Knowledge media face an awkward chasm between theories.
The old theory was naive transmissionism: "I'll convey this knowledge by telling you about it." That's effectively books' learning model.
But we know that model's wrong: learning is an active process of assimilation.
Conversation
Books (and videos and lectures) sometimes work anyway, but because the learner's doing the heavy lifting—making connections, posing & answering questions, etc
In apprenticeships and great classrooms, the new theory (constructivism) operates: teachers foster active assimilation.
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But what's the equivalent of a "book" which was composed using an effective theory of how its reader will learn? We don't know.
It's a rock and a hard place: we know the old theory's wrong; we don't know how to make media which operate under our new theories.
Exciting times.
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Please see Chapter 13 of David Wells' YOU ARE A MATHEMATICIAN. You'll see that we have long known how to make educational/pedagogical media that give learners agency and to encourage them to use it. (Trouble is, such media are very hard to make.)
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Thank you; ordered.
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The truth, of course, is that learning occurs via many extremely subtle processes that elude precise specification and explication by any existing theory. There's just one generally valid principle: learners will neither master nor retain anything that only makes them miserable.
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Agreed on all counts.
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Also note that most of the world's greatest pedagogues are not native speakers of English. The English-speaking world does little to reward and encourage pedagogical excellence and innovation. To see what is optimal in this domain, one must look beyond the US, Canada, and the UK.
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Great pedagogues pioneer the development of novel media for the transmission of deep mastery. A particularly striking contemporary American example is John Hunter, a strong candidate for America's most gifted teacher. Watch and learn:
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For a glimpse into a pedagogical world rich in nuanced expertise of a sort seldom (if ever) seen in the US, I strongly recommend TEACHING AND LEARNING IN JAPAN, by Rohlen and LeTendre: it's old, but it's also keenly perceptive (and still highly relevant.)
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