Learning Center

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 ...

It may help to clarify the role of questioning as an aspect of thinking to map out the various types and zones of thinking that are included under the broad concept. An appreciation of the dozens of types of thinking and how some end up being little more than cul-de-sacs and diversions will illustrate the central importance of strategic questioning as a way of promoting movement toward understanding. The first figure shows several dozen types of thinking that appear ungrouped and uncategorized, but a second version of this figure suggests a grouping pattern. Some types of thinking provoke more originality and actual production than others.

Why question? Why bother? Isn’t thinking enough? What’s the difference, anyway? Isn’t questioning and thinking part and parcel of the same whole? No. Not exactly. You can have one without the other There is plenty of thinking that never achieves lift-off, never contributes to understanding and never casts light on issues of importance. Much thinking beats around the bush, wanders off course and fails to inform or illuminate. That is because thinking can be done in an unquestioning manner. Thinking without questioning is like drinking without swallowing. This book promotes the fusion of powerful questioning with thinking. We must raise young ones to question, to wonder and to learn. We will encourage students to become serial questioners committed to pursuing important questions until capable of making sense of their worlds and capable of fashioning smart answers to life’s challenges.

At an educational conference last spring, I attended a session focused on the potential of instructional technology to transform teaching and learning in schools. One of the speakers told a story about his 14-year-old son who, like himself, loved technology toys and always had to have the latest and greatest new thing to come on the market. One day, this son went to school after downloading to his Palm Pilot™ the program from the TV remote control. Then in one of his classes, the boy used the program to turn on and off the television in the corner of the room. The teacher was understandably annoyed, and when she figured out who the culprit was, she hauled him off to the principal's office demanding that the principal "do something!" At this point in the story, the speaker paused and asked the audience to consider what an appropriate response by the principal might be. Surely, this was a teachable moment, for teacher and student. Although many of us are regular users of Pe...

Librissime is run by Gilles Tremblay and his wife Judith, two of the most passionate book lovers you will ever meet. They celebrate books as objets d’art, and as essential for enriching your life. These books are stunning examples of the craft of bookmaking, published by publishers who, at various times—over the years and right through to the present—have produced the most glorious publications you will ever see. Most of the publishers are European (Assouline, FMR, Flammarion), but the books of a single title may be available in several languages. The majority of them are in English, but you can often get the same books in French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Hebrew. The topics are eclectic, from biographies of famous poets to the original plans of the world’s greatest cities. Although the content of the books are interesting and surprising, what they all have in common is their production value and exquisite attention to details. They include beautiful images, handpainted p...

There’s a great book by Alliance for Childhood: Fool’s Gold. A Critical Look at Computer in Childhood. (College Park. 2001). I wish to quote some of their words: “Computers pose serious health hazards to children. The risks include repetitive stress injuiries, eyestrain, obesity, social isolation, and, for some, long-term physical, emotional or intellectual developmental damage. Our children, the Surgeon General warns, are the most sedentary generation ever.” “Children need stronger personal bonds with caring adults. Yet powerful technologies are distracting children and adults from each other.” “Computers are perhaps the most acute symptoms of the rush to end childhood. The national drive to computerize schools, from kindergarten on up, emphasizes a narrow range of human capacities. In particular, it aims to jump-start consciously analytical thinking.”

I’m sure that most of us are aware of the revolution that has been going on in schools around the world. The technology revolution is in full force as we make the transition from print-based learning to interactive whiteboards and Web-based references and curriculum. It’s happening faster in some countries than others (the UK, for example, is ahead of the US in this regard), but it’s happening everywhere. We have a long way to go in order to close the digital divide in many places for a variety of socioeconomic reasons, but eventually it will be closed. We are in the early stages of the revolution, but still we are asking ourselves, “Can technology really help students learn?” Because of the significant amount of resources we are investing in hardware and software, certainly we must believe that technology will help, and there is growing evidence that test scores and retention can improve if technology is used appropriately in the learning process. When school administrators are asked...