You are hereadvanced features / groups / Education / On Learning Styles
On Learning Styles
Warning: this is a stream-of-consciousness post.
I have been thinking a bit about the nature of education, how people learn, cognitive styles and how these new collaboration technologies might work together.
In addition, I have a 5 year old who has taught me alot about how people learn based on their passions. First it was trains, so we saw videos about trains, read train books, read train literature (thomas the tank engine - the original British stories), visited train museums, rode trains, etc. I learned all the parts of a train, including boilers, couplers, tenders, compression brakes, etc. Now, this guy is an expert on trains and he's not even literate. We've since moved on to Star Wars which has spawned learning in mythology, Joseph Campbell, heroism, space, planets, jet propulsion, robots, the art of war and model making.
I've also learned alot about how adults learn through my sister. She can do electrical wiring, plumbing, painting, etc. even though she's never gone to school for any of these subjects. Instead, she's a visual learner and she's aspirational - she wants a nice house. So, her aspirations motivate her to learn what she needs. She gets her education through half hour programs on Home & Garden Television (HGTV).
In the past, I’ve been a book learner. Lately, however, I’ve been more of an auditory and stream-of-consciousness learner, meaning that I pick up new stuff based on web exploration. I am an avid listener of National Public Radio and learn alot about current events, politics, book and music reviews, etc. just by listening to NPR in the background. Now I’m meditating on podcasts and how it’s like radio, not like radio and what it allows for.
How do YOU learn? Are you a reader? Are you kinesthetic? Do you like to watch? What technologies would help you when you’re mastering a new topic? How does your learning curve accelerate when you’ve discovered a new passion? Are you like Benjamin and it’s everything train 24/7? Or do you unconsciously build your knowledge base over time?
I learn by doing and by not fearing failure.
Armed with lots of self-confidence instilled by my parents since early age, who as most parents nourished the idea that I was special and always praised the potential of doing more, I follow with unlimited passion whatever grasps my interests.
Watching, listening, reading, but most important, experimenting, doing, creating own concepts, approaches, ideas and linking the new stuff to all the other stuff you already know and skills you have.
We are all special, unique and gifted. We all have the potential of doing more.
There is no better motivation for experimenting and improving than serving others. So much more can be done to help others, and so much can be learned from those you help or collaborate with...
---
Con paciencia y calma, sube un burro a una palma
Post new comment