Teaching by offsetting a student's equilibrium

I talked recently with Dr. Andy Gibbons about how a building is the right balance between forces pushing up (from the ground) and forces pushing down (gravity), and how teachers and instructional developers should also be aware of forces acting upon their audience or upon the instruction itself. These forces must be accounted for if the instruction is to be effective. We talked about how sometimes a teacher will push a student emotionally or mentally “off balance” so that they will be motivated to learn how to “right themselves.” For example asking a question that engages the student puts the student off balance intellectually and prompts a desire to know the answer so the student can be intellectually “at equilibrium” again. Teachers also put students emotionally off balance through use of humor, tears, etc. to motivate and engage students to learn. I believe morally, God does the same thing in his effort to instruct us.