Part of my job as a scientist is to teach my students an appreciation for that complexity. It's not easy. It's not that young people aren't hard wired to look at their world critically. They are actually superbly equipped and ready to practice a detailed analysis of the world around them.
It's just that the things we look at as scientists, for example patterns in nature, are not as immediately interesting to them as other kinds of patterns--patterns of behavior or fashion for example.
So how to teach complexity? In a few weeks we start school again. My undergraduates will come in fresh with summer, full of energy, and ready for a challenge. I think I'll give them something to do with their hands.
I bought a few of these great Zometool sets. Their components are extremely simple. Deceptively so if you consider everything you can build with them. Hmmmm....something like the building blocks of life.
The best way to teach complexity is by taking a simplistic approach to it. Start out with the smallest parts of the object and built up to what it is as a whole. The way you teach us in class by connecting all the smaller parts of a protein like the bonds and molecules to the protein as a whole...the four different levels explaining the complex protein. Break other complex things into levels and it makes everything a whole lot easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to teach complexity is to get familiar with the concept in a macro sense. Do not spend too much time on this but just enough to get a good sense of the concept. Then jump right in to the smallest organizational unit in that system. From there work up getting to bigger topics until the smaller parts link together with the larger picture.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to teach complexity is by teaching smaller concepts so that the learner can understand the bigger, more complex picture. Breaking down difficult material will help the learner comprehend the information better because it will help them build up their confidence. The more the learner understands the simpler concepts the more confident they will feel about understanding the larger, more complex concept.
ReplyDeleteI think that the best way to teach complexity is to take an object and break it down, from top to bottom, meaning from its fully finished state to its fully broken down state of proteins. For example, when looking at a plant, it is best to first examine the plant itself, and its characteristics seen by the naked eye, then piece by piece go deeper and deeper into its finite details, finally leading to the proteins and material that make up the plant.
ReplyDeleteTeaching complexity to undergraduate students is probably best achieved by utilizing phenomena they find complex within the larger concept of scientific complexity. For example, today in lab you used a snapshot from the popular movie, "Legally Blonde," to help better explain the complex functions of proteins and their real-world applications. At least for me, a lover of the movie, this definitely helped the biologically complex concept stick in my mind better than had you not introduced the example from the end of the film.
ReplyDeleteTo teach complexity, the most important thing to do is break down your teaching method. I completely agree that as students, especially in this digital age, we have very short attention spans. We need to be taught in a much more straightforward and simple fashion. I also know that like me there are a lot of visual learners in class. I think that it is very important to include something like the Zometool set for those who can grasp concepts much more easily if they can physically see the concept they are learning about!
ReplyDeleteThe best way to teach complexity is to break down a major work into smaller parts. Through this process, an individual can take time to fully understand every piece of a subject. Once an individual has full knowledge of one matter, they can continue onto the next and complete the same process. In the end, and individual can look at the full project as a whole. In this, they will understand not only its significance as a whole project, but also the individual pieces that it is comprised of.
ReplyDeleteThe way to make complexity easier to learn as opposed to having it straight forward explained to you is to start teaching something like that, broadly and generally, and carefully break apart the generality into smaller parts. By starting out big and breaking down to small, we can see some of the scientific specifics while at the same time not losing the big picture that is the beauty of the object as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI think the way to teach complexity is to look for patterns. Finding groups with similar characteristics is always a good starting point. Of course, then scientists would put these distinct groups together, and see how they would fit to build macromolecules. For example, fatty tissues would be build up by different groups of smaller chemical molecules, like glycerols and fatty acid chains to make triglycerides. In the end, one would be able to appreciate the functions and characteristics of a molecule after he or she understands and sees the beauty of the structure.
ReplyDeleteIn order to teach complexity, I think that one should start off learning about the simple elements and slowly piece together the many different components into the final product. For example, when we were learning about proteins, we started with its core and worked our way out to the tertiary structure and the Quaternary structure. This helped us gain a better understanding of the protein by working from the inside out, or from the most important and simple components to the more complex.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to teach complexity is to start with basics. Showing simple terms makes it easy to relate them to the more complex counter parts. The relationship between simple and complex is easily understood because they are relative to each other. If we understand that plants need water and sun to survive, we understand the simplified version of how plants work. Terms like photosynthesis add to the complexity and as we begin to understand photosynthesis, we begin to see the complexity of our original understanding of plants.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to teach complexity is to look at a simple broad object, and zoom in on the many complexities of the object. For example, the earth is very complex. But there are so many different complexities of it and by focusing on a simple well known characteristic, we can better understand. The earth is a simple object to many people because we have learned about it for many years in school, and we have separately learned the many components of earth, but not necessarily its complexity. Therefore, it will be interesting to learn something about the world that we thought we knew everything about.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to teach complexity is to show the main object or the big picture, and then break it down. For example, with the coral reef, show students pictures and give them some brief information about the reef. Then go into how each and every aspect contributes to this complex system and environment.
ReplyDeleteGabrielle Kanellos.
I believe that the best way to teach complexity is to start with simplicity. If we can take simple concepts and slowly build upon them we will have a more solid understanding of complex information
ReplyDeleteTeaching complexity requires first teaching the simplicity of whatever it may be we are learning about. Taking a simplistic approach is definitely the best way to help students understand the complex world. I like the way you are teaching us about proteins, first starting with the individual molecules and the bilayer. This allows students to formulate their own contemplation of each individual part, then put it all together when we reach the larger picture, put it all together and reach an understanding of the end product.
ReplyDeleteIsabel Vera
ReplyDeleteI feel that the most efficient way to teach complexity is by deconstructing our reality and focusing on the crucial smaller components that add up to the broad picture of our world. If we start at the root of an organism or phenomena and add on the important properties that are direct results of the root, we are better able to understand the broader make-up or function of the organism or phenomena. When we finally arrive at the bigger picture, we are able to see the intricacies that constitute our day-to-day phenomena that once seemed to be very simple.
I think that the best way to teach complexity is to break it down into its simplest parts, so we can better understand the object as a whole. If we are able to deconstruct an object and understand fully the different parts that make it up then we can understand the whole object in a new and better way. Seeing how basic parts work together and their individual functions within the bigger picture make complex things much easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteI think a good way to teach complexity is to start from the basics and then up. To look at something that might seem simple, but to then look critically, at different points of views, and then through different lenses, may it be with your mind or your eyes. I think the best way to teach complexity is to show the complexity within the most mundane simple forms, because everything is complex if you look through the right lens.
ReplyDeleteIn order to teach complexity, it is important that you first teach simplicity. For example, learning about a simple atom will most likely help someone better understand the complex parts of a complicated protein, because once someone has learned how to recognize an atom, when things start to become more complex, there will be a basic understanding thus making the process a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to teach complexity is through steps of exploring. Begin by learning the simplest, most basic form and functions of something. This way it is possible for the person to understand the basic concepts of something. From there, the individual can move on and look into the object in a deeper depth, having the ability to learn about the complexity of a particular object.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to teach complexity is essentially exactly how you put it- to describe it in terms that we might more easily grasp. It's good to look at each individual element, but sometimes that leads us to almost OVERthink the entire object, and might lead us to lose track of what the overall idea is. By applying certain modern analogies or connections (consider the object a piece of clothing or as a person) we will understand its function better and possibly remember it better.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to teach complexity is to first give a general overview of the thing you are explaining, and then go in depth. If the teacher gives too much complex information immediately, then the student will be overloaded and may not understand the material as well as if it was simplified.
ReplyDelete