136 – Learning

Click the video above for 2 minutes of background waves while reading.

I like walking on the beach as it is good for the body, mind, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

The vast waters keep serving as a metaphor for knowledge. If the water represents the sea of knowledge – all that is known – am I standing on the shore of ignorance? After all, I feel I know so little compared to what is known.

My mind keeps thinking about knowledge and learning. Einstein stated, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

Learning can be conscious or without awareness. As long as one interacts with others and the environment, learning continues until death. Let us not forget the importance of lifelong learning – that willingness to continue learning in an ever-changing world.

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I see the water coming ashore as the learning initiator. This engagement starts the learning process. But the learner must wade into the water to explore – and explore enough to eventually explain what they’ve learned. Like wading or swimming, exploring is an active process. Learners must be actively engaged, but with teachers and trainers serving to guide and lead the way – not to tell the way – not to be the sage on the stage.

If water represents what we can learn, we must remain engaged with the water – even immersed because learning is an active process. Besides, there is so much available to learn.

I pass a toy sand bucket on the beach, which reminds me that everyone enters a learning situation carrying three knowledge buckets. Three that involve filling, transferring, and emptying. What the learner knows, what they think they know (but don’t), and what they don’t know.

A good learning design reinforces what the learner knows while transforming from the didn’t know bucket to the know bucket. But, a just-as-important situation lies in the middle bucket – the information one thinks they know but don’t. This information serves as the foundation of misconceptions and illogical conclusions. Only the learner can declare it as “incorrect”, then replace it with new correct information.

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I think about the ways one can justify blood in our veins are blue. We see the blue beneath our skin. We see the red and blue diagrams of blood circulation in resources. If a person believes blood is blue, they will do whatever they can to justify their incorrect position by assuming the instantaneous color change when venous blood from a cut contacts the air.

Opinions are roadblocks to learning. Social media perpetuates myths, misconceptions, and incorrect information, therefore enhancing roadblocks. For instance, how accurate is one’s conclusion if they start with an incorrect assumption as the first or early domino in their logic? How willing is that person going to listen to a correct explanation? How willing is that person to admit they are wrong?

The refreshing water rekindles a situation I experienced at a conference many years ago. The presenter made a point that I processed as, “Oh, that’s what it means – so I’ve been doing a good job of doing it wrong for 12 years.” Yes, that moment was a professional game-changer for me. That was the moment that started the need for learning something new and changing my past behaviors.

The bottom line is that only the learner can replace incorrect information in their belief system. Only the learner can admit how little they know, how much there is to know, and that learning is important. Only the learner can learn and unlearn – not the teacher, not the trainer, not the expert – only the learner can do that.

Photo by Janko Ferlic on Pexels.com

Technology has changed the world. To me, technology makes life seemingly faster – hurried. Continually learning throughout life is more important than ever. But in our fast-paced world, so is unlearning – being able to toss out what one knows to learn something new. Informal learning – less structured and more independent is more important today than ever. How many times a day does a person use Google or other search engines to learn something?

Technology also drives learning. I think back to 2009. Because Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day (12 Feb 1809), I recall reading numerous posts about each of them – especially Darwin. Those posts initiated the drive for me to learn more about the intersection of science and religion. My drive lasted several years, and I know I learned a lot. Because I wanted to learn, my self-directed study took me to new places – a new horizon – and I’m thankful for that journey.

I look across the water and down the beach at the horizons, which causes me to think of other metaphors. Is the horizon a learning boundary? Is the horizon a new level of knowledge? Does the horizon represent the distinction between the known and unknown? People need to seek new horizons to expand their minds because learning is the window to the world.

A wave just splashed water on me – I laughed and went with the flow. Suddenly I thought about the knowing bucket – the information we know – and the times when it seems the bucket has holes in it. This represents the times we can’t seem to recall something that we know.

I’ll save memory thoughts for another day because I like walking on the beach as it is good for the body, mind, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

See what other bloggers have posted about Learning

• Learning is My Passion (a personal essay)
• Five Benefits of Curiosity vs Passion for Learning (a personal essay)
• The Love of Learning (a personal essay)
• Midlife ABCs: Adult learning, bourbon, change, and dating (a personal essay)
• Learning (a personal essay)

Next Post: Dynamic Equilibrium – Wednesday 8th June @ 1 AM (Eastern US)