Another week gone by and...POOF! Just like that, May is nearly spent. We have officially entered the "I am crawling on my tummy, through the mud, with thorns in my hoodie and Taki dust in my eyes" phase of the year and I have to say, it's been a heavier lift than usual. Still, we press on!
This week's reading is one that I will be bookmarking for future reference, focused on the how's and why's of learning. I was tasked with summarising the major points of Chapter 5 in How People Learn II, noted below.
Knowledge and how we come by it is not something that immediately flies to the forefront of a student's mind...at least not a middle school student in 2026, when TikTok, Takis and Netflix have a stranglehold on the day-to-day. This chapter sought to break down the actual process of learning, covering the basic foundations of how we acquire, develop and deepen knowledge. The text suggests that learning is built upon experiences that accumulate over time, giving the human brain an episodic, nearly cinematic flair. The chapter further breaks things down into the how's and why's of learning - what happens when our brains break things down for cataloguing and storing? Why is it necessary to integrate and manipulate knowledge and what benefits does this have throughout life? Finally, how can we best support learning? What strategies and tricks might be necessary to facilitate the goal of raising students who are intrinsically motivated, lifelong learners?
This infographic is meant to give a student-friendly overview of learning: how, what and why? The descriptions centered in the thought bubbles give succinct glimpses of how the brain works, inviting students to take a moment to consider the ways that their own learning chains have connected and grown throughout their lives to date.
A second infographic, again written in student-friendly language, draws attention to the ways that learning might happen. These tactics are varied, allowing for multiple learners to access these practices and strategies. A link to the full two poster layout is HERE. Posters were created using Canva.
In his editorial, Gura suggests that the arts in schools have become stale, rather than participatory. Instead of focusing on the DOING of it all - creative experimentation, manipulation of existing and creation of new methods - emphasis is placed upon history, analysis and learning of "proper" technique. Gura, to my mind, is suggesting that the primary ingredient to creativity lies in the tactile experience. The theories surrounding knowledge acquisition and integration covered in Chapter 5 of the text suggest much the same: learning happens in real time and, thus, features the reality of the senses in order to commit material to memory. Knowledge integration and reasoning occur when these experiences are connected on to the next, broken down and restructured in new ways to solve creative problems.
A technology tool that ties into these ideas of experiential synthesis is Soundtrap, highlighted by Rivero on page 17. This program allows for the integration of multiple musical and audio elements, giving students the capability to produce anything from spoken word poetry to newly composed, multi-instrumental tracks. Allowing for many avenues that can overlap and separate, only to intersect once again, Soundtrap gives students the freedom to experiment with their own creativity through voice, sound and music. The opportunity to tie these elements together in one project makes it ideal for the concepts covered in this week's readings.
While there are a couple of good options, the ISTE standard that might best tie into this week's reading is Standard 6: Creative Communicator. The focus of Chapter 5 lies largely in the experiential, integrative and, ultimately, participatory nature of learning. Humans take the where, when, who and how of any given moment and catalogue the information by way of the senses, eventually connecting different episodes to synthesise and create new knowledge that is creative, individual and shareable. Standard 6 not only highlights the need for creativity as outlined by Gura, it also insists that students build upon new or existing ideas to create work and solve problems. Standard 6 likewise calls upon students to dive deep into their own imagination and reasoning to pull out multilayered creation, and share their work with a broad audience.
References
How people learn II: Learners, contexts, and cultures. (2018). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Gura, M. (2020b). Fostering Student Creativity Facing and embracing the next frontier in teaching and learning. EdTech .
Rivero, V. (2020). A Whole New Class of Art. EdTech Digest, 12–19.
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