The most expert are the worst teachers
Summary
- Studies are clear that the experts are consistently the worst teachers, regardless of the field and the difficulty of the course
Details
- Experts may find it hard to remember how it was like to be a beginner
- A good example was Einstein.
- "As you get better and better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding or to help others learn that skill often gets worse and worse."
References
Quotes
The pattern was robust across fields: students learned less from introductory classes taught by experts in every subject. It held across years —with over 15,000 students—and in courses with tougher as well as easier grading. And the experts were especially bad at teaching students who were less academically prepared.[*] It turns out that if you’re taking a new road, the best experts are often the worst guides. There are at least two reasons why experts struggle to give good directions to beginners. One is the distance they’ve traveled—they’ve come too far to remember what it’s like being in your shoes. It’s called the curse of knowledge: the more you know, the harder it is for you to fathom what it’s like to not know. As cognitive scientist Sian Beilock summarizes it, “As you get better and better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding or to help others learn that skill often gets worse and worse.” That was Einstein’s curse in the classroom. He knew too much, and his students knew too little. He had so many ideas swirling in his head that he had a hard time keeping his lectures organized—let alone explaining to a beginner how gravity bends light. When he made his teaching debut in a thermodynamics course, despite being a rising star in physics, his lackluster teaching attracted only three students. His material was often over their heads, and after he failed to draw a larger group the following semester, Einstein canceled the class. Several years down the road, he was nearly denied another faculty position because the university president was underwhelmed by his teaching skills.