Editing Reinventing the wheel (section)

== Usage ==

The phrase is sometimes used without derision when a person's activities might be perceived as merely reinventing the wheel when they actually possess additional value. For example, "reinventing the wheel" is an important tool in the [[Education|instruction]] of complex ideas.  Rather than providing students simply with a list of known facts and techniques and expecting them to incorporate these ideas perfectly and rapidly, the instructor instead will build up the material anew, leaving the student to work out those key steps which embody the reasoning characteristic of the field.

"Reinventing the wheel" may be an ironic cliche – it is not clear when the wheel itself was actually invented.  The modern "invention" of the wheel might actually be a "re-invention" of an age-old invention. Additionally, many different wheels featuring enhancements on existing wheels (such as the many types of available tires) are regularly developed and marketed. The metaphor emphasizes understanding existing solutions, but not necessarily settling for them.