What is Learning (redefined)?

What is learning? (Redefined)


If learning is transfer from previous experiences, as Chapter 3 of How People Learn, asserts, then I feel that my definition of learning is rather complete.  I like my definition because it is personal, abstract, and a little philosophical.  It is my idea and mine alone.  This definition that I came up with is a result of my past experiences, and is a combination of all the thoughts I have had about learning and the evolution of those thoughts.  It is a product of my critical thinking skills.  The inputs to creating my definition of learning are what others wrote as their answers for the definition.  During the in-class discussion about learning we talked about it being the result of individual and personal experiences, as did Chapter 9 of How Students Learn.  I feel that since everyone has his/her own experiences, then their definition of learning should all be different as well.  In my opinion, writing out a definition from a dictionary for the word "learning" might show laziness, or worse- that no deep understanding of the content of learning has been mastered.  Rather, to create a unique definition expressing one's opinion and produce examples to reiterate shows the ability to transfer (as written in Chapter 3 of How People Learn.)  Admittedly, I am no expert on learning, but the literature from Chapter 2 of How People Learn makes me feel better about this because experts, although they have a rich background in a subject, are still not guaranteed to be good teachers.  In order to be a good teacher, you must be able to reflect on someone else's ability to learn, not just your own.

Reflections on Teaching Philosophies:

All of the blogs that I read had important insights that were both similar and dissimilar to those I pointed out when composing my own teaching philosophy.  It seemed like everyone thought that learning was a lifelong personal experience and that it can be as individual as the learner.  Critical thinking and gaining a hold on a bigger picture outside the classroom setting were also some main points that I feel we all touched on quite extensively.  Some of my group members had fresh and interesting ideas, however, that I had not thought of in the same way.

For example, Alberto brought up the idea that learning comes in stages and the final stage is having a good sense of "the big WHY?"  He also brought up the interesting point that I think is sometimes forgotten when teachers create lesson plans.  Alberto reminded me that it is harder to learn when we have to, and easier when we want to.  In my future teaching philosophy, I am going to make mention of how big a role ambition and self-esteem play in learning.

Some interesting ideas that I had not originally pondered came from Carrie's post.  Carrie has been a teacher in the past and has modified her curriculum to suit her students after taking the time to get to know them.  She makes a good point about the importance of building teamwork skills in the classroom that can one day blossom into human relations skills that are so desperately needed in the workplace.  I want to give Carrie credit for bringing up probably the best point that each future teacher in this class can take home today, and that is: only hard working teachers produce hard working learners.  To me, this statement is profound and cerebral.  It floats around my head and lights a fire under me- making me want to put more time and effort into my own teaching as soon as possible.  I might borrow that line, or a paraphrased version for my future teaching philosophy, because it embodies what I think it means to work.

The final blog I read was Krista's.  She reminded me that students need real-life examples if they are ever to start thinking for themselves in any capacity or in a big picture way.  I have to admit I am not very good at creating real life examples off the cusp while teaching.  She also reiterated the importance of making learning fun, challenging, and exciting.  I think giving students real-life knowledge application opportunities could do just that.

What is Learning?

What is Learning?

Depending on who one is and what experiences one has had in life alters one's definition of learning, possibly making this personal definition very different from a traditional dictionary entry.  I believe experience shapes who we are and how/what we learn.  We can learn from a book, a teacher, or from our mistakes in life, but in the end, we come away from all three with something that we did not have before- a new perspective.

A more traditional way of looking at learning involves a student taking in information and assimilating that information with what they already know about the world.  While learning, one needs to be adaptive.  Most people have a good baseline foundation on top of which to continually build knowledge.  Ideally, people may also accommodate old ideas that are misguided and make room for more scientifically sound explanations.  Change in understanding as well as addition to a knowledge base constitutes as learning. "Ah Ha!" moments are what make the world go around. 

My personal opinions on learning are less adept and organized.  In my opinion, the ability to learn is a ticket to freedom.  Learning is reinforced by estimation and making errors.  Learning benefits not from being perfect the first time, but from the formulation of ideas and imagination.  I believe that making discoveries, both expected and perplexing, are the roots of learning.  Risk-taking and memories are its' subtleties.  Feedback and inquiry are the mechanisms by which it grows.  Our understanding should never be stationary, but always evolving.  Learning is perpetual.  

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

Shanda Lauer

Goals for Student Learning: 

            As a teaching assistant in the past and a former middle and high school tutor, I feel that whenever I step foot into a classroom, I have a few goals in mind for the students about to experience my teaching.  Students should come away from my classroom with a broad understanding of the concept material and a “beyond the box” mentality to approaching problem solving.  I want students to create in their minds a deeper understanding of the material by invoking inquisitive mind-sets and voracious appetites for the big picture of life science.  I strive to teach my students how to reason their way through problems and teach them that persistence is a virtue in these modern days of electronic technology.  With the answers to most level 1 questions in Bloom’s Taxonomy just a point and click away, I feel that students should walk away from a classroom with more than simply vocabulary terms and a superficial coverage of facts, but a deeper understanding of the processes that enable our complicated lives on planet earth.

Enactment of Goals:

            In order for students to achieve this higher level of understanding, I feel that the traditional classroom set up is perhaps misguided.  Rather than standing at the front of the room lecturing, I prefer to center my attention toward groups of students who are working together to solve problems, create solutions, or list ideas.  Stepping in is always necessary to give some direction, to eradicate false perceptions, or to encourage opinions.  Without an overwhelming amount of input, students at times surprise themselves at their levels of understanding and receive the highest compensation for their effort- actual learning.  Rather than have my students just “do” in the classroom, I would prefer them to question “why”?

Assessment of Goals:

            I feel that the most honest and thoughtful way of assessing student learning is by formulating questions involving transfer.  If a student can take an idea, practice, or method, and transfer it to a new situation (far transfer) or a similar situation to the one they were taught (near transfer), it is easy to see that the student has gone beyond surface-level thinking, and moved to a higher level of applying what they know to new or novel situations.  I would also make it a goal to assess whether or not students were still hanging onto false perceptions about science or the process of how science works.

Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment:

            Teaching at a primarily white university in a Midwestern state, I have not been exposed to the opportunity to welcome and embrace that many different cultures or ethnicities within my classroom.  The small amount of experience I have had has fostered within me an idea that the opinions and viewpoints these students bring to the table are so very important and different that they should be treasured always, but especially so in a group-like model for a classroom.  As an educator, I always try to accommodate and be very cognizant of different races or ethnicities within the classroom, and try to go out of my way to find new ways to enrich all of my student’s experiences.  Providing a safe and welcoming environment for all students is a goal of mine.  I feel that students should feel comfortable to share their unique viewpoints at all times within the classroom.  They should never second-guess themselves and special attention should be paid to the rich and novel examples that come from thinking about life from diverse backgrounds.

Cognitive Development in Undergraduates

One of the main ideas that I found both interesting and relevant within the assigned reading (Markwell and Courtney, 2005) is the idea that there are varying levels of motivation and readiness to learn in an undergraduate classroom.  I always used to assume everyone was like myself and at the same cognitive level.  It wasn't until I recently started graduate school that I realized how very different students can be.

Last semester, I was enrolled in Evolution- Biology 659.  This class is cross-listed with Biology 459, meaning the majority of the students in the class were undergraduates.  There were four graduate students, and we met separately on a different day in addition to attending the lecture portion three times per week with the undergraduates.  Not being that much older than most of the people sitting around me, and less prepared for the class, as my undergraduate major was psychology, I felt a little intimidated by the course, material, and the biology majors.  But that changed very quickly after the first exam.

Upon receiving our corrected exams back, an open discussion ensued about the way the first exam had gone.  Undergraduate students were furious at the amount of content on the exam and the way it was designed.  They were also angry that there were so many short answer questions and essays to write.  The few multiple choice questions presented were not a sufficient amount to suit their taste levels.  They were baffled by additional answer choices in the matching section of the exam.  The biggest complaint was that the matching section was not a vocabulary word and it's definition, but rather a term, process, or evolutionary theory and its associated corresponding idea.  They were downright open and rude about "the difficulty level" of the exam to the professor.  To be honest, it was not the easiest exam I had ever encountered, but it was a fair assessment of the material covered in weeks prior. Benjamin Bloom and his taxonomy would have applauded that particular exam.  Noticing these opposing levels of heterogeneity between the undergraduates and the graduate students was shocking to me.  I now wonder how much of this backlash was a result of breaking down the "Hidden Assessment Contract" experienced in previous biology courses, and how much of it was actual differences in levels of cognitive development.

This article also made me ponder how I present material to the class that I teach, and whether they need to write down words I use that have unfamiliar meanings to them.  I never would have thought twice about it if I had not gotten the idea from this article.  Anatomy has a lot of vocabulary, and I admit that I have made assumptions as an instructor.  While teaching last semester, I viewed my students as adults, fully cognitively developed human beings at a similar level.  Reading this article has made me think twice about doing so again this semester.

In addition, the article brought forth quite a few points about the difference in students who ask questions or do not believe something presented, and those who are just looking for the letter grade and feeling of achievement associated with a high mark, regardless if what I am telling them is correct or not (the dualists).  If I had a dollar for every time a student asked me if "such and such a thing" was going to be on the next A&P practical exam, I could afford to take the entire class for a solid night out at the Turf.  In my evolution class last semester, the professor barely started in on some supplementary material before being the recipient of a barrage of questions such as: "How is this material going to be covered on an exam?  Can you provide an example exam question?"  The amount of dualism that I have encountered from undergraduate students is astounding. Before reading this article, I had just never realized that this behavior had a title associated with it, and that it was occurring so frequently in our science classrooms.