Part of Bret's theory of learning (which I agree with) is that when "illustrating" or "explaining" an idea it is to important use multiple simultaneous representations, not solely symbolic and not solely visual. This increases the "surface area" of comprehension so that a learner is much more likely to find something in this constellation of representations that relate to their prior understanding. In fact, that comprehension might only come out of seeing the constellation. No representation alone would have sufficed.
Further, you then want to build a feedback loop by allowing direct manipulation of any of the varied representations and have the other representations change accordingly. This not only lets you see the same idea from multiple perspectives -- visual, symbolic, etc. -- but lets the learner see the ideas in motion.
This is where the "real time" stuff comes in and also why he gets annoyed when people see the it as the point of his work. It's not; it's just a technology to accelerate the learning process. It's a very compelling technology, but it's not the foundation of his work. This is like reducing Galileo to a really good telescope engineer -- not that Bret Victor is Galileo.
I think he emphasizes the visual only because it's so underdeveloped relative to symbolic. He thinks we need better metaphors, not just better symbols or syntax. He's not an advocate of working "purely visually." It's the relationship between the representations that matters. You want to create a world where you can freely use the right metaphor for the job, so to speak.
That's his mission. It's the mission of every constructivist interested in using computers for education. Bret is really good at pushing the state of the art which is why folks like me get really excited about him! :D
You might not think Bret's talks are about education or learning, but virtually every one is. A huge theme of his work is this question: "If people learn via a continual feedback loop with their environment -- in programming we sometimes call this 'debugging' -- then what are our programming environments teaching us? Are they good teachers? Are they (unknowingly) teaching us bad lessons? Can we make them better teachers?"
Further, you then want to build a feedback loop by allowing direct manipulation of any of the varied representations and have the other representations change accordingly. This not only lets you see the same idea from multiple perspectives -- visual, symbolic, etc. -- but lets the learner see the ideas in motion.
This is where the "real time" stuff comes in and also why he gets annoyed when people see the it as the point of his work. It's not; it's just a technology to accelerate the learning process. It's a very compelling technology, but it's not the foundation of his work. This is like reducing Galileo to a really good telescope engineer -- not that Bret Victor is Galileo.
I think he emphasizes the visual only because it's so underdeveloped relative to symbolic. He thinks we need better metaphors, not just better symbols or syntax. He's not an advocate of working "purely visually." It's the relationship between the representations that matters. You want to create a world where you can freely use the right metaphor for the job, so to speak.
That's his mission. It's the mission of every constructivist interested in using computers for education. Bret is really good at pushing the state of the art which is why folks like me get really excited about him! :D
You might not think Bret's talks are about education or learning, but virtually every one is. A huge theme of his work is this question: "If people learn via a continual feedback loop with their environment -- in programming we sometimes call this 'debugging' -- then what are our programming environments teaching us? Are they good teachers? Are they (unknowingly) teaching us bad lessons? Can we make them better teachers?"