Hey Chris, by teaching "intuitively," do you mean that you actually taught an intuitive method (blockbuilding, commutators, etc.) or that you taught algorithms in an intuitive, structural manner (i.e., tracking pieces, explaining things in terms of movement away from and towards you, patterns, etc.)?
I teach Joël's commutator last layer for beginners, only I never tell them that why they are using are "commutators" or any of the theory behind the cube. I have tried explaining how commutators work, and usually it does not add to making it easier to teach them.
So in a sense I show them how to use commutators, but they maybe don't realize that is what they are using. Still, commutators are very intuitive and you can understand what you are doing to the cube. I basically explain a commutator to a beginner learner as a "destroy and restore" since this is really what a commutator does on a basic level. You destroy most of the cube in order to affect one piece, then you undo what you destroyed on another piece, and this does something useful.
The only true "algorithm" that I can't seem to find any other way to teach is to orient edges on the LL. The two algs are:
1) F R U R' U' F'
2) F U R U' R' F'
I have tried to teach these by explaining what is happening with the blocks, and how the pieces move "away" and "toward" each other but none of these methods work very well for helping people to remember much later on, assuming I am not around to give them hints if they forget. I have found that what works best for these two algs in particular is to use an anecdotal story to remember them.
For example:
the algorithm F R U R' U' F' I would teach like this.
"Make sure that you see the letter "C" or a small "L" with the top layer edges, and spin the cube so that they are at the back, and on the left."
- At this step I am just having them put the good edges at UB and UL.
"The piece on the front here (I point to UF) is flipped, and he's mean and he's unhappy about this. He's a really impatient piece, and wants to hit somebody, or knock somebody out of the way. First this guy slides down on the right (we do the F turn here). Now this guy sees the piece on the right side here (I point to UR) and he gets excited and just meanly knocks the top right guy out of the way here (we do the turn R)."
So in order to get them to remember to to the F R of the algorithm, I tell them that the UF piece is angry, and wants to knock the closest possible neighbor out of the way, or to hit the closest possible neighbor.
"The guy that was on the top right (the piece that was at UR) is now on the back here (is now in BR). This piece is a much more friendly piece, in fact this piece is a team player. Think of wrestling, this piece is going to tag team the 'flipped piece' (the only remaining flipped LL edge, now at UB). So we spin the top here (we do the turn U here) so that the 'nice piece' can tag team this flipped piece. Now that they're lined up, let's tag team them (we do the turn R' here)."
So the LL edge piece that was at UR, and got bumped to BR, "tag teams" or "tags" the other flipped LL edge at UB by doing the turns U R'.
"The last piece here that needs to go in the top is now on the front here (it is the R sticker of the FR piece right now). This piece fills in the last spot on the top layer that is empty. This empty spot is over here (point to UL), so let's just spin the top here and put the empty slot on the front (put it at UF - and here we do the turn U'). Now this last piece on the side (the piece at FR) just steps into the empty space (we do the turn F' here).
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This explanation is very awkward to write over the internet, but it is very easy to show in person and usually people remember stories involving people rather than abstract blocks or just a string of notation. You have to also remember that I usually only teach elementary or middle school kids how to solve, so perhaps this wouldn't be as necessary for an adult learner, but I think it would still make it very easy to remember.
So in short:
1) Try to teach commutators and intuitive things, but
never explain the theory of why it works on anything more than a very basic level (unless the person asks).
2) If you must teach an algorithm do it anecdotally by turning it into a story about people with different personalities. This tends to work very well with kids, and I would assume with adults too.
Chris
Eventually I gave up on teaching him (he didn't seem to want to "waste his time" apparently). I was thinking to myself, How the heck would I teach him to solve a 3x3 if he can't be bothered to solve a 2x2? :fp
Then again, I've never been good at teaching/explaining. I should go slower if someone asks me to teach them.
