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ChatGPT.

I had her type “react usestate” into a search engine and showed her how to identify the React project’s •actual documentation• in the search results.

She looks at it. A long pause. Then: “This is SO much better.”

After who knows how many hours of struggle, she was unstuck in 5 minutes.

2/2

@inthehands This has been my near-universal experience with junior developers using ChatGPT.

It somehow *feels* amazingly productive and helpful to them. One mentee did a mini-postmortem on a project that didn't go well, and really, really, powerfully struggled with the cognitive dissonance between "chatgpt helped me be so productive, really useful!" and "I just spent 2 weeks instead of 2 hours on a task because I asked chatgpt instead of reading the documentation."

@tedinski It reminds me of a study I saw once (wish wish wish I had the link now) that compared lecture-based sit-and-listen classroom instruction with hands-on activity-based instruction. They found that the active, activity-based learning led to much better comprehension and retention (duh), but immediately after the class, students •felt• like they’d learned more from the lecture. There’s something infectious about passively listening to a voice with an air of confidence.

@inthehands Oh wow. I had a similar experience of feeling like active learning was counterintuitive when I first learned how to teach that way.

But I don't think I would have guessed that students would have the same misperception.

@LauraLangdon @tedinski
Yup! It’s tough because (1) it takes a while to get good at it as an instructor, (2) it requires a body of materials that can take •years• to build, and (3) it’s hard to warm students to it if there’s not already a widespread student culture of embracing it. Those three interact, and bootstrapping it all takes many, many years.

@dahukanna @tedinski @inthehands Right in one! And I don’t blame the students; they’ve been successfully convinced by our educational system that learning is essentially just assimilation.

@LauraLangdon @tedinski @inthehands

Agreed. That education “indoctrination” starts way before your classroom - home to wider society to classroom to office.

For anyone not asking
- “what should I (be allowed /permitted to) know?”
&
- “how do I imitate/imprint to the extent of becoming a ‘carbon copy’?”

those groups typically respond with “How dare you question my authority, get out of my house, society, classroom, office!”

@dahukanna @tedinski @inthehands So much this!

@LauraLangdon @dahukanna @tedinski
This is all on point. I find that often (not always, but often) students already feel their instinct pulling them in the direction of “why,” meta-learning, liberal arts whole-human learning, all these good things, but need an authority figure just to give those instincts a blessing and a nudge — not because they aren’t natural instincts, but because previous indoctrination / trauma has made them doubt it.

@federico3 Exactly!

@brainwane @LauraLangdon @tedinski
That’s the one, I’m sure!! Thank you thank you.

@inthehands @LauraLangdon @tedinski Yay!

I do recommend the MetaFilter discussion thread which also links to other relevant resources.

@brainwane @LauraLangdon @tedinski
Yes, it’s a high-quality discussion! Once again I find myself thinking I should pay more attention to Metafilter.