Creating Significant Learning Environments
I recently read How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barret and found additional support for the constructivist notion that learning is the making of meaningful connections. Barret’s TED talk is a wonderful summary of the book and I encourage everyone to take in both.
Learner’s Mindset – a state of being where people act on their intrinsic capacity to learn and respond to their inquisitive nature that leads to viewing all interactions with the world as learning opportunities. This state enables one to interact with and influence the learning environment as a perpetual learner who has the capacity to use change and challenges as opportunities for growth.
When you are in the learner’s mindset everything is about learning. Being in the learner’s mindset can be likened to Csíkszentmihályi’s (1990) state of flow which is where a person is performing some activity fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus. This notion of not being aware of something that is basic to everything is not a new notion according to the philosopher Alan Watts:
As the fish doesn’t know water, people are ignorant of space. Consciousness is concerned only with changing and varying details; it ignores constants-especially constant backgrounds. Thus only very exceptional people are aware of what is basic to everything (Sreechinth, 2017, p. 56).
This is why we argue that the learner’s mindset is a state of being where people act on their intrinsic capacity to learn and respond to their inquisitive nature which leads to viewing all interactions with the world as learning opportunities. When you are in the learner’s mindset you are like a fish in water. You don’t think about it because it is basic to everything that you do. Moving into or using this state of being requires that you change your thinking about learning, your approach to helping yourself and your learners learn how to learn, and by changing the learning environment.
Change your thinking about learning – By adopting a Learner’s Mindset you will see that learning is much more than the transfer of information, knowledge, skills, or process through instruction, self-exploration, or experience. This information transfer model just uses the lower order thinking which includes remembering, understanding, and applying while the Learner’s Mindset definition of learning is the making of meaningful connections which includes analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing the information you have taken to create something new or to solve a real-world problem.
Change your approach to learning – By embracing your Learner’s Mindset and asking the key questions of why, where, and how will this new information, skill, or process be used in the real world to solve a real problem.
Change your learning environment – By seeking out the actual real-world scenarios where the information, skills, and process will be used and applying the constraints of the real world to your learning you will leverage the authentic learning opportunities and create meaningful connections that will lead to growth and development.
The Learner’s Mindset approach to learning requires that you use all levels or orders of thinking. Even if you are only going to be asked to regurgitate information on a test or apply a process or skill knowing where and why this information, process, or skill will be important and in what real-world context this will be used will help you to encode the information for future retrieval.
Educational psychologists, learning theorists, instructional designers, educators, and many more learning professionals refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning which looks at learning from three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
Cognitive = Head/Knowing
Affective = Heart/Feeling
Psychomotor = Hands/Using the Sense
Bloom intended the taxonomy to be holistic and assumed that all three domains would be included when we develop learning environments. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case in our educational systems and most other sectors of our society. Unfortunately, our systems of education have focused primarily on the Cognitive domain and all too often just on the lower levels of thinking that include remembering, understanding and applying.
Even though Bloom’s taxonomy was updated in the early 2000s the changes have only shifted in the higher order thinking putting creation at the top of the list. You will often see the levels labeled as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating to denote the action by shifting from the noun to the verb form.
We prefer to go further and use the inverted Bloom’s taxonomy because it combines the higher-order thinking into a continuum and reveals that analyzing, evaluating, and creating must be conducted in conjunction which we often refer to as the synthesis level.
The synthesis perspective is extremely important because it not only requires that you take information apart and explore relationships (analyzing), critically examine the information and make judgments (evaluating), and then use the information to create something new (creating). All these higher-order levels still work with the information that would be acquired in the lower levels of thinking. In order to work at the synthesis level, you still need to find and remember information (remembering), understand or make sense of the information (understanding) and apply that information in a new but similar situation (applying). These lower levels of thinking are still very important because they are used to provide the information that will be analyzed, evaluated, and then synthesized when something new is created.
Depending on the context in which you’re in you will need to emphasize some of the levels more so than others. It is important to remember that knowing how you fully learn to make meaningful connections will help you even if you are just being asked to regurgitate information on an exam.
To change your approach to learning you need to ask why or where will this information be used. This is a much different question than asking “Why do we need to do this” next to “Will this be on the test”. These are among some of the most annoying questions instructors dread.
If your instructor has created a significant learning environment where they have given you choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (CSLE+COVA) then you will have the context and should be able to discern where this new information, skill, or process will be used. If your instructor is more focused on the information or acquisition model of instruction then they more than likely will not have created this type of learning environment and you may need to ask them the question about why, where, and even how this information, skill or process will be used in the real world. As we have pointed up earlier learning is really a process of making meaningful connections. If your instructor is focused on just the information, skill, or process then you will need to ask the key questions that will help you to make the connections you need to effectively learn. We often refer to this as a sift from collecting the dots to connecting the dots.
The conceptual framework referred to in this video is essential to the meaning-making process. This is especially important if you are brand new to the information or have very little experience or knowledge of an area. A good instructor will scaffold you into their level of understanding by helping you to see the conceptual framework in the way that they do. As you gain more knowledge and experience with the new ideas or concepts your conceptual framework will grow and you will make meaningful connections that will help you to retain the key information that you need to be successful.
If you have an instructor who is focused on covering the content in the text or in the assigned curriculum resources and isn’t willing or able to guide you to where and how this new information, skill, or process will be used in the real world then you will need to look for additional support from your classmates, from industry or from Google. We live in the most amazing time to be a learner. Virtually all the world’s information is accessible in the palms of our hands. Within a few minutes, you can do a Google search on almost any topic and get enough information to help you create the context and see the bigger picture.
Learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom, library, or study space it actually happens all the time and everywhere if we are involved in using a real-world context. While we have been arguing this for several decades you may run into an instructor who does not hold this same position and view the classroom, lab, shop, or virtual meeting spaces as the location of learning. Obviously, you need to respect your instructor but we strongly encourage you to ask your instructor where this information, skill, or process can be used in the real world. We also encourage you to consider that a learning environment includes social and cultural factors.
If you are fortunate enough to have an instructor who creates a significant learning environment where they give the learner choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (the CSLE+COVA framework) or other aspects of constructivist learning theory then you will be immersed in a learning environment and also encouraged to expand your learning environment to include the real world scenario or project.
If you are not fortunate to have this type of instruction then you will have to consider the “where will this be used” question on your own. Relying on Google, friends, family, and classmates to help you to see where this new information, skill, or process will be used will be as important as it is in the Learning Approach section. Please keep in mind that if you are in high school or post-secondary education you should have some sense of what you may be planning to do after your studies so if you use this end as a focus for your learning journey and view your schooling is a means to an end. If you have a very specific focus like being a nurse, doctor, engineer, or trades-person then you have goals in mind and should be exploring your potential career environment to see how to apply everything you are learning.
We must warn you that this will be one of the harder parts of this process, especially if you have an instructor who is solely focused on delivering the content they are assigned to distribute. When COVID hit many instructors had to shift to remote learning where the primary form of interaction was Zoom or some other online collaboration tool, and this move was not made easily. Many instructors only know the information transfer or acquisition model of learning and they see content delivery as their primary responsibility. They give you the content in some form and you give it back to them in a form of a test, paper, or summative assignment; this is how the educational system works. Any shift away from the classroom is a difficult shift for these people because they are only focused on delivering content.
As a student you are not able to change these instructors so when you ask where and how this information, skill, or process will be used, please do so as politely and professionally as possible. You may find that many of your classmates will appreciate your questions and given a bit of time your questions should warm your instructor to the point where they start to look beyond just delivering you the content and focus on helping you to prepare for your future endeavors.
References
Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. Harper & Row.
Harapnuik, D. (2021, February). Learner’s mindset explained. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=8705
Harapnuik, D. (2021, June). Reignite your learner’s mindset. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=9069
Sreechinth, C. (2017). Extracted wisdom of Alan Watts: 450+ lessons from a Theologist. UB Tech. https://books.google.ca/books?id=xruxDwAAQBAJ
References
If these videos aren’t enough then consider the following resources that debunk learning styles:
Willingham’s Learning Styles FAQ – http://www.danielwillingham.com/learning-styles-faq.html (lots of additional links to the research literature –
The Myth of Learning Styles – http://www.changemag.org/archives/back%20issues/september-october%202010/the-myth-of-learning-full.html
Learning Styles Debunked: There is No Evidence Supporting Auditory and Visual Learning, Psychologists Say – Association for Psychological Science (APS) – http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/learning-styles-debunked-there-is-no-evidence-supporting-auditory-and-visual-learning-psychologists-say.html
Learning Styles are NOT an Effective Guide for Learning Design – https://debunker.club/2015/05/22/learning-styles-are-not-an-effective-guide-for-learning-design/
Learning Myths Vs. Learning Facts – http://psychlearningcurve.org/learning-myths-vs-learning-facts/
Teachers must ditch ‘neuromyth’ of learning styles, say scientists
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/13/teachers-neuromyth-learning-styles-scientists-neuroscience-education
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Articles
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119.
Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2012). Learning styles: Where’s the evidence? Medical Education, 46(7), 634-635.
Klitmøller, J. (2015). Review of the methods and findings in the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model research on perceptual preferences. Nordic Psychology, 67(1), 2-26.
The Visual Capitalist (2034, November 14) Ranked: The Most Innovative Countries in 2023 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-innovative-countries-in-2023/
