When Clarity Isn't Enough
How to make people want to listen to what you're about to say
I was teaching a year 10 maths lesson on simultaneous equations, and it happened that the chairman of the school’s governors would be observing. I was introduced to him beforehand, and we chatted briefly about what the lesson would cover. When I mentioned the topic, a wry smile stretched across his face.
“Ah, simultaneous equations,” he said, “I never understood the point of that at school. We were just moving numbers and letters around. I couldn’t get into it!”
He wasn’t saying the material was too hard; he was saying it felt pointless. Someone gave him a method, but not a reason to care. He was being offered an aspirin, but he didn’t have a headache.
If you hand your audience a solution before spelling out the problem, there’s no tension to resolve. There’s no curiosity, no “aha” moment awaiting. Your explanation may be clear, but you haven’t created a gap in the audience’s mind for it to slot satisfyingly into.
When I came to teach that lesson on simultaneous equations, I tried something different. I gave them a headache first:
“Imagine two planes. One’s flying from London to Rio, the other from Miami to Madrid. The flight paths cross. How can we be sure the planes won’t crash?”
The students sat up. Even the chairman lent forward.
Enter simultaneous equations.
The method hadn’t changed, but now it had a purpose.
YouTube creators call it the curiosity gap. A brilliant video goes unwatched if the viewer isn’t moved to click on it. So the video’s title and thumbnail image must create an itch that an unassuming scroller can’t resist scratching.
Whether you’re an educator or an entrepreneur, if you have a message you want people to hear, first give them a reason to “click” on what you’re about to say. Give them a headache, then dish out the aspirin.
You can find more ideas on how to apply the Headache-Aspirin approach in the maths classroom in Dan Meyer’s article, If Math Is The Aspirin, Then How Do You Create The Headache?