taylor@hplabs.HP.COM (Dave Taylor) (03/30/88)
[Forwarded from the Psychnet Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 10] From: Marge Hermans, Juneau, Alaska <JSMCH@ALASKA.BITNET> Subject: Learning styles and computers Does anyone have ideas about how learning styles affect people's attitudes and success using computers? It seems to me that so far in development of the technology, the people who do best with computers are those who enjoy problem-solving, who are willing to spend time just "exploring" the technology, and who are comfortable learning by trial and error. I think a lot of "technophobia" comes from people who prefer to know what to do and what to expect beforehand--and who get frustrated when computer manuals are incomplete, or unexpected problems come up--which is almost the nature of the technology at this point! Any thoughts out there? Marge
dbc5390@acf5.NYU.EDU (David B. Chorlian) (04/04/88)
I'm afraid that the desire to see the answers clearly laid out in advance is one of the things that our educational systems engenders in its students. As a mathematics and sometimes science teacher in high school, most students are extremely uncomfortable when I tell them that the question is just as or more important than the answer. After all, getting a good grade is just putting down the right answer, and if I don't tell them right away, I must be torturing them in some obscure manner. The computer is ideally set up for exploratory learning, but the school isn't, despite the pleas of educational reformers from Rousseau to Pappert. David B. Chorlian