Re:Yes, The Khan Academy is the Future of Education
by lutorm on Sunday February 13, 2011 @09:25PM
(#2214974)
Against popular belief, concepts can be understood without learning the nitty-gritty mechanics.
I disagree. The problem is that you don't know that you understand a concept until you actually can apply your conceptual understanding to accomplish something. The world is full of people who "understand" quantum mechanics or relativity in terms of half-baked analogies and are unable to apply those concepts to anything but pseudo-scientific discussions.
Real conceptual understanding comes form having worked with the subject area enough that you have built your own conceptual framework. You can't really just teach someone a conceptual framework, because the words you use to describe your framework will likely be interpreted in a completely different way by someone else.
I disagree. The problem is that you don't know that you understand a concept until you actually can apply your conceptual understanding to accomplish something. The world is full of people who "understand" quantum mechanics or relativity in terms of half-baked analogies and are unable to apply those concepts to anything but pseudo-scientific discussions.
Real conceptual understanding comes form having worked with the subject area enough that you have built your own conceptual framework. You can't really just teach someone a conceptual framework, because the words you use to describe your framework will likely be interpreted in a completely different way by someone else.