Humans are learners. Humans are also the products of their environments, and once something from the environment is learned it is very difficult to unlearn it. What you know becomes your ideology which determines, in large part, your cognitive biases, what you “know,” and what you will learn in the future.
Category: Learning
Limitations of Open Mindedness
We all should be open-minded. When we allow the possibility that we don’t have the answers, that better answers exist, that our information may be incomplete or incorrect, or that others bring new and valuable perspectives, then we can change our minds and make better decisions. When I was a younger man (like from the Read More
On Student Autonomy
A recent tweet and my reply (along with the replies of others) got me thinking about students’ role in deciding curriculum, learning activities, and products through which they demonstrate their learning. Earlier in my career, colleagues and I spoke of “student voice and choice.” As with all dimensions of classroom organization and activity, there is Read More
The Conative Domain
Teachers teach. What exactly they should teach, what they actually do teach, and the degree of consensus about what they teach and the degree to which they are doing it are very contentious issues today. Most would agree some of the curriculum belongs in the Most educational practitioners are content if students demonstrate new learning Read More
Research. Practice. And the Gap Between the Two.
In education (as in other fields) we hear leaders who proclaim they are “data-driven” and they “use evidence.” Despite this, there tends to be agreement within the education research community and within the practitioner community that research is not a factor that affects decisions I the manner we would all hope. (In New England the Read More
On Industrial Arts
This post is in response to a recent tweet (and toot): Makerspaces are fine, but they are really a poor substitute for the "indistrial arts" and "home economics" shops and kitchens and well-supplied art studios we had in the 1970's and 1980's. Yes, I realize this post can be labled "back in my day things Read More
Thinking About Deeper Learning
In rejecting the Standard Model of Education, we are rejecting the definition of learning that aligns with students as vessels to be filled with information. Some faculty and other educators might interject at this point and ask, “Wait. What’s wrong with that kind of education?” That question will be followed by holding themselves and their Read More
Lets’ Be Clear: Schools are Not Business
We often hear that schools should be run as businesses are run. We also hear we should support school choice as it will increase competition, thus improve quality for all. Those who advocate these stances appear to misunderstand the realities of schools that make them different from businesses. The practices used to make business successful Read More
Teaching Via Technology
Teaching via technology describes teaching in which the lesson could be done with or without the technology. The technology may increase the efficiency of some activities, but IT does not influence what students do or how they think about the material being presented. Consider, for example, a mathematics classroom in which students solve problems on paper. When Read More
Thinking About Motivation
Self-determination theory has been particularly useful in explaining and predicting the motivations and actions of adult learners in educational setting. (Rothes, Lemos, and Goncalves, 2017). According to this theory, motivation arises from either autonomous regulation, which arises within the individual and decisions to initiate and continue engagement are made by the individual, or controlled regulation, Read More