What Is Learning?

I was in Kindergarten on Monday morning and I had a question from one of our students which caught me a little off guard. He came up to me and said, “Mr. Moore what is learning?” I know what he was getting at with his question because the word learning was on his paper, but I answered the question by trying to define the concept of learning. It was tougher than I thought. I ended up with explaining to him that learning is a change, you used to think one thing and then you learned and now you know something more or something different about it. He liked my answer, even though it probably didn’t quite make the most sense.
            Google told me that learning is “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught” or this definition “Learning is about any experience for a person that leads to permanent capacity change, and not necessarily biological in nature or related to age” (Illeris 1999)
            Most research studies suggest that learning occurs more deeply when the student can apply the classroom gathered knowledge to real world problems, and they do that when they take part in projects. A higher level of learning occurs when those projects require sustained engagement and collaboration. Gone are the days when I was a child and I would go and ask my teacher if I could, “just do it by myself.” We are living in an increasingly more connected and collaborative world than ever before.

The study from 1998 in England by Jo Boaler, the study done in 2000 from Challenge in Silicon Valley, and the 2006 study on Design Thinking from the University of Wisconsin also speak to the finding that students are most successful when they are taught how to learn as well as what to learn.

So what does that mean for the students here at Hutchings? It means that we are on the right track to creating the proper environment for students. It means the project-based learning path we embarked on last year, the visible thinking path we are on this year, and the design thinking process that our teachers are taking part in, are one great path to creating the most well rounded students we can.

I wish I could go back in time and give a much better answer to my Kindergarten friend, I would say, Learning is the journey you go on as you grow up, and if you do it right the journey doesn’t stop.