The drawing teacher has this problem of communicating how to draw by osmosis and not by instruction, while the physics teacher has the problem of always teaching techniques, rather than the spirit, of how to go about solving physical problems.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the difference in teaching methods between art and science, emphasizing the challenge of conveying intuitive understanding versus technical skills.
Richard P. Feynman illustrates the contrast between teaching in creative subjects like art and technical subjects like physics. He points out that art teachers often struggle to impart the instinctive essence of drawing through direct guidance, while physics teachers tend to focus too heavily on teaching methods and skills without fostering a deeper, intuitive understanding of the subject's underlying principles. This reflects a broader conversation about the nature of learning and teaching in different disciplines.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about educational methods at a teacher training workshop.
The philosophical question before us is, when we make an observation of our track in the past, does the result of our observation become real in the same sense that the final state would be defined if an outside observer were to make the observation?
We seem gradually to be groping toward an understanding of the world of subatomic particles, but we really do not know how far we have yet to go in this task.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.
For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.
Your teacher might be a child who takes you by the hand and asks you a question that you hadn't considered before, and your answer to the child is your answer to yourself.
UN studies conducted in more than forty developing countries show that the birth rate falls as women gain equality... I believe income-earning opportunities that empower poor women ... will have more impact on curbing population growth that the current system of "encouraging" family planning practices through intimidation tactics.. Family planning should be left to the family.
Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?
There is no cost difference between incarceration and an Ivy League education; the main difference is curriculum.
I think I'm always subconsciously trying to write the ideal school play. Lots of parts for everybody, great parts for women - don't forget, more girls try out than boys in the school play; everyone gets to be in the school play.
There still remain three studies suitable for free man. Arithmetic is one of them.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.