I will sort of repeat myself: I see people other optimizing on this thread, half recommending books and half recommending experiments and hands-on things.
It may appear that she is equally interested in every sort of thing, it may be that even if she isn’t the best thing to do is to expose her to every sort of thing, but some people are more “book/theory” people and some people are more “build it/test it” science people, and that’s OK.
I think anything given to her should be customized for her preferences, as best you can ascertain them.
I think my point is that I want to use the gifts to help both she and I to ascertain her scientific interests. I never enjoyed (and still don’t) “gift stereotyping” because I like to explore new things that I had not considered. I think that’s especially appropriate for a curious child.
In my current state of knowledge I could not put anything more than an uninformative prior on how interested she is in experiments vs. Legos vs. encyclopedias. I’m willing to try an assortment of these things to hopefully help her cultivate whatever her own specific interests are, but I don’t want to buy a large number of items each of which has an unacceptably low probability of stimulating creative thought. It’s fine if people post other-optimizing replies because I can disentangle that much of their reply and convert it into “useful potential domains to explore” rather than “your sister should have this specific object.” It’s more like brainstorming; which kinds of toys have some people had positive experiences with and/or know of actual studies that illustrate that they foster scientific learning? I don’t want to reduce the amount of feedback just because some of it might be other-optimizing.
Perhaps a few months after the holidays, I’ll be able to write a post similar to this one but regarding this educational toy experience. But before I can, I’m just looking for brainstorming/advice. I don’t see why that is an issue worth nitpicking over its rational appropriateness. I think your comments are correct and insightful and unproductive.
I agree it’s fine if people post other-optimizing replies, and that it is good to do here. It’s warned against in general because people tend to do it too much, even considering how very similar humans are to each other. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad, just that there is a reliable heuristic to place a weight on one side of the balance when others ask for advice.
The method of other optimizing breaks down the more individualized the relevant preferences are, and here I’ve been very willing to classify people as largely belonging to one or another group—I was trying to point out what there is to be learned from people other optimizing; it has made me think of what I hadn’t previously, that people tend to either prefer their science in hands on or abstract book form, and that this is a very important thing to know.
But before I can, I’m just looking for brainstorming/advice. I don’t see why that is an issue worth nitpicking over its rational appropriateness.
I think it is appropriate for people to say what they think benefited them and then look for patterns in their responses. That means that I do find it worth considering it’s appropriateness, but I am judging it perfectly fine in this context.
Basically, other optimizing was meant to be descriptive rather than a slur. For this same sort of reason I criticized using “rational” in the title, because its use like that is a step towards making it a simple compliment rather than a meaty descriptive word.
I will sort of repeat myself: I see people other optimizing on this thread, half recommending books and half recommending experiments and hands-on things.
It may appear that she is equally interested in every sort of thing, it may be that even if she isn’t the best thing to do is to expose her to every sort of thing, but some people are more “book/theory” people and some people are more “build it/test it” science people, and that’s OK.
I think anything given to her should be customized for her preferences, as best you can ascertain them.
I think my point is that I want to use the gifts to help both she and I to ascertain her scientific interests. I never enjoyed (and still don’t) “gift stereotyping” because I like to explore new things that I had not considered. I think that’s especially appropriate for a curious child.
In my current state of knowledge I could not put anything more than an uninformative prior on how interested she is in experiments vs. Legos vs. encyclopedias. I’m willing to try an assortment of these things to hopefully help her cultivate whatever her own specific interests are, but I don’t want to buy a large number of items each of which has an unacceptably low probability of stimulating creative thought. It’s fine if people post other-optimizing replies because I can disentangle that much of their reply and convert it into “useful potential domains to explore” rather than “your sister should have this specific object.” It’s more like brainstorming; which kinds of toys have some people had positive experiences with and/or know of actual studies that illustrate that they foster scientific learning? I don’t want to reduce the amount of feedback just because some of it might be other-optimizing.
Perhaps a few months after the holidays, I’ll be able to write a post similar to this one but regarding this educational toy experience. But before I can, I’m just looking for brainstorming/advice. I don’t see why that is an issue worth nitpicking over its rational appropriateness. I think your comments are correct and insightful and unproductive.
I’m sorry, I haven’t communicated clearly.
I agree it’s fine if people post other-optimizing replies, and that it is good to do here. It’s warned against in general because people tend to do it too much, even considering how very similar humans are to each other. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad, just that there is a reliable heuristic to place a weight on one side of the balance when others ask for advice.
The method of other optimizing breaks down the more individualized the relevant preferences are, and here I’ve been very willing to classify people as largely belonging to one or another group—I was trying to point out what there is to be learned from people other optimizing; it has made me think of what I hadn’t previously, that people tend to either prefer their science in hands on or abstract book form, and that this is a very important thing to know.
I think it is appropriate for people to say what they think benefited them and then look for patterns in their responses. That means that I do find it worth considering it’s appropriateness, but I am judging it perfectly fine in this context.
Basically, other optimizing was meant to be descriptive rather than a slur. For this same sort of reason I criticized using “rational” in the title, because its use like that is a step towards making it a simple compliment rather than a meaty descriptive word.