On "Confusion:"I usually do a check every once in a while in my philosophy classes, asking whether the strange looks I'm getting on student faces is one of "puzzlement" or one of "confusion." I tell them that if they don't know what the heck is going on, they are confused and I'll try to help them get a better grasp of what we're talking about. But if they do have a sense of what's going on, and are puzzled by it, then that's a Good Thing and I don't need to help them get over it.
(This check helps students realize the difference between the two; they typically don't think about it, but it's central to philosophy. I sometimes get a few confused students, but usually they are puzzled. "That's Great!" is my typical response to their puzzlement.)
wokshevs@xxxxxx wrote:
Quoting Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>: snipBertrand Russell:The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. [The Philosophy of Logical Atomism]Robert Paul sowing confusionInteresting coincidence. Just yesterday - yes, the Summer term is big business in Education - an undergrad student of mine said that she was so confused by what has been transpiring in our course that she's had to alter the standard approaches and frameworks she used in finding cogency and sound justification. The pedagogical moral of the story, you ask? Confusion is a good thing to promote in learning. Indeed, it may be a categorical requirement in genuine learning/teaching. Otherwise, you might as well go with (death by) powerpoint and a laundry list of bullets for the students to regurgitate on the finalexam.
-- -------------------------------------------------"Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence and ignorance." -------------------------------------------------
John Wager john.wager1@xxxxxxxxxxx
Lisle, IL, USA
