The curse of knowledge

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The curse of knowledge is a relatively new idea, being coined in 1989. It is a state where a person with knowledge has problems putting themselves into the shoes of people without the knowledge. A teacher may not be able to understand why one of her students can’t seem to understand the information being conveyed in the classroom.

I suffer from this when I’m doing technology professional development. There are times where I assume participants know how to do something when they don’t. In the classroom, it can happen when the teacher is teaching a lesson in a way where the students have problems because they don’t already have the knowledge.

The solution is to attempt to put yourself into the shoes of a beginner. Try to figure out the pain points and hit those