Monday 19 November 2012

Slicing up learning

The models that we use to try to understand the learning process always seem to give part of the answer but never the complete one.
Some see it in dichotomies:
  • Cognitively Active vs Cognitively Inactive
  • Deep Learning vs Surface Learning
  • Slow Thinking vs Fast Thinking
Others in a progression:
  • Knowledge, Skills, Understanding
  • Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW)
  • Data, Information, Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom
(from Wikipedia)

 Some see it in terms of knowledge forms (Milan Zeleny, 1987):
  • know nothing
  • know what
  • know how
  • know why
 adapted later to include why do, why is, what to do, and knowing the right things to do (wisdom?).

Each helps us to understand a particular context or slice through the cake of learning. Sometimes these models are ingrained in the language we use to discuss learning and can confuse.
How do you slice up your learning cake?

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