Learning as-you-do-it is more efficient and effective than classrooms or textbook reading.
Could academic subjects remodel themselves on meditation apps, asks?
notes.andymatuschak.org/Guided_meditat
Conversation
This is probably easier for heavily procedural subjects, like math and meditation. Note that math instruction is already a lot like this, and doing exercises feels like "sitting down to do math".
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Brainstorming a bit: maybe this is why a constructionist framing has potential - to learn *concepts* in a domain, maybe structure the activity s.t. salient intrinsic motivation is to learn the concept. e.g., learn concepts of evolutionary biology bc you *NEED* to for.. a game?
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I think this doesn't work in the general case because games ultimately serve aesthetic ends (i.e. "find the fun"). Maybe you can "find the fun" in which evobio is essential, but perhaps better to focus on an authentic context. (rough outline here: notes.andymatuschak.org/z244xx3kMf1v8U)
I think "find the fun" is a valid concern, but maybe more of an issue with children who you are trying to "trick into learning" than with people interested in the topic for its own sake, and who may even find more meaningful a design that sacrifices some fun for deeper learning.
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E.g. the "find the fun" argument for movies and books would be that "good fiction focuses on being enjoyable, teaching facts is secondary" - which is true. But people still enjoy documentaries and non-fiction books, some finding those even more meaningful than entertainment.
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