I was really impressed by the Piaget article on "Development and Learning" this week. For JP to state that that it is a misnomer to believe that development is NOT "reduced to a series of specific learned items and development is thus the sum" really challenged my belief system (which in one article he managed to shatter nearly completely). I held to that widely assumed opinion. Therefore, what is learning and how can it best be effectuated by the teacher/learner?
Development is the end goal of a productive person (I would imagine in any society). In order to obtain development learning becomes the function. However just knowing something, the ability to regurgitate or recall information, doesn't necessarily mean that I understand it. Piaget stated that, "[t]o know an object is to act on it." That is what learning, understanding, and development is really about; to be able to process and APPLY the knowledge makes all the difference.
I can easily memorize facts about the civil war; dates, places, names, and battlegrounds and pass a history test pertaining to that particular piece of schema, but what does it all mean? What are the lessons learned from obtaining such information? According to my own development, what can I do with that knowledge that pushes toward the end goal of becoming a productive person? I love the first question Piaget always asks himself when wanting to be convinced of certain facts: "Is this learning lasting... and what are the conditions necessary for it to be lasting?" If it is lasting then development has naturally occurred.
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Hi Marc,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. You bring up so many great points. I really feel like Piaget had the end in mind too with the articles we read this week. The theories this week really remind me of the Backward Design that is so popular right now. Both look at the end product and the enduring understandings and lasting learning. You brought up great points and I really appreciate your post.
Great post. Particularly enjoyed your comments on development being the end goal of productive people and that learning becomes the function.
ReplyDeleteBut are these things value based? Do some people value development and learning more than others? Are some satisfied with just being? And is it possible to just be? And does it make these people non-productive?
I guess in a way, yes, because they aren't progressing through the stages, but is it a matter of choice?
Thanks for making me think!
Marc,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments in your blog, it gave me some serious reflective thinking and made me wonder about the learning in my life and how it is applied. And how will the things I want my students to learn be applied? I am trying to think of ways to get to that abstract reasoning and learning situation, wondering what things block that type of development. I also pictured in my mind a 5th grade teacher or junior high history teacher dividing best friends into 2 sides for a civil war experience. Having them imagine hating their best friend and then role playing (only in words) that one kills the other. That would help it be applied to the present.
Best regards, Howard Bezzant (aka Safe Food Dad)
definitely, lasting is an extremely important criterion by which to judge learning. When I think of all the standard pieces of the curriculum I learned in school, a lot of them really weren't lasting. For example, the 50 states and their capitals. I remembered the states and capitals that were near where I grew up - Ohio. These were places I had been - Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, West Virginia. For example, I never had any problems remembering that the capital of Illinois is Springfield. To be quite honest, I was a bit hazy on where Utah was...I knew it was out west where the mountains were. I suspect my experience is not all that uncommon. But as I have traveled/lived in other states my knowledge of the fifty states and their capitals has improved.
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