Interesting post. Thank you.
The paragraph that suggests that “words” go into the head but they don’t necessarily have meaning is a profound idea.
David Hume would have agreed: concepts need to be built on prior experience, and young minds typically don’t have enough of those building blocks at their disposal.
This is why when I teach a class - math, science, entrepreneurship, whatever - I always begin each new section with vocabulary. I want students to first learn the words and concepts that are key to building the new concept. I never know how diverse my students are with respect to basic knowledge.
