Let’s take that up a notch - try both and actually measure the results.
It’s accepted to design products and services by trying lots of permutations and measuring the success, is this ever done with teaching?
So many people (myself included) have stories of, if only I had been exposed to such and such concept in a different way it would have had a much bigger impact.
Why not measure multiple aspects? Efficiency of learning, motivation, inspiration, relevance...
Maybe it’s being done and I don’t see it. Maybe it’s not being done, because companies will pay six figures to have people A/B test a different button ___location on a web site, but the business case for optimizing learning curriculum at traditional institutions is piss poor.
>It’s accepted to design products and services by trying lots of permutations and measuring the success, is this ever done with teaching?
Yes and...of course it is done and tried. The problem is that most parents (especially those whose kids are most likely not to have the support to get past these struggles) are not exactly ecstatic for their children to be used as experiments. They want concrete answers, fixes, solutions...they don't want permutations.
Also, measure success as what? Learning? at a conceptual level or an execution level? Do you want a standardized test? Do you want to train teachers to effectively measure these concepts? Do the teachers really understand these concepts?
Educational systems are incredibly difficult and complex. Blackboxing them is not easy.You nailed the business case...we can't agree on who will pay for this, can't agree on how to measure it, and can't even agree on what should be taught. One experiment in this way was gasp the evil Common Core curriculum.
As an education researcher myself, I wouldn't fault anyone who works in K-12 policy and development to just phone it in and spend the days day drinking. They are underpaid, poorly treated/respected, and everyone thinks that they are equally qualified as those experts to have an opinion (e.g., parts of this thread) because they experienced education themselves.
The question I always ask people when they propose really concrete fixes to educational issues analogized to their personal technical field of expertise is this...Can you define and support from research your definition of what learning is?
That’s helpful background, thank you. A lot of it makes sense but, hear me out, I don’t believe you’re point on difficulty or definitions has much to do with the the most frustrating parts you mention.
Research is always difficult, in any field. You don’t get a PhD for courses, when you’re expected to have insights that no one ever has had before, that’s just a hard thing. Same with designing research. It’s so difficult and complex across the board people make big mistakes doing it all the time.
Same with the parent problem. Recruiting humans to study is always a huge mine field, medical/psych/sociology/etc. all deal with it.
So what’s different about education? I don’t know your field, but it sounds like things are too tightly (inherently) coupled to public policy controversy, on top on the money thing.
All excellent points - I would opine though that education has a particular difficulty in that unless one trusts a standardized test every year, the experiment needs to run for a very long time by the standards of human trials.
Thanks for bringing this perspective in here. I have a complex-numbers project that I'm sure could profit from a chat with someone with your background: http://wry.me/m/ -- though it at least currently sucks, and I just want to make a fun and interesting toy (hard enough), not deal with the education system. Ping me if you feel like it?
This is relevant in that I have it in mind to eventually tackle trig-type problems in that program.
It’s accepted to design products and services by trying lots of permutations and measuring the success, is this ever done with teaching?
So many people (myself included) have stories of, if only I had been exposed to such and such concept in a different way it would have had a much bigger impact.
Why not measure multiple aspects? Efficiency of learning, motivation, inspiration, relevance...
Maybe it’s being done and I don’t see it. Maybe it’s not being done, because companies will pay six figures to have people A/B test a different button ___location on a web site, but the business case for optimizing learning curriculum at traditional institutions is piss poor.