Alternative to teaching directly to a student: write a tutorial or even an introductory book about the subject. Writing often helps me to recognize weak points in my understanding, because it forces me to be explicit.
Writing something for others to understand is different than writing down notes for myself because I cannot assume that the other person knows what I know and that they see what I see. Having to explain what I thought I knew in words that someone else can understand, in my experience often reveals that I actually didn’t know it as well as I thought I would.
Having said that, I learn best by following my curiosity, by experimenting hands-on, by drawing maps and diagrams and by challenging my understanding with difficult questions and what-ifs. I call this curiosity-driven learning: ask yourself a question first (before any “knowledge-ingestion”) and try to solve it on your own until you get to a point where you really need to know more to answer that question. It forces you to think harder (as opposed to being spoon-fed information) and become more strongly motivated to learn.
Writing something for others to understand is different than writing down notes for myself because I cannot assume that the other person knows what I know and that they see what I see. Having to explain what I thought I knew in words that someone else can understand, in my experience often reveals that I actually didn’t know it as well as I thought I would.
Having said that, I learn best by following my curiosity, by experimenting hands-on, by drawing maps and diagrams and by challenging my understanding with difficult questions and what-ifs. I call this curiosity-driven learning: ask yourself a question first (before any “knowledge-ingestion”) and try to solve it on your own until you get to a point where you really need to know more to answer that question. It forces you to think harder (as opposed to being spoon-fed information) and become more strongly motivated to learn.