What are the most important factors that lead to learning?
Learning is the process of receiving new information and relating it to the learner’s prior experience of the world, which can only be achieved through a learner’s active engagement with the environment. More generally, learning occurs through experience. Educational experience can be understood through many aspects, and those aspects that provide the clearest picture of learning for the purposes of teaching and schooling are biology, cognition, motivation, and social interaction. Teachers and school administrators have an obligation to take into account the understanding of learning that these aspects provide and to structure educational experiences that will best suit the learner in these regards.
The Biological Aspect
The human brain is designed to achieve learning through structural changes in neuronal networks. These neuronal networks change when the learner receives information and actively relates this new information to already existing networks created by a person’s previous experiences (Zull, 2000). The teacher can assist this biological process of learning by facilitating the student’s use of his or her entire repertoire of brain function. When a student is able to use all of their mental functions to learn, including concrete experience (hearing, seeing, feeling, etc.), reflective observation (remembering related ideas, making connections), abstract hypothesis (coming up with new ideas or combinations), and active testing (speaking, writing, acting upon information), the process is called deep learning (Zull, 2000). Using this method, a teacher can promote long-term retention and actual use of the information learned by working with the brain biology of the student in mind. In order to create a classroom environment where deep learning can occur, the teacher must be situated within a larger schooling context that facilitates this complex task. Schooling institutions must take this biological understanding of learning into account in order to create a cohesive educational framework in which students have the opportunity to physically engage in deep learning, optimizing their time spent in education institutions.
The Cognitive Aspect
Cognition deals with learning as we experience it, as opposed to biology that describes learning as it occurs structurally in the brain. People first experience learning in infancy, where they form some of their first neural networks through acting upon their environment and discovering patterns. From the first moments of life, infants begin to perceive information through touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell (Furth, 1969). These simple observations, however, do not equal learning. For learning to occur, humans must first notice, then understand the influence of their actions on the world around them (Miller, 2002; Furth, 1969). Teachers can facilitate cognitive development by planning education to meet developmental needs, challenging student schemas, and using scaffolding techniques, in effect, helping students interact with their environment in meaningful ways. A teacher’s ability to maintain a flexible and creative classroom environment that responds to student needs and experiences can be enhanced or hampered by an educational institution’s philosophy regarding cognitive development.
The Motivational Aspect
Motivation is essential for a learner to be able to put his or her experiences into a broader context in order to find meaning in learning and to build a framework with which to understand and experience the world. Becoming aware of this broader context can be an important empowering factor that increases a person’s propensity to learn and meet challenges. Without motivation, the learner is left wandering in a sea of information, with no desire or purpose with which to integrate information into her existing neuronal networks and schemas. A teacher’s primary tasks when it comes to motivating students are: creating lessons that students can relate to and be actively involved in, encouraging students to relate new knowledge to prior knowledge; allowing students a sense of ownership over their own work and learning as to encourage intrinsic motivation; and encouraging students to think of learning as a process in which mistakes and challenges are essential to learning, not roadblocks indicative of a lack of inherent ability. If educational institutions support the teacher in building a community within the classroom and enforces the philosophy that students should have a sense of ownership and interest in the school, then the students will be better empowered and motivated about their community, their education, and their role in society.
The Social Aspect
From the moment of birth, humans become part of a social and cultural context which shapes the way that the learner experiences the world. The learner, especially at a young age, depends upon others, in the form of more capable peers, to explain the workings of the world, to teach her the values of the culture, to present challenging intellectual situations, and to assist the learner in moving from her current capabilities to potential capabilities. A teacher must be aware of the social and cultural environment that the learner has been shaped by in order to develop ways to relate content to a student’s life and prior experience. One must also understand the ways in which the teacher and classroom environment affect the student on a social and cultural level, and that social learning in the classroom can be an important motivating factor in the life of a student. On the institutional level, schools must recognize a multiplicity of cultures among students in order to make education an enriching and empowering experience for all students, as well as recognize the institutional manifestations of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism that negatively affect the lives of students in and out of the classroom. Overall, teachers and schooling institutions must ask themselves hard questions and be prepared for change if they want to create a school environment where all students have the opportunity to succeed academically without compromising their identities and without forcing them to conform to a school system that disrespects their autonomy.
Conclusion
Taking account of these four aspects is essential to providing an education based on learning through experience. Understanding learning as active engagement with the environment and relating new information to the larger context of the learner’s experience of the world provides an important tool for learners and educators alike to critically analyze their perspectives toward learning and evaluate how to effectively facilitate the process. Teachers and schooling institutions must work together comprehensively to ensure that students are given the best possible schooling experiences that effectively account for the brain biology, cognitive development, personal motivation, and social context of learning.
This article was submitted by K. Agren, MIT and was written in 2006. The author has experience teaching in and outside the U.S. and any questions or comments on this piece can be posted at the bottom or emailed to TheModernChild@gmail.com and I’ll foreword them along.
