Some confuse absorption with learning, as if students were sponges soaking up the accumulated wisdom, facts and understandings of the elders. Many curriculum documents provide lengthy lists of concepts and information students should absorb - soak up - at various levels. If one absorbs, does one also understand?
Many definitions of learning and teaching seem focused, sadly, on this sponge metaphor. It is as if one learns something by digesting it, by reading it, by hearing it and by committing it to memory.
In many cases, sadly, classroom learning is akin to shelving stock in a warehouse - just another brick in the wall. It is about accumulating information.
Unfortunately, despite all the talk and the writing about a thinking curriculum, it may be that some do not expect students to become real thinkers - those who are capable of fresh thought.
Fresh thought requires that one cope with dissonance, with confusion and with uncertainty. The thinker must fashion new understandings instead of accepting and memorizing the ideas of others. Cutting and pasting is not sufficient.
Many definitions of learning and teaching seem focused, sadly, on this sponge metaphor. It is as if one learns something by digesting it, by reading it, by hearing it and by committing it to memory.
In many cases, sadly, classroom learning is akin to shelving stock in a warehouse - just another brick in the wall. It is about accumulating information.
Unfortunately, despite all the talk and the writing about a thinking curriculum, it may be that some do not expect students to become real thinkers - those who are capable of fresh thought.
Fresh thought requires that one cope with dissonance, with confusion and with uncertainty. The thinker must fashion new understandings instead of accepting and memorizing the ideas of others. Cutting and pasting is not sufficient.
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