Teaching Processes

No matter what else a course is intended to teach, if it has a format that includes using a group, it will also cause each participant to develop domain-independent for managing relations with other people. If the course includes open-ended problem solving, it will teach strategies having to do with reasoning simply by force of having to engage in these strategies. And, if the results of any of this needs to be communicated, it will develop strategies for communication. These three processes, and how to engage in them, should never be explicitly taught. They will be learned by the very best method of all, by having students experience the processes for themselves.

What might these strategies look like? Let's consider some examples. Some good ones for human relations might be:

If you want someone to like you, ask for their help.
If you are in charge of someone, be firm but treat them as an equal.

Good strategies for reasoning might include:

In order to attack a new problem, try to see it as an instance of an old problem.
In order to find a solution, hypothesize a world in which the current problem wouldn't exist.

Some good strategies for communication might be:

Never say everything you know in one speech.
Always write in an easy-to-read, unpretentious style.

Teaching to Individuals

Where am I in the content of the book?