With all things, I believe that understanding is better than reflex. When it
comes to new technology that seems to work by "magic", I believe that
understanding is even more essential. And when it comes to _teaching_ new
technology, I believe that understanding is the only possible approach.
Sure, teaching new technology by the S-R approach will get fast, initial
results. It will also delay understanding till such time as the learner's
S-R programming breaks down in practice (at best), or nip the learner's
motivation in the bud due to the ensuing frustration (at worst).
The problem is that, lacking understanding, the learner often does not even
realize that his/her S-R programming is not being effective.
Example: I spent two hours trying to show an otherwise intelligent man that
pressing "ESCAPE" will not get him back to where he started in the software
he's trying to use. He learned the first software he was confronted with
by the S-R method (that happened to use ESCAPE to return from a screen or
menu option), and then had great difficulty capturing the abstractions
necessary for transferring that knowledge to different software.
Been there, done that. There's never any substitute for understanding. Ever.
IMO.
-- Mark
(Mark P. Line -- Bellevue, Washington -- mline@ix.netcom.com)