Show versus tell

Definition

Show versus tell refers to a general trade-off in pedagogy between showing ideas (i.e., implicitly demonstrating them) versus telling (explicitly articulating them). The terminology comes from show, don't tell, a maxim in storytelling. Since the goals of storytelling and pedagogy are not identical, the maxim doesn't quite apply to pedagogy, and the question of how to trade off between showing and telling is a more nuanced question.