Many students at Magdalen College struggled with math and science.
In math I found it very helpful to teach Book I Proposition 2 to mastery by ensuring that every student could direct the proposition blindfolded. This built up their imagination and also taught them how abstract thinking is not "picture thinking."
In science, George Stanciu focused on Newton's three laws of motion to mastery. Most physics texts in high school and college briefly state the three laws and then go on to numerous other topics. Most physics students misunderstand the laws, especially the third law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. By the common misunderstanding of the third law of motion, nothing would ever move. After a year teaching physics in Brazil, Richard Feynman proclaimed at a large gathering that "No physics is being taught in Brazil." He demonstrated that the most favored physics text book had fake experiments and everywhere in the book there was word games and not real science. In one example of rolling a ball down an inclined plane, an incomplete formula was used that ignored rotational inertia making the calculated velocity of the ball 33% faster than the velocity of a real ball rolled down the inclined plane. During his speech he randomly put his finger in the book and showed how the book talked about triboluminescence but gave the reader no understanding nor example of it.
“I have discovered something else,” I continued. “By flipping the pages at random, and putting my finger in and reading the sentences on that page, I can show you what’s the matter – how it’s not science, but memorizing, in every circumstance. Therefore I am brave enough to flip through the pages now, in front of this audience, to put my finger in, to read, and to show you.
So I did it. Brrrrrrrup – I stuck my finger in, and I started to read. Triboluminescence. Triboluminescence is the light emitted when crystals are crushed…
I said, “And there, have you got science? No – you have only told what a word means in terms of other words. You haven’t told anything about nature – which crystals produce light when you crush them, why they produce light. Did you see any student go home and try it? He can’t.”
“But if, instead, you were to write, ‘When you take a lump of sugar and crush it with a pair of pliers in the dark, you can see a bluish flash. Some other crystals do that, too. Nobody knows why. The phenomenon is called ‘triboluminescence.’ Then someone will go home and try it; then there’s an experience of nature.” I used that example to show them, but it didn’t make any difference where I would have put my finger in the book – it was like that everywhere.
(Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton, Classic Feynman : all the adventures of a curious character, 1st ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006). pp. 223-224. (emphasis added))
This is a great post! As a public school teacher, I often hear this maxim, “go slow to go fast” when discussing implementing a new curriculum or district initiative. They say this while they continually introduce new mandates until we all feel fatigue from trying to “implement with efficacy.”
I believe that they fundamentally misunderstand the concept of Festina Lente. Admin need to ensure that they are not introducing meaningless curricula; they should take time to better understand the system in order to “ensure mastery of each step before moving on to the next.” Going slow in the wrong direction is not the same thing as taking time to orient yourself before setting off. Too often, school districts react out of fear and let this urgency decide the new curricula or initiative. Festina Lente means "focuses on mastering what is important [in students' best interests] in proper sequence" not trying to introduce initiative every 5 years, while telling everyone to go slowly.
I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your substack Mr. Perrin! Great work as always. I'll be going to Ghana for 6 months this January for my first real teaching job after graduating from Hillsdale College, and hope to bring some of your wisdom with me!
Agree about your premise. AI will take around half of jobs and so Humanities and the Fine Arts and maybe even spirituality will be come cool and necessary again to help people blossom into better humans and maybe humanity will evolve to a higher consciousness level. But Democracy and goverment bureaucracies are messy and usually decades behind where we need to be as far as education, energy, social policies and everything else. I see the rise of AI as a gift if and only if we tax the rich sufficiently to create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all citizens out of work. Many conservatives don't like this idea but it will be necessary to avoid chaos and a breakdown of society. I look forward to more time for family, community and my fine art pursuits but alas I may be close to death by the time it is implemented. C'est lavie! God bless this man made mess!
Many students at Magdalen College struggled with math and science.
In math I found it very helpful to teach Book I Proposition 2 to mastery by ensuring that every student could direct the proposition blindfolded. This built up their imagination and also taught them how abstract thinking is not "picture thinking."
In science, George Stanciu focused on Newton's three laws of motion to mastery. Most physics texts in high school and college briefly state the three laws and then go on to numerous other topics. Most physics students misunderstand the laws, especially the third law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. By the common misunderstanding of the third law of motion, nothing would ever move. After a year teaching physics in Brazil, Richard Feynman proclaimed at a large gathering that "No physics is being taught in Brazil." He demonstrated that the most favored physics text book had fake experiments and everywhere in the book there was word games and not real science. In one example of rolling a ball down an inclined plane, an incomplete formula was used that ignored rotational inertia making the calculated velocity of the ball 33% faster than the velocity of a real ball rolled down the inclined plane. During his speech he randomly put his finger in the book and showed how the book talked about triboluminescence but gave the reader no understanding nor example of it.
“I have discovered something else,” I continued. “By flipping the pages at random, and putting my finger in and reading the sentences on that page, I can show you what’s the matter – how it’s not science, but memorizing, in every circumstance. Therefore I am brave enough to flip through the pages now, in front of this audience, to put my finger in, to read, and to show you.
So I did it. Brrrrrrrup – I stuck my finger in, and I started to read. Triboluminescence. Triboluminescence is the light emitted when crystals are crushed…
I said, “And there, have you got science? No – you have only told what a word means in terms of other words. You haven’t told anything about nature – which crystals produce light when you crush them, why they produce light. Did you see any student go home and try it? He can’t.”
“But if, instead, you were to write, ‘When you take a lump of sugar and crush it with a pair of pliers in the dark, you can see a bluish flash. Some other crystals do that, too. Nobody knows why. The phenomenon is called ‘triboluminescence.’ Then someone will go home and try it; then there’s an experience of nature.” I used that example to show them, but it didn’t make any difference where I would have put my finger in the book – it was like that everywhere.
(Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton, Classic Feynman : all the adventures of a curious character, 1st ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006). pp. 223-224. (emphasis added))
Also applies to physical training -I would rather my clients do one slow controlled proper form of an exercise than rush through 10x sloppy versions.
Great piece, thanks! Now I’m planning to do some multiplication table drills with my students this morning ;)
This is a great post! As a public school teacher, I often hear this maxim, “go slow to go fast” when discussing implementing a new curriculum or district initiative. They say this while they continually introduce new mandates until we all feel fatigue from trying to “implement with efficacy.”
I believe that they fundamentally misunderstand the concept of Festina Lente. Admin need to ensure that they are not introducing meaningless curricula; they should take time to better understand the system in order to “ensure mastery of each step before moving on to the next.” Going slow in the wrong direction is not the same thing as taking time to orient yourself before setting off. Too often, school districts react out of fear and let this urgency decide the new curricula or initiative. Festina Lente means "focuses on mastering what is important [in students' best interests] in proper sequence" not trying to introduce initiative every 5 years, while telling everyone to go slowly.
Never more true than in the spiritual life and emotional life.
I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your substack Mr. Perrin! Great work as always. I'll be going to Ghana for 6 months this January for my first real teaching job after graduating from Hillsdale College, and hope to bring some of your wisdom with me!
Agree about your premise. AI will take around half of jobs and so Humanities and the Fine Arts and maybe even spirituality will be come cool and necessary again to help people blossom into better humans and maybe humanity will evolve to a higher consciousness level. But Democracy and goverment bureaucracies are messy and usually decades behind where we need to be as far as education, energy, social policies and everything else. I see the rise of AI as a gift if and only if we tax the rich sufficiently to create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all citizens out of work. Many conservatives don't like this idea but it will be necessary to avoid chaos and a breakdown of society. I look forward to more time for family, community and my fine art pursuits but alas I may be close to death by the time it is implemented. C'est lavie! God bless this man made mess!