🐴 Why your explanations aren't clicking (and the simple fix)

First time reading? Subscribe and learn more at OpenEd.co.

💡 THOUGHT

CONTRAST CREATES CLARITY

If you want someone to truly understand something, don't just show them what it is. Show them what it is alongside what it isn't, with only one difference between them. The brain loves patterns and differences. When you isolate the critical variable, the concept becomes almost impossible to misunderstand.

📊 TREND

THE RETURN OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION

Direct Instruction is a teaching method where concepts are taught through carefully designed, explicit examples rather than discovery. Developed by Siegfried Engelmann (a marketing executive turned educator) and Douglas Carnine in the 1960s, it emerged from their observation that learning happens most efficiently when information is presented with absolute clarity. Carl Hendrick, a professor of applied sciences, recently brought these ideas back into the spotlight with a detailed thread examining the main principles of their book "Theory of Instruction." 

Hendrick finds these same instructional principles at work in Plato's 'Meno' dialogue, in which Socrates uses precisely structured examples and non-examples to teach a young boy geometry:

The Theory of Instruction didn't invent these principles; it formalized what master teachers have intuitively known for centuries.

While open education celebrates all the ways we think and learn differently, there are still some concepts that apply to every learner.

🔨 TOOL

THE DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE IN ACTION

What it is: Show examples that differ in only one critical feature, presented back-to-back.

Why it works: When differences are isolated and immediately compared, the brain instantly recognizes what matters.

How to implement it:

1. Choose one concept you want to teach (like "horizontal line")

2. Create simple pairs - an example and non-example that differ in just one way:

   • A horizontal line vs. a slightly angled line

   • Keep all other aspects identical

3. Present them together - place examples side-by-side or one after another, never separated

4. Use consistent wording for both examples: "This line is horizontal" vs. "This line is not horizontal"

5. Ask "What's different?" to confirm understanding

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow.

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

P.S. If you’d prefer to just receive the weekly edition, you can change your subscription settings here.