WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 I want you to take a second and just think back 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.559 to the last time you tried to learn a completely 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:09.460 new, really complex skill. Oh, yeah. That is 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:11.640 always a rough process. Right. Just think about 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:14.199 the internal friction of that whole experience. 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:16.600 Yeah. Because, you know, why is it that in some 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.100 scenarios learning feels like you're just following 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:22.899 this highly strict step -by -step instruction 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:26.100 manual? Yeah, like an algorithm. Exactly. But 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.039 then in other scenarios, it feels like you've 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:30.179 literally been thrown into the deep end of the 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:32.299 pool and you just have to figure things out on 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:35.000 your own. Which is terrifying, honestly. It is. 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:37.820 And we usually internalize that dissonance, right? 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:40.500 Like, when the environment asks for more autonomy 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:42.700 than we're ready for, we just assume, well, I 00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:44.840 lack discipline. Right. Or if it's too rigid, 00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:47.259 we think, oh, I must just lack creativity. Yeah. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:50.820 But that whole internal blame game entirely misses 00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:53.420 the actual mechanics of how learning works. It 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:56.359 really does. I mean, we constantly mistake the 00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.119 friction of our environment for some sort of 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:00.939 personal deficit. The sensation of being overwhelmed. 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:05.239 or feeling totally boxed in, it's rarely about 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:07.480 your actual capacity to learn. It's almost always 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:09.920 a mismatch. A mismatch between what exactly? 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:12.500 Between your current cognitive state. and the 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:14.500 actual structure of the teaching methodology 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:16.819 you're stuck in. Okay, so the architecture of 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:18.959 the instruction is what's really driving your 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:21.799 psychological experience. Exactly. Well, our 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.640 mission for today's deep dive is to completely 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:28.099 deconstruct that architecture. We want to decode 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:30.579 the mechanics of how we learn and, critically, 00:01:31.099 --> 00:01:33.560 how we are taught. So that you can identify exactly 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:35.459 what kind of learning environment you are currently 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.180 in. Right, or maybe... figure out what kind of 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.840 environment you need to go find so you can actually 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:43.799 master your next big goal. And to do that, we 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:47.799 are diving into a really concise but incredibly 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:49.659 insightful piece of writing. Yes, it's called 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:52.239 Four Approaches to Teaching by Dr. Gary Ackerman. 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:54.739 We pulled this from the educational technology 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:58.060 website hackscience .education. And what makes 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:01.379 this specific source so valuable for you know, 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:04.140 a lifelong learner, is how it breaks down the 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:06.900 exact relationship between a student, a teacher, 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:10.719 and the curriculum. It's all about how that relationship 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.080 shifts at different stages of mastery. Right. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.580 OK, let's unpack this. Because Dr. Ackerman basically 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:20.020 gives us four distinct elevator pitches that 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:22.360 summarize these main philosophies of teaching. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.060 He does. And we start at the very beginning, 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:27.319 which is the foundational level of learning where 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:30.050 Honestly, certainty is the primary goal. Right. 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:32.449 He calls this first approach the behaviorist 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:34.990 model, and this is used when the instructor knows 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:37.639 with absolute certainty what the student has 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:39.699 to learn. Yeah there's no ambiguity here. None. 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:43.139 It relies heavily on like worked examples and 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:45.199 very direct show -and -tell methods. Because 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.139 the goal is just transferring exact knowledge. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.280 Right. It feels a lot like assembling flat pack 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:52.000 furniture. Oh it's a good way to put it. Or like 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.719 learning to parallel park for the first time. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.139 There is a definitive right and a definitive 00:02:56.139 --> 00:02:58.580 wrong and your only goal is just replication. 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:00.879 What's fascinating here is the safety of this 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.629 approach. It creates very strict boundaries. 00:03:03.849 --> 00:03:05.689 It definitely feels safe. You just follow the 00:03:05.689 --> 00:03:08.889 manual. Exactly. The instructor provides totally 00:03:08.889 --> 00:03:12.009 clear criteria for evaluation, and the student's 00:03:12.009 --> 00:03:14.830 job is simply to practice those specific steps. 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:16.909 But, I mean, let me push back on that a little 00:03:16.909 --> 00:03:19.250 bit. Sure. Go ahead. Doesn't relying too heavily 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:23.009 on this behaviorist approach risk turning learners 00:03:23.009 --> 00:03:26.870 into, like, Robots. Robots. Yeah. Like people 00:03:26.870 --> 00:03:28.810 who can only follow the steps, but then they 00:03:28.810 --> 00:03:31.310 completely freeze up if just one piece of the 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:33.229 puzzle is missing. Oh, absolutely. That's the 00:03:33.229 --> 00:03:35.509 major vulnerability of this phase. Right. The 00:03:35.509 --> 00:03:38.389 system just crashes. Exactly. Which is exactly 00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:40.849 why teaching has to evolve to the next stage 00:03:40.849 --> 00:03:43.330 once those basic steps are actually mastered. 00:03:43.750 --> 00:03:45.969 You can't stay in the behaviorist phase forever. 00:03:46.389 --> 00:03:48.389 OK. So that leads us to the second phase, right? 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:51.189 The cognitive approach. Yes. This is where we 00:03:51.189 --> 00:03:53.759 start building the mental scaffolding. So learning 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.460 shifts from just blindly following steps to actually 00:03:56.460 --> 00:03:58.659 helping students organize and structure what 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:00.919 they know. All right, the source notes that students 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:03.520 begin to generalize their skills and their knowledge 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.080 so they can integrate new concepts. It's basically 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.960 moving from strictly following a baking recipe 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:11.240 step by step, which would be the behaviorist 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.699 approach. Right. Adding exactly two cups of flour. 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:16.339 Exactly. Moving from that to actually understanding 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:19.279 flavor profiles and baking science. Oh, I love 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:21.519 that analogy. Yeah. So you can just look at whatever 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.819 random stuff is in your fridge and invent a meal 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:27.480 completely on the fly. You're not just executing. 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:29.990 You're understanding the the rules behind the 00:04:29.990 --> 00:04:34.769 execution. And there's a crucial detail from 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:37.310 the source here. What's that? In this stage, 00:04:37.730 --> 00:04:40.370 learning becomes highly reflective and social. 00:04:40.649 --> 00:04:43.689 Social? How so? Well, students start thinking 00:04:43.689 --> 00:04:46.110 about their own learning process, they discuss 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:48.689 the curriculum with others, and they really rely 00:04:48.689 --> 00:04:52.029 on peer feedback to assess their progress. Oh, 00:04:52.029 --> 00:04:53.850 right. Because you need to bounce your mental 00:04:53.850 --> 00:04:55.970 models off of other people to see if they hold 00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:57.629 up. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:04:57.790 --> 00:05:00.470 though. The goal here is actually to identify 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:03.129 the relevant details on your own rather than 00:05:03.129 --> 00:05:04.769 having the teacher just, you know, point them 00:05:04.769 --> 00:05:07.110 out with a giant neon sign. Yeah, you have to 00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:08.709 separate the signal from the noise yourself. 00:05:09.470 --> 00:05:12.670 But, I mean, generalizing skills inside a classroom 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:14.930 is great, but the real world doesn't look like 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:16.870 a neatly organized textbook, right? It definitely 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:19.449 does not. And that leads us directly into the 00:05:19.449 --> 00:05:22.209 messy reality of the third phase. Which is the 00:05:22.209 --> 00:05:24.850 situated cognition approach. Yes. And I want 00:05:24.850 --> 00:05:26.610 to quote the source directly here because it's 00:05:26.610 --> 00:05:29.459 perfect. Whereas cognitive approaches tend to 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:32.939 focus on the curriculum, situated cognition places 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:35.560 the curriculum in the context of problems encountered 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.079 in the real world. If we connect this to the 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.319 bigger picture, real -world problems are just 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:43.360 not as clearly bounded as a school curriculum. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:45.500 They're completely unbounded. Right. They have 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:47.860 missing variables, shifting timelines. It's just 00:05:47.860 --> 00:05:51.899 messy. Yeah. And the social nature of these authentic 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:55.980 situations changes everything. How does the teacher's 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:59.199 role change here? It shifts dramatically. They 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.360 go from being an evaluator who grades you against 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:05.220 a strict rubric to basically acting like a coach. 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:07.839 A coach. Right, so they're on the sidelines offering 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.000 real -time feedback, but you're the one playing 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.199 the game. Exactly. But wait, how does a learner 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.560 deal with the sudden anxiety of losing those 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.319 clear boundaries? It is a huge leap, psychologically. 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:20.939 Right, because if the school curriculum safety 00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:24.339 net is just totally removed, how do we even measure 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:26.939 success when the problems themselves are subjective 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:29.540 and messy? Well, the anxiety of that messy real 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:32.199 -world problem is basically resolved when the 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:34.060 student finally stops acting like a student. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.180 Oh, and they - start acting like a practitioner 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:38.699 instead. Exactly. Which brings us to the final 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:42.459 stage, the participationist approach. The participationist 00:06:42.459 --> 00:06:44.519 approach. OK, and this is where the learner basically 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:46.759 takes the wheel. They completely take the wheel. 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:49.060 The source highlights that in these environments, 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.860 students become actors within real world problems. 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:55.399 Actors. I love that word choice. Yeah, they aren't 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.100 just reacting anymore. They practice being agents 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.480 who actually select, design, and analyze their 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.019 own solutions. And notice the ultimate shift 00:07:03.019 --> 00:07:06.379 in the instructor's role here. The faculty member 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:09.899 basically just assumes the role of a mere observer. 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.600 A silent observer. Pretty much. The feedback 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:15.500 they provide isn't to grade you, but strictly 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:18.540 to help you improve your performance in these 00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:21.120 real world contexts. So what does this all mean? 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:22.899 I mean, this has to be the ultimate goal of learning, 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:26.220 right? True agency. Absolutely. The student finally 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:28.879 takes center stage and the teacher steps entirely 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.120 out of the spotlight. This raises an important 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.839 question though. Think about how much trust this 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.779 requires from both sides. Trust from the teacher 00:07:36.779 --> 00:07:39.459 to let go of control. Yes, and trust from the 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:42.709 student in their own accumulated knowledge. The 00:07:42.709 --> 00:07:45.569 teacher has to resist the urge to jump in and 00:07:45.569 --> 00:07:47.569 save the student from failing. Oh, that has to 00:07:47.569 --> 00:07:50.110 be so hard for a teacher. It really is. So to 00:07:50.110 --> 00:07:51.810 quickly summarize this whole journey for the 00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:54.089 learner, you start with these strict step -by 00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:56.250 -step behaviorist foundations. Where certainty 00:07:56.250 --> 00:07:59.829 is the goal. Right. Then you move into the organizing 00:07:59.829 --> 00:08:02.670 and generalizing of the cognitive phase. Building 00:08:02.670 --> 00:08:05.389 those mental models. Yep. Then you step out into 00:08:05.389 --> 00:08:08.529 the messy, unbounded, real -world contexts of 00:08:08.529 --> 00:08:11.480 situated cognition with a coach. navigating the 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:14.839 chaos. And finally, you achieve total agency 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:17.959 as a fully active participationist. That's the 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:20.660 complete evolution. So I want you, listening 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:23.699 right now, to really think about a skill you 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.420 are currently trying to learn. Audit your current 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:29.339 friction. Exactly. Are you feeling stuck because 00:08:29.339 --> 00:08:31.899 you're trying to just jump in and participate 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:34.519 and invent solutions before you've even mastered 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.299 the basic behaviorist steps? You can't skip the 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:39.799 foundation. Right, you just can't. Or, conversely, 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:42.179 are you trapped in endless step -by -step tutorials 00:08:42.179 --> 00:08:44.120 when you really just need to step out into a 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:46.039 messy real -world scenario and become an active 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:47.620 agent? It's usually one or the other holding 00:08:47.620 --> 00:08:50.019 people back. It really is. Well, before we wrap 00:08:50.019 --> 00:08:52.279 up this deep dive, I think we have one final 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:55.500 thing to ponder. We do. And it builds directly 00:08:55.500 --> 00:08:58.080 on how the source describes that final teaching 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.860 approach. Lay it on us. If the ultimate goal 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:02.840 of the participationist approach is for the student 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.570 to act as a totally independent agent, While 00:09:05.570 --> 00:09:08.169 the faculty just assumes the role of a silent 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:11.529 observer, does a truly perfect educational system 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:13.649 ultimately make the traditional teacher completely 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:14.110 obsolete?