Ok, random request. In the flurry of recent threads on the new Cosmos, someone mentioned a quote from Carl Sagan to the following effect: He remembered the challenges he had to overcome in learning difficult things, which explained why he was good at popularizing science. More naturally gifted people learn with less effort and thus have a harder time conveying their understanding to a wider audience.
Hopefully someone has a clue what I’m talking about!! If you can find the quote I’ll be eternally grateful. This is gold for me (I’m a teacher and feel the same way).
You are brilliant!! You may have just helped me earn $1500 (I’m up for a teaching award and need to write about why I’m so amazing, which I hate…this quote is perfect!)
There’s some truth in that, too. At my old university, in the introductory physics classes, every year we would invite a few of the brighter students to come back the next semester as peer instructors. Since they’d just gone through the same thing the other students were going through, they could relate better, and explain things to the students on their terms.
I’m not sure if the incentive to do this was pay, credits, or a combination of both.