...which will involve an overview followed by exercises (with guidance as necessary.) Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
"Follow the instructions."
Do you believe in education?
I think it's different, yes, to skill transmission. It's a wider concept, but perhaps I'd just rather bring them as close as possible--keep education as practical as can be. (Doing vs. Talking About Doing) Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
I like "training". It's specific and once you've been trained (the idea is that) you can do whatever it was you've been trained in.
Along with ye! Goddamn it, move!
A couple of musician friends prefer "coaching"
Which, yes, makes sense as that is a specific part of their role. Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
