The Nature Learning & Why
Sometimes not knowing why is hard, and sometimes you have to redirect to what you can know.
My husband remarked last night on yesterday's post, "there's an unmistakable voice in writing where you feel that something is an *assignment*" but then went on to expound that it's also the first time in years he has seen me optimistic about what I am learning. Going back to class in adulthood can be challenging, and online education has extra obstacles that this millennial finds difficult to overcome. However, he's right. I am excited to tackle the subjects I encounter in PE's education.
PE organizes its lessons historically, so you mentally build the concepts used in code as they were developed. I am finding this teaching method helps me form a mental model of what I'm doing better than just reading a definition on Wikipedia or the Mozilla Developer Network Web Docs. So, we are currently playing with code used in the 90s and have been making small websites to test various methods for organizing web content. Yesterday, we were introduced to the <div> element. Div stands for generic divider, and terms like this can form big roadblocks for people learning to code. The div element functions as a box that holds other elements and can stack vertically. It can also be assigned a marker through an ID. So it will read <div id=header>, <div id=main> <div id=footer> When HTML 5 was released they turned these common IDs into their own elements so people can just write <header>, <main>, <footer>. However, when someone is learning these concepts for the first time in 2022, learning about <sections>, <main>, <div> is really confusing as they all seem to perform the same function. Our annoying inner child starts asking why repeatedly and gets in the way of learning how to use these tools, or at least my inner child does.
Thankfully, why is a valid question. Knowing why something exists can be integral to understanding how it functions, and that's been the case with <div> for many of my classmates. When I trained dogs, I was always asked why the does the dog do XYZ? It was often essential to answer, "There's no good way to know the why." We modify the parameters and observe whether the behavior decreases or increases." Thus, "I don't know" is also an essential tool.
There is this concept of a block element vs. an in-line element. Some things stack vertically like <div>, and some things will line up horizontally in-line like text. Some elements have both attributes, and it can be challenging to quantify in a neat list what each element does. So in these cases, I'm often back to "I don't know if this is technically a block or an in-line element, but I can test how it functions by adding borders, margins, and padding and seeing what happens. I push the boundaries while creating the 90s-esque websites and record my findings. This often leads to another thrilling "I do know," and I start the process over again.
It feels silly to write that playing around with <div> this week has been exciting and thrilling, but it's true. It's been a long time since I've felt that rare feeling of enjoying my work.
Side Note: In college, I had a combined undergraduate and graduate religious history course that the professor taught chronologically backward. I had never heard of most of the societies and religions we discussed. Somehow, I passed with a B, but I had no idea what I was reading, writing, or discussing 99% of the time. All the undergrads just learned how to "talk the talk."
The Nature Learning & Why
You've got a great voice and a really unique, engaging way of putting things. Just keep writing, I think it will start to flow!
"chronologically backward" sounds fun for a history course maybe. Not so much for programming! Although, we could flip it - and teach you how to use the computer on the _last_ day of class hahaha.