Dear Charles:

The online assignment that frustrated you so much, maybe you didn’t understand it because there is a missing piece, something in the foundation of the understanding that you didn’t have. A  simplified example of what I mean: you will not understand chemical reactions without the foundation of knowing about ATP.

It is like climbing stairs in a building trying to get to the top floor (top floor representing complete understanding of the subject matter). You climb but then you get to a place where a few steps are missing, so you are stuck, you can’t keep climbing. On the other hand you see other people climbing. They are able to do so because for them those few steps exist, so they keep climbing. Not because they are smarter, but because they have a pre-understanding of what is required to keep climbing/ to understand more.

Do you think this may have been the case for you, regarding that online assignment?

anita