In CEP 810 this week, I have been asked to write an essay that explores what I understand about learning, understanding, and conceptual change. The essay has been influenced by my reading this week of Bransford, Brown & Cocking’s (2000) How People Learn. I focused on two essential questions: 1) What is Learning? and 2)What teaching methods support learning and its related concepts — understanding and conceptual change? I defined learning as a process of changing what we know to acquire skills that help us adapt to the world around us. I go into great depth about how to learn like “experts” and the techniques that have been successful in creating “life-long learners” and critical thinkers in education. The focus is on how teaching for understanding and teaching students to think deeply about connecting ideas will lead to deeper understanding and increase retention.
The full essay is titled “What is Learning & How can we Teach Others to Learn like Experts?” and is available – HERE.
Winning in Education 
Hello Vincent,
Your essay really had me thinking about learning and how students should think critically. I love how you talked about learning not being exclusive to schools. This is especially true in our profession. Teachers are never done learning! Perhaps modeling to students how we as teachers continue to learn on a regular basis will help motivate them?
This quote stuck out to me:
“Designing lessons and activities that unwrap the preconceived knowledge can show students how this knowledge has holes, falls short, and fails to explain accurately the concept (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000 p. 16). This can provide a new schema in the brain and increase conceptual learning and connectedness of new material for students.”
I love this quote because it really had me thinking. What is the best way for students to approach these misconceptions and receive the correct information? Should teachers present the false information and provide evidence to argue, or would it be better to create a way for students to discover their mistake in reasoning and figure out how to fix it? I’m sure there are positives and negatives to both strategies. However, I’m curious which would ultimately benefit students the most.
The importance of going beyond memorization of information is so huge. Students need to be able to apply strategies and information already learned to problems. Down the road this will help with fluency (especially math facts!). As you explained so well, student centered activities and rich, inquiry-based tasks are essential to student success. What do you think would be a good tool to help students monitor their learning?
Great essay! I really enjoyed it. It sounds like you took a lot away from the readings this week! Keep up the good work!
Emily