Heat Treatment Basics

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Warren,
I understand that you think you have a new way of learning metallurgy....but the problem is that you have not learned metallurgy yet. To use an old phrase, "You don't know what you don't know." You don't know if your new teaching method will work or not. As you say, it is not currently accepted or applied in your field of psychology, or in education. Many new techniques are assumed to be universal, but don't always fit all subjects. I would suggest that you study Metallurgy and after mastering it and how it applies to knifemaking, then form a new teaching method for Newbie Bladesmiths.

I don't mean this to be a terse dismissal of your new method of learning, just a suggestion that you understand the whole subject before applying it to metallurgy. Metallurgy IS overwhelming. Not everyone learns it beyond the rote method of "Heat to 1450F, quench in Canola......" That works fine for many ( most) makers. A lot never want to understand "Austenitize and soak to allow the alloy ingredients to distribute, then quench in a suitable media to pass the pearlite nose, allowing rapid cooling to the Ms. Slow the cooling rate once past the Ms and cool slowly to the Mf......"
 
Willie71,
If I understand you correctly, you are trying to establish a conceptual framework for organizing the metallurgic basis for metalworking with specific emphasis on knife making? And, currently, this is to aid yourself in learning and understanding the concepts and later the application? Additionally, it seems that you hope to be able provide the insights that you discover to others with a similar learning style??
 
Yes Bo T, that is correct. I have a very visual learning style, with tested deficits in auditory sequential processing. Most adults learn primarily through visual channels but do not necessarily have the extent of deficit I have with auditory sequential processing. Most adults respond very well to visual teaching styles. My comments on the method of presenting information is in no way in relation to the accuracy or comprehensiveness of information that is already in the stickies. My background is in psychology. I have spent the last 20 years learning and assimilating information on how people learn, encode information, and retrieve it. The research has been around for years, but has been slow in dissemination. I have articles dating back to the 90's on the subject, when I really took an interest in the subject. These teaching methods have been around for millenia, but fell out of favour in the last 100 years with the desire to standardize. The standards unfortunately are only measuring performance on the day of marking, as the methods of teaching to standards have been clearly shown to NOT result in retention of the material for retrieval as needed. This is the issue that educational reform is exploring: making learning functional, not just jumping through hoops.

I am not trying to develop a new way of learning metallurgy, but applying what is known about learning in general, especially with adults, to the introduction to metallurgy. Having others clarify my definitions as I put them in the framework to make sure the information is accurate is the point of this thread to me. I have had numerous discussions with my research professor regarding these exact same principles as applied to learning the research process and she was defensive at first (she taught research for over 20 years) but as a scientist of research, reviewing the literature has shifted her views and she indicated the curriculum needs to be totally overhauled. We have had a 60% dropout rate in the research course. It is not adult learner friendly.

Stacy, while the definitions are very basic, you have not suggested I change them. I may have incorrectly assumed this meant you felt they were accurate at least at the level presented. You did challenge me on the way you read my statement on how the similarities between some of the processes resulted in confusion so I again assumed you would have corrected me if I was misleading. I think this is just turning into a pissing match, which I have no interest in. Lock this thread, delete it or whatever you want to do with it. If that first post was at the top of the heat treat information, I would have knocked 3-4 months off of the learning curve for me as the volume of information would have had a framework to stick to. It is a scientifically validated way of presenting information, particularly with adults. I apologize for offending you.
 
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