Re: [Phys-l] "Unlearning"

[brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

 Always one to indulge a passion, I dredged around for unlearning 
situations.
I start with the human factors issue of appropriateness of life or death 
controls.

When you adjust the flight path in the transverse axis, the adjustment 
can be made with a pitch trim wheel. Which sense should result in 
nose-up?   The answer will usually be, "the same as all previous designs."
So that you will often find that nose up trim results from moving the 
top surface of such a wheel closer, or the rear surface downwards.      
(I heard the harrowing account recently of an instructor who was saved 
from a high speed  flight into ground, when the wire cables to the 
elevator jumped the pulley guards, by patiently trimming out the dive 
resulting from a spin recovery.)

But there are design decisions which are conflicted by prior experience:
how would you turn on a water faucet? By turning the handle counter 
clockwise looking top down, I expect.
And how would you turn onn, and increase the sound level on an old style 
radio?
By turning the volume control clockwise, I expect.

How about a linear throttle? push for more, or less?
How about steering: push the left rudder pedal to turn left, or pull the 
left handlebar handle?  (Boat & bike respectively)
 There are examples of mechanisms which use either polarity.   This is 
a concern in fast, reliable response situations.

Passing on to animals: I observed yesterday that a horse that had not 
been ridden for 9 months, (since I thought I was on Death's door-step), 
behaved very much as though I had last saddled up and ridden the day 
before. I suppose this represents the animal equivalent of "You never 
forget how to ride a bike".

Vivid examples of relearning  occur in people suffering the effect of 
stroke or amputation. Learning anew  to write, manipulate, grasp, hold, 
with the other hand.

Learning a new language is apparently more difficult for adults than for 
children.

Brian W


On 9/12/2010 2:20 AM, Dan L. MacIsaac wrote:
> back on topic about that word "unlearning" itself that I like to think about so very much:
>
> /snip/
> > The point of this note is that in my experience, students
> > can unlearn (or modify) an old idea more easily if they
> > were warned -- from the very beginning -- about the
> > limitations of the idea, so that they never become
> > unduly attached to it.
> Then this would be an implied or universal warning for all human learning.  My definition of (significant) learning always involves modifying  existing mental structures, varying only in mow much.   Though I certainly prefer and promote the learning of physics as including learning limitations (range and domain of the model) as you go along.  I think this is part of what real learning means to me -- not memorization.
>
> Loving this conversation and thanks for your patience,
>
> Dan M