Remarks on Saying, Doing, Being, and Becoming

1.      The concern herein has to do with lack of alignment between what is said about learning and what is happening in classrooms aimed at supporting learning.

2.      Learning involves change.

2.1.   Learning involves change in what a person (or group) know and can do.

2.2.   Learning words, concepts, concepts, rules and the steps in a simple procedure involves declarative knowledge in which language plays a central role.

2.2.1.      Language mediates learning.

2.2.2.      Learning involves others, some of whom are more knowledgeable.

2.2.3.      People learn what has been said and how to speak about those things.

2.3.   Learning to solve problems and engage in planning and design activities involves procedural and contextual knowledge in which the ability to understand the nature of a problem or situation and likely approaches and responses is vital.

2.3.1.      Context mediates learning.

2.3.2.      Learning involves the ability to apply knowledge effectively in a variety of situations.

2.3.3.      People learn what they do and how to adjust performance to fit different situations.

2.4.   Change involves development.

2.4.1.      Development involves improving abilities and capacity.

2.4.2.      Development implies ongoing changes and states of becoming. 

2.4.3.      States of becoming imply there being initial states and desired states.

3.      People say that learning is about development of:

3.1.   Basic knowledge and skills

3.2.   General problem solving skills

3.3.   Specific work and task skills

3.4.   Critical thinking and higher-order reasoning

3.5.   Responsible citizens

3.6.   Life-long learners

4.      What happens in classroom typically focuses on:

4.1.   Basic knowledge and skills

4.2.   General problem solving skills

4.3.   Specific work and task skills

5.      Understanding involves:

5.1.   Critical thinking and higher-order reasoning

5.2.   Thinking beyond oneself in terms of others and society

5.3.   Awareness of one’s abilities and limitations and a willingness to extend those abilities and address those limitations

6.      Schools and society tend to focus on being rather than becoming

6.1.   Be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, carpenter, plumber or _____ (midterm quiz)

6.2.   One cannot be what one is not.

7.      Learning is about becoming what one is not.

This is a figure previously shared with Guangtao:

A focus on being emphasizes summative assessment. A teacher focused on summative assessment might say this: “This is what you can do or have done. This is who you are.”

A focus on becoming emphasizes formative assessment. A teacher focused on formative assessment might say this: “I know you can do better. You can become the person you want to become.”

In the past, it has been convenient to view learners as cognitive processors and focus primarily on declarative knowledge and simple procedural skills. In many places in the global learning community there is an emphasis on viewing a learner in a more holistic manner – so someone with moods, emotions, biases, friends, family, interests, habits, and so on who is functioning in a specific context with others and a variety of technologies.

People say we should be supporting a holistic view of learners and place more emphasis on formative assessment and the notion of becoming. Is that what is happening in schools and colleges? Here is my answer from my 2010 Blog (see http://aect-president-2009-2010.blogspot.sg/):

Incantation on Constructivism

The world is wide and mysterious to the willing eye …

To a trained ear, sometimes loud and often off-key …

A wonderland of sensations for the child at play …

A lifetime of experience each and every day …

Where is the meaning in what we see and hear?

How to make sense of experiences that come our way?

What can be gathered from coincidence that will last?

Ludwig said that we picture facts to ourselves …

We create internal representations to make sense …

Ludwig noted that we talk about these pictures with others … we externalize …

Is it not amazing that we create internal representations to make sense of experience?

Is it not amazing that we engage in language games to make sense of those representations?

Well, that is what we do, it seems … there is no stopping it …

We are meaning makers … even when we are making mean …

An anti-meanness message embedded in an incantation on meaning …

The message here is simple … plain and unflavored …

We are constructors of meaning regardless of what is happening here and there …

We construct meaning regardless … that’s our nature … it’s what we do …

Construct this … a new movie … starring ... none other than … YOU!

Note: The Ludwig mentioned is Ludwig Wittgenstein and the references are to Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations. In the Tractatus, Wittenstein that we picture facts to ourselves (His remark 2.1). He failed to mention that we sometimes picture things that are not facts to ourselves (politicians are extremely good at doing that). In Philosophical Investigations, Wittenstein noted that we engage in discourse (he called them language games) about those internal representations with others even though no one can directly observe those internal representations.

Bouwsma said that one’s life would show what one thought of oneself.

I say that it would be a remarkable coincidence if the limits of my imagination happened to coincide with the limits of reality.