The Curse of Knowledge

I was hearing from a student recently how discouraging it can be when a teacher explains a new concept with the tone of “But this is obvious because it’s so easy to understand”. I imagine most of us can relate to this situation and also relate to the increased heart rate this tone created in us when we didn’t find the concept easy to understand. This is a stress response as our mind begins to perceive our lack of understanding as a threat. From a mindset perspective, this tone throws us into a fixed mindset and we’re flooded with adrenaline as we worry others will find out we don’t have the innate ability to understand this difficult a concept. Clearly, this is not a great space to be in to build an understanding of the concept in question.

This is such a common scenario whenever we find ourselves teaching somebody else. The website Edutopia illustrates this “curse of knowledge” in their article “The Teacher Curse No One Wants to Talk About”. Simply put, once we’ve mastered a concept, it’s challenging for us to empathize with someone who doesn’t understand that concept. Unfortunately, if our goal is to help that person understand the concept, this “curse of knowledge” is highly problematic due to the scenario described above.

As an educator, my goal is to enable and facilitate learning in others, which inevitably implies they begin from a position of “not knowing”. I am very intentional in conveying a tone of acceptance when supporting a student in their learning, because of course they don’t understand it yet! This is one of the key ways I promote a growth mindset in those I work with and foster that belief in their ability to learn with supports. Over time, this belief becomes a confidence in their ability to learn and shield themselves from the fixed mindset triggers we so often encounter.

I would love to hear in the comments how this resonates with you. Have you been on the receiving end of this “curse of knowledge”? Have you slipped into the curse when teaching others? How have you dealt with it - either as a learner or as an educator?