My Philosophy on Learning

A few years ago, I had a late day at work grading a pile of papers. As I was reading through those papers, I had a student leave her brainstorm page with her paper. In her brainstorm page, she left a quote “Learning is knowledge, knowledge is power”. I paused and thought how great it was that a simple student understood the power of the learning.

Because knowledge does provide power to those willing to learn. Knowledge is never stagnant, it’s constantly evolving. What we know about one thing can change in an instant. We are in a constant state of learning; it’s never quite mastered. My belief in learning is that a learner is constantly developing their understanding because knowledge is constantly developing. This is why learning is never mastered, new information leads to more inquiry about the world around us. Learners are developers of new thoughts and are seekers of information. In order to truly learn, we have to ask questions and seek answers to those questions. And this is how innovation is born, through inquiry of the ever-changing process of knowledge.

If we allow learners to explore, they will be able to become the leaders of innovation for the future. Innovation is part of teaching, we innovate how we teach so we can bring new information to learners. A teacher is first a learner and an innovator, we are constantly innovating how our students learn and how we deliver that information to them. A good teacher is always changing in their teaching methods. Learners are also changing, technology has changed how we get information, and it's up to educator to teach learners how to use that information to help them grow in their understanding.

I am a reader. Reading has always been my way of learning. I read to understand about certain ideas about the world as well grow as an individual. When I view myself as a learner, I think about the books that have taught me about the world and has developed my views. Reading teaches a reader empathy through creating characters that readers can connect to on a personal level. When I read poetry or non-fiction, I always find that I am understanding the world a little bit better. So my belief in learning is that I am constantly learning. Books have the power to help cultivate my own views and opinions about the world .

Teaching should be about how to utilize skills and information in a way that will help learners grow in their field of study or to become more accomplished learners. Educators have to let learners explore the information around them and guide them to develop questions and find answers then build upon what they know so they can master their subjects.

A teaching philosophy is how teacher views teaching; a learning philosophy is about learning. When I think about a teaching philosophy, I think about myself as a teacher and how I should deliver my lessons. Learning philosophy has allowed me to remove my teacher hat, and think about learning. Learning is about why we want to learn, and what motivates us to learn.

I feel that I am both a constructivist and a cognitivist. I have similar cognitive beliefs as Piaget as he views that "intelligence is not a fixed trait" ( McLeod, 2018). I think intelligence can be molded and any one is capable of learning. Although Piaget's views are fixed on just children, I would like to extend that knowledge to all learners. Everyone, not just children, are capable of learning and growing their intelligence. Bruner's Constructivist theory leans more towards my view on learning. I believe that learning allows individuals to develop what they already know (Cullata, 2018). Learning is developed through inquiry with other individuals and learning more about how they view the world around them ( Hein,1991). When I think about learning, it's the learner who controls what and how they learn.

Annotated Bibliography

A., & Smith, M. (2018). What is learning? Exploring theory, product and process. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/learning-theory-models-product-and-process/

The idea of learning is complex and individual experience is what caught my attention. It inspired my learning philosophy and pointed me towards the theory.

Culatta, R. (Ed.). (2018). Constructivist theory (Jerome Bruner). Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/constructivist/

This website talks about Jerome Bruner’s Constructivist theory. As well as his application, provides examples, and a clearer explanation.

Hein, G. E. (1991). Constructivist Learning Theory. The Institute of Inquiry,15(22). Retrieved from https://www.exploratorium.edu/education/ifi/constructivist-learning.

This article breaks down the explanation of constructivist theory. Hein goes into further explanation that knowledge is not a singular and that it builds upon it.

McLeod, S. (2018). Jean's Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

McLeod explains the history of Piaget’s Cognitive theory as well as a detailed explanation into his study. Piaget’s theory is familiar as it is study in development psychology, but it has information that supports my thoughts about learning.