Scientific Reasoning and the Language of Teaching
Posted on July 15, 2011 in Reading
This article in Ars Technica, College Upperclassmen Still Fail at Scientific Reasoning, suggests that professors inadvertently speak a different language than their student. Another data point toward text books that fail to explain, because they’re trapped in their own world.
1 Comment
This article is a good reminder of the limits of our communication. Words have very different meanings to people depending on context and the world views of the communicators. Psychological experiments that show people can take away opposing viewpoints from a lecture aimed at resolving ambiguity attest to this. Animals communicate adequately for survival and so do humans but profound thoughts require profound thinking on the part of humans who want to communicate on more complex issues than are commonly debated. Dictionary definitions are mere starting points for using words since context can modify meaning significantly.
mikethephilosopher