Quotes, Questions, Connections, and Epiphanies as I read and ponder A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change
Chapter 1
QUOTE: “Play, questioning, and - perhaps most important- imagination lie at the very heart of arc-of-life learning” p18-19
Every child is born with the ability to learn; observe, imitate, master, create, and resolve. This ability is innate and infinite in capacity. Early in life, all of this is done for the most part unknowingly, through the action of play. How powerful would our students be if they were allowed to play, wonder, question, ponder, investigate, create and resolve?
QUESTION: How do I create the structure or boundaries that will free my students to discover and investigate while still mastering the content of chemistry?
CONNECTION The culture of learning is like flying a kite. In order for the kite to fly, it must be held down by a string. If the string is let go, the kite crashes down to the ground. The educational environment must have boundaries and structures in order to provide a scaffold to learn. That scaffold must be created carefully so that there is flexibility to play, enquire, imagine and maybe fly a little.
EPIPHANY:(more of a resonance of my heart) The new culture of learning is compared to the cultivation of a farm. Infinite resources harnessed into the growth of the crop. This is my teaching philosophy. Just as the crop will feed and nourish people, my students must be the nourishment of the future. My biggest concern is how to teach so that I don’t get in the way of my students learning.
Chapter 2
QUOTE: “boundaries serve not only as constraints but also, oftentimes, as catalysts for innovation.”
It can be that the structure of the classroom is where inspiration begins, learning constructed, limitations revealed and solutions designed. Without obstacles, there cannot be victories.
QUESTION: What do these boundaries look like? How do I grow the environment so that not only are we discovering chemistry, but quite possibly innovating something we didn’t know we needed?
CONNECTION Thomas Edison is reported to have said “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Thomas Edison is credited with creating the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb. Building off the work of others, Edison labored to create a bulb that would last longer and be more durable. His tireless work enabled homes to be lit with electricity.
The educational environment, the new learning culture needs to empower students to try and fail. It is in the failing that the next step becomes known and limitations become innovations.
EPIPHANY (aha): The authors relate the new culture of learning to the culture medium of a petri dish. The culture medium provides the cells all the nutrients and environment that are needed for the cells to grow uninhabited, “organically”. My classroom becomes the petri dish. The procedures and environment of my classroom become the “culture medium” so that my students can grow into something yet unknown.
Chapter 3
QUOTE: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” p39
Education should be more than adding knowledge and skill. Gaining knowledge involves the mind. In order for the process to change the person, it must engage the heart. In my chemistry class, I am not so concerned that my students love chemistry and go into the field. My hope is that they leave my class with a little more wonder. That they live each day with a little more curiosity and recognition for the beauty and majesty around them. I want them to become scientists, so that they can see their lives with new eyes, a changed person.
QUESTION: How do I make change visible? What fears do I need to let go of?
CONNECTION I have seen the power of making change visible in the classroom. A teacher had taught a concept wrong involving springs and gravity and had realized it later in the day. The next day, she began class by handing out “dum dums” to each class member, announcing she had made a mistake, rare yes, but a mistake. She identified the factor they had neglected and they worked together to resolve the problem with a full understanding of the factors involved. The teacher then handed out “smarties” and sent them off to work together to better understand springs. The greatest thing taught that day was not the physics of a spring.
EPIPHANY: The epiphany is of myself. As great as my desire is to enable and empower wonder and innovation in my classroom, this is not how I learn. It scares me to death. I am uncertain that I can lead this kind of inquiry. When I fear, I remind myself of the power of the heart, mostly the strength I find in my students. I will overcome my fears, so that my students will see the strength they will need to explore and challenge, question and master.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace?
Chapter 1
QUOTE: “Play, questioning, and - perhaps most important- imagination lie at the very heart of arc-of-life learning” p18-19
Every child is born with the ability to learn; observe, imitate, master, create, and resolve. This ability is innate and infinite in capacity. Early in life, all of this is done for the most part unknowingly, through the action of play. How powerful would our students be if they were allowed to play, wonder, question, ponder, investigate, create and resolve?
QUESTION: How do I create the structure or boundaries that will free my students to discover and investigate while still mastering the content of chemistry?
CONNECTION The culture of learning is like flying a kite. In order for the kite to fly, it must be held down by a string. If the string is let go, the kite crashes down to the ground. The educational environment must have boundaries and structures in order to provide a scaffold to learn. That scaffold must be created carefully so that there is flexibility to play, enquire, imagine and maybe fly a little.
EPIPHANY:(more of a resonance of my heart) The new culture of learning is compared to the cultivation of a farm. Infinite resources harnessed into the growth of the crop. This is my teaching philosophy. Just as the crop will feed and nourish people, my students must be the nourishment of the future. My biggest concern is how to teach so that I don’t get in the way of my students learning.
Chapter 2
QUOTE: “boundaries serve not only as constraints but also, oftentimes, as catalysts for innovation.”
It can be that the structure of the classroom is where inspiration begins, learning constructed, limitations revealed and solutions designed. Without obstacles, there cannot be victories.
QUESTION: What do these boundaries look like? How do I grow the environment so that not only are we discovering chemistry, but quite possibly innovating something we didn’t know we needed?
CONNECTION Thomas Edison is reported to have said “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Thomas Edison is credited with creating the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb. Building off the work of others, Edison labored to create a bulb that would last longer and be more durable. His tireless work enabled homes to be lit with electricity.
The educational environment, the new learning culture needs to empower students to try and fail. It is in the failing that the next step becomes known and limitations become innovations.
EPIPHANY (aha): The authors relate the new culture of learning to the culture medium of a petri dish. The culture medium provides the cells all the nutrients and environment that are needed for the cells to grow uninhabited, “organically”. My classroom becomes the petri dish. The procedures and environment of my classroom become the “culture medium” so that my students can grow into something yet unknown.
Chapter 3
QUOTE: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” p39
Education should be more than adding knowledge and skill. Gaining knowledge involves the mind. In order for the process to change the person, it must engage the heart. In my chemistry class, I am not so concerned that my students love chemistry and go into the field. My hope is that they leave my class with a little more wonder. That they live each day with a little more curiosity and recognition for the beauty and majesty around them. I want them to become scientists, so that they can see their lives with new eyes, a changed person.
QUESTION: How do I make change visible? What fears do I need to let go of?
CONNECTION I have seen the power of making change visible in the classroom. A teacher had taught a concept wrong involving springs and gravity and had realized it later in the day. The next day, she began class by handing out “dum dums” to each class member, announcing she had made a mistake, rare yes, but a mistake. She identified the factor they had neglected and they worked together to resolve the problem with a full understanding of the factors involved. The teacher then handed out “smarties” and sent them off to work together to better understand springs. The greatest thing taught that day was not the physics of a spring.
EPIPHANY: The epiphany is of myself. As great as my desire is to enable and empower wonder and innovation in my classroom, this is not how I learn. It scares me to death. I am uncertain that I can lead this kind of inquiry. When I fear, I remind myself of the power of the heart, mostly the strength I find in my students. I will overcome my fears, so that my students will see the strength they will need to explore and challenge, question and master.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace?