"law of primacy"
To become a flight instructor there's a written exam called "fundamentals of instruction." 99.999% of aspiring pilots HATE the schooling and the test, I am the .001%, I found it the most valuable knowledge I gained from my aviation career.
One point in educational theory is the "law of primacy," which is simple enough. The first way someone encounters an idea or fact, will be the foundation, the filter through which all further learning related to that idea will be built.
At some low level if you throw someone off course with even one faulty concept it's going to be much harder to straighten them out later.
The "law" implies simple be very careful with terminology and such, early on in a student's education.
It doesn't matter if the concept is getting across, necessarily. Someone may understand the concepts of, say, navigation using a non-directional beacon. But if they are taught the wrong terms from the start, eg "relative heading" instead of "relative bearing," guess what... they may be able to fly the thing, but they are going to fail the written exam, and not be able to discuss the matter with others without difficulty.
So I am very careful to use proper terminology around the people that ask me to show them how to do something. I find it helps immensely, because more often than not within the first two or three concepts/terms I lay on them they say "ok, stop, we'll just call you again next time."
If they still want to learn, they will be able to get the point across accurately and more swiftly when they call me with a related problem later.
I use analogy, but ultimately if they are writing something down it's beneficial to all if it's standardized.
just my 2 cents, YMMV, and I am actually criticized for being too accurate, aka "too technical" when explaining things to people. I just can't help myself, I've taught many subjects over the years, just can't bring myself to 'break the law' of primacy... =\
