What is learning?
This week in pondering about learning, I have begun to ponder about knowledge. How do learning and knowledge differ? What is knowledge, and how does it relate to learning? Is knowledge the end result of learning? Piaget says to know an object is to act on it. Knowledge is not rote memorization or copying information. Knowledge is being able to modify, change, and transform an object. So I guess according to Piaget, we can learn many things, but only truly have knowledge on a few things. To a point I agree with Piaget. I have learned many things, but I do not still 'know' them. If you asked me to complete a derivative problem, I could not. At one time I could, but I have completely forgotten how. I am going to have to continue to ponder on this subject....
How can learning best be effectuated?
I have learned the most when I have been stretched. When I have had a task that I thought was just out of my reach, but somehow completed it. Looking back at the classes I have been privileged to take in my life time, I would have to say the classes that I have enjoyed the most are definitely not the easy ones. The classes I have valued the most have stretched my intellectual limits, and have caused me to think from a different perspective. My favorite teacher in high school, Mr. Staker taught me that learning causes us to expand our horizons and look at life differently. In Mr. Staker's class we learned the parts of the frog, the shrubs native to Utah, and how to appreciate the complexity and simplicity of life. Learning is best effectuated when it causes you to think in a way that you have not before.
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I agree that knowledge is being able to apply learning and not simply being able to recite it. There things I can talk about and tell, but that doesn't mean that I will be able to demonstrate the those same things.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you talked about being stretched to learn. It seems that there are many students who want to take the "easy" classes, but when you really look back the classes that are the most memorable are the ones that did in fact cause you to stretch. Those are the classes the made the biggest impression on me.