🏗️ Learning by doing

Education puts way too much emphasis on theory and not nearly enough on experiments that prove that theory.

Yet experiments are fundamental to knowledge. For a discovery to be truthful, it must be validated in reality.

For example, we know two atoms of H and one atom of O make water because water happens every time we combine them.

That's it.

There's no faith or trust needed. It doesn't matter who performs the actions, it happens every time.

Experiments are more intuitive than theory - and more fun! They let you discover the truth with your own eyes.

A child learns how the world works through experiments by touching and chewing on things, it doesn't (at least not in the deliberate sense) compute equations in its head.

Imagine seeing water created in front of you in an experiment combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Would that be more effective than reading about H2O? Because I never did such experiment, an atom remain an esoteric concept for me. I still don't quite get what it is, even though I could recite the common theory describing it.

Rote learning doesn't tend to provide fertile ground for planting original knowledge.

One of the biggest shortcomings I see when I reflect on my own education is that it was prevalently focused on learning facts.

Memorization mattered more than comprehension.

Today I know that most things that can be looked up aren't worth memorizing.

True learning comes from understanding the journey taken towards an insight, not from remembering the insight's factual existence.