He spoke about New dimensions in learning -The century of experience.
These are some of the points that definitely hit home for me.
1. I cant memorise my way through school.
School shouldn't be about memorising facts.
It may get you top marks on standardised tests but it isn't the purpose of being in school. It should be about learning strategies/concepts that will allow you to make the most out of the life that you set for yourself. When you truly understand the concepts, it broadens your understanding. You are able to transfer that knowledge across all areas of your thinking. Personalising your learning.
I can attest to this especially when it comes to Maths/Science. I was taught to memorise facts rather than learn the concepts and it has framed the negative way I tend to approach those subjects. My husband consistently tells me if I understand the concepts, then memorising needed and it is more efficient use of our brain! He is SO right! Had I been taught to learn the concepts, I would have used my brain more efficiently and I would have been able to transfer that knowledge to other areas of my life vs. keeping things compartmentalised as though all subjects are not interrelated.
2. Vision clarifies the mission.
When you know where you want to go, you have a better idea of what you will need to set yourself up for success. When you do not know where you are going, they one tends to drive around aimlessly, using up fuel with no real intentions.
We need to have a vision with whatever we do. Think about what you want. What is your objective? and then work from there. This give us direction so we know what to focus on (what is important) and what to discard.
3. Skills through experience
Through experience we can develop our skills, and those skills cant develop unless we have the experience. Skills and experience need each other in order to grow. It is important to provide the opportunities for growth by delving into many experiences that will help to develop any particular skill. Are we doing that for our students? Are we providing various experiences to help them develop a skill? This is something that left me thinking...
"Hmmmm...."
4. Fundamental paradigm in education is delivery
Another gem that stood out for me. What we teach, or what we say is important, however, what is key is the HOW. The delivery makes a huge impact and can be what determines whether the message we are trying to get across has been successful. Was your message received the way it was intended? Did your approach leave others feeling inspired?... motivated?... excited about learning? or did it leave them feeling frustrated... resentful...worthless...confused....angry? This relates to point #2 about your vision clarifying your mission. When we think about what our objective is, it helps us get a framework for how we will go about getting that message across.
5. Frameworks vs Recipes.
This reminded me of a paper I read about relational understanding and instrumental understanding
Relational understanding would be the 'framework' and instrumental understanding would be the 'recipe'. Understanding the what and the why = relational understanding. Instrumental understanding = Rules without reasons.
The benefits of the recipe aka instructional thinking would be:
- it is easier to understand
- the rewards are more immediate and more apparent.
- Because less knowledge is involved, one can often get the right answer quickly and reliably by recipes thinking rather than framework thinking.
The benefits to relational thinking would be:
- It is more adaptable to new tasks.
- It is easier to remember.
- Relational knowledge can be effective as a goal in itself. ( The need for external rewards and punishments is greatly reduced, making what is often called the 'motivational' side of a teacher's job much easier. )
I could relate to this SO well as I learned the hard way that instrumental learning began to get more difficult as I tried to remember the recipes. Although I could learn it faster, it was harder to maintain and manage unless I was using what I learned consistently. The higher I went with my learning, the more difficult ( and frustrating) I found it to be successful.
Why wasn't I 'getting it'???
Over the long term, relational understanding is more effective and more efficient. The downside to this type of learning is the amount of time it takes initially to learn which is why I think most tend to stay away from that type of learning/teaching. We live in an immediate gratification society not really taking a moment to think of the repercussions down the line of that type of thinking.
Once you understand the framework, you can extend your thinking because you understand the blueprint. It would be difficult for a problem to arise that couldn't be resolved because one understands the concepts and can address it from various angles/perspectives and are able to apply that knowledge to other areas/subjects. When you understand recipes, you are limited. You may understand a lot, however, when a certain issue arises you find yourself stuck because the formula(s) aka recipe doesn't easily translate in this particular situation.
Fascinating stuff!
The benefits of the recipe aka instructional thinking would be:
- it is easier to understand
- the rewards are more immediate and more apparent.
- Because less knowledge is involved, one can often get the right answer quickly and reliably by recipes thinking rather than framework thinking.
The benefits to relational thinking would be:
- It is more adaptable to new tasks.
- It is easier to remember.
- Relational knowledge can be effective as a goal in itself. ( The need for external rewards and punishments is greatly reduced, making what is often called the 'motivational' side of a teacher's job much easier. )
I could relate to this SO well as I learned the hard way that instrumental learning began to get more difficult as I tried to remember the recipes. Although I could learn it faster, it was harder to maintain and manage unless I was using what I learned consistently. The higher I went with my learning, the more difficult ( and frustrating) I found it to be successful.
Why wasn't I 'getting it'???
Over the long term, relational understanding is more effective and more efficient. The downside to this type of learning is the amount of time it takes initially to learn which is why I think most tend to stay away from that type of learning/teaching. We live in an immediate gratification society not really taking a moment to think of the repercussions down the line of that type of thinking.
Once you understand the framework, you can extend your thinking because you understand the blueprint. It would be difficult for a problem to arise that couldn't be resolved because one understands the concepts and can address it from various angles/perspectives and are able to apply that knowledge to other areas/subjects. When you understand recipes, you are limited. You may understand a lot, however, when a certain issue arises you find yourself stuck because the formula(s) aka recipe doesn't easily translate in this particular situation.
Fascinating stuff!
6. Giving context to the content.
If the objective is for students to learn the content taught, then some thought should go into teaching the content in a way that is applicable to the learner needs. Sometimes teachers can be so concerned about the content being taught, getting frustrated that the students 'just aren't getting it' , that we don't stop and ask "Maybe I haven't given the information in a way that holds meaning to the student. This point made me think about how I go about delivering my content and to remember that context may vary depending on the student.
" All of us want to be normal, but no one wants to be average"
In this book that John talked about, it discusses how we march through life measuring ourselves one one way or another usually disappointment as a result. In this book, it discusses that it doesn't have to be that way and that we can ( and should) set that standard, measuring against no one but ourselves!
This is definitely on my must read list!
You cannot understand individuals by focussing on group averages.
