Thursday, May 14, 2009
Learning... today
Today I think I might be slightly jaded when it come to the question, "What is learning?." Today my students are taking the math core test. As I walked around the room I kept wondering to myself if my students are really showing what they have learned. I don't think they are! I feel frustrated that students are forced to regurgitate information that they may or may not remember (and that specific information my not be that important when it comes to their math career!). I personally feel that learning isn't a specific piece of information that a person can recall at a drop of a hat, but a process that can be applied in different situations at different times in ones life. Learning is the ability to process information and link it to other situations to help make sense of the given information. I wish there was a more accurate way to really see what my students have actually learned!
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I liked your definition as the ability to process information and link it to other situations to help make sense of the given information. Thanks for summarizing it like that :)
ReplyDeleteJen I can totally understand your feelings about core testing. I personally don't feel like standardized testing is an accurate method to measure learning. As a teacher I think our own observations is the best way to determine what and if the students have learned anything.
ReplyDeleteI think that "remembering" is a key word here. In my opinion, remembering is about 60% skill and 40% talent. There are many who learn to make up for the lack of talent by improving their skill, but I also think there are a lot more who make up for lack of skill through sheer talent...then there are those who are apathetic and don't bother to try to 'remember'. I used to be one of those students. I was a very poor student until I decided to care. So the real question is, how do we motivate students to care to remember?
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