This question pertains to learning and how we process the world around us.
Descartes felt that we needed to doubt everything (Radical Doubt) and start from scratch; the only thing that we can truly be certain of is that we have a mind. "I think, therefore, I am." He relies predominantly on reason as is mode of learning: does what I'm learning stand up to reason and logic? If not, toss it.
John Locke felt that as humans we were born with blank slates (tabula rasa) and that we learn through a combination of our senses and observation and experience and memory. Nothing is innate and that almost everything we learn is gained from the outside world. When you consistently observe sensory data, you begin to form memories and complex ideas from these experiences.
A philosopher who we'll study later next week is George Berkley who believed that the senses and observation were the primary learning tool. In some ways, for Berkley, the only things that exist are things that we perceive, and once we stop perceiving them, they stop existing. But since we see people and objects continually reappear in our world in a very similar and consistant state - carrying on as if they had their own life/existence without us perceiving them, there needs to be a way to explain that. As you could probably guess, the only being capable of doing all of that in his mind.
So, two questions now that I think about it:
1. How do you best learn? Why? Combination or one way best for you?
2. In which way do you think schools are lacking as they prepare kids for the world? With this question, I am looking for an analysis on where you think the emphasis is misplaced, not specifics on any teacher's methods or a slam session on Groves H.S.
Due Friday, 250 words minimum. Thanks.
I tend to side with John Locke’s ideas in that humans are born as blank slates. The only things that I feel are innate that humans are born with are the need for food and shelter. We, however, as humans are not born with the knowledge on how to obtain these things or how to survive. Personally, I learn best when more than one of my senses are engaged. I can’t remember information just by reading it or only hearing it. If I hear someone say it, or read something, and then write the new information I am more likely to remember it. When it comes to strict memorization of facts rather than concepts, I do well with pneumonic divides which I connect with my own memories. For Spanish vocab for example, I look for things in the word that remind me of something or someone I know very well. If I connect the word and the person’s characteristic, I can remember the word’s definition much easier and more quickly. I also have learned my morals and developed my own schema, from the family and people I am surrounded by, along with the experiences that I have. I have learned what to stay away from and have my own idea of what success means and how to achieve it. Since this knowledge didn’t come strictly from within me, but rather a variety of “outside sources,” I can relate very well to Locke’s approach. The only suggestion that I have for schools in general, that I don’t think Groves has too much of a problem with, is engaging multiple senses. Instead of having lecture after lecture, it is both fun and beneficial for students to partake in hands on activities and find information on their own. By having to learn by themselves, students acquire the new skill that will help them in college and also later in life. To know how to research can help you from finding the lowest price on frozen peas, to buying a house in the right school district. I also think there is too much emphasis placed on the preparation for college in high schools. I understand that it is the next step that has a large influence on your future, but to be doing school just to get to more school seems pointless and unappealing. Students should have both the opportunity and be encouraged to explore multiple fields and have better “life-prep” classes rather than college prep. No offense to the math department, but I am pretty sure I’m never going to need to graph a log function or know the square foot of -1=i. Students gain tons of factual knowledge, but they get out of college and don’t know the first thing about how to balance a checkbook, or make a budget for themselves. If there were even slightly more emphasis on life skills classes, I feel that the impact on education would be immense.
ReplyDeleteJordan H
4th Hour
I feel that a person can learn the best in the way that John Locke felt. I agree with him in the sense that people learn best is through senses, observation, experience, and memory. I also agree that we all start with blank slates. Everyone fills their slates through experiences and things that they observe. But I personally learn best through observation. If I see someone do something, then I will pick up on it very easy. Then if I physically do something myself, then I will always remember how to do it. Also if I am looking for answers to something that have to do with street smarts, or other everyday life things, then I go to my memories. The things that I think schools are lacking in preparing students for the world are the following. Students need to learn about situations that they may encounter in a store or any other public place, just like the little things. For example, if you are leaving money at a store to hold something, then you should always get a receipt. Some students just don’t ever learn about those kinds of things that can turn out very bad. I believe that the emphasis on math and science is a little too high. Sure we all need math and science to expand and open up our minds, but not for 12 years of our lives, not including college. I think that emphasis in school needs to be more on things that are actually going to happen to us in the real worlds. Everyone needs to be prepared for the worst-case scenario in every aspect of life.
ReplyDeleteJake B.
4th Hour
I learn best through experience and observation. I know that when I take notes in class or just listen, the material doesn’t sink in. I need to actually do homework problems, or watch the chemical reaction to understand the principals. On the other hand, I can’t just read a math book and figure out how to do the problems; I need the teacher to explain the material.
ReplyDeleteI’ve also noticed that taking notes is more effective than listening alone. I’ve noticed that I can remember where I wrote something or in what corner of the page it was written. This has often helped me on the test. I also remember books best by taking notes. I took notes on most of the books we read in Excel and found that I was able to recall the content more easily.
Too much emphasis is placed on learning material and methods and things that some students will never need to know. For example, I am not going to become a historian, therefore I shouldn’t have to take so many history classes. I think there should be more classes like philosophy where students are able to explore what they think and believe.
Schools prepare students in the sense that they know the material and are proficient in those subjects. I do not think schools do a good job of teaching students to be “independent thinkers” and to “think outside the book work.” I initially thought of philosophy class. I’m not sure that I knew my own beliefs until this year, and they were again reinforced in philosophy. This is a bit off topic, but I believe that freshman are too young to be in high school, which is part of the problem. In my Chemistry class sophomore year, Ms. Tindall would always say that she was teaching us a new way of thinking that we’d never used before. We were no longer able to plug in numbers in an equation to find the answer. There is a huge difference between being intelligent and book smart. Just because you get all A’s in school doesn’t make you intelligent, and vice versa. Too many students are focused on getting an A and do not necessarily fully understand what they are able to do. For example, in my Spanish class there are people that can get A’s on the vocabulary tests and can study for grammar tests and get A’s, but can’t speak Spanish when spoken to. In the grand scheme of things, being able to speak Spanish is much more important than passing a grammar quiz. What’s the use in learning the grammar and vocabulary if you can’t apply it?
Megan
3rd Hour
I think that for everyone to be able to effectively learn all three ways have to play a role. However, I believe that certain ones affect everyone’s ability to learn in a different way and that they don’t all equally contribute to the overall learning process. Personally, I learn best from experience. It’s always easy to sit back and watch friends or family members make mistakes and say to yourself, “I’m never going to do that”, but until something affects you directly I don’t think you can actually say you’ve learned something. For example, teenagers get caught drinking all of the time, yet no one stops drinking until after they themselves have gotten in trouble. I think the problem with schools today is that too much emphasis is put on just learning what the text book tells you. And yes, knowing information in text books is definitely important, but there’s a lot more to learn that can’t be taught by reading a book that students aren’t even interested in. Students need to know that there is a lot more to life than the problems in your calculus book. I also think that a major problem with our society is that the only thing that anyone cares about is the final grade. Too many students are too freaked out about getting anything lower than an “A” because of all the pressures put on them from parents, teachers, and colleges that they aren’t able to enjoy what they learn. I admit that I am the same way. I would not be accepted to the college of my choice right now if I had only worried about really taking in everything as opposed to getting the grade I needed. Someone needs to put an end to this.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth O'Donnell-4th
The way I learn is basically by repeating the new material with something that I already know. For example when learning something new in science or math, I try to relate it to something that I already understand. When I do this I can relate it to something that I learned outside of school. Usually this works best because I learn by visualizing stuff. When I learn outside of school I visualize it to understand it. This in turn causes me to further relate to something that I learn in school.
ReplyDeleteI think that schools are lacking in teaching people things with hands on experience. This by far has helped me the most when trying to learn new things. I understand things most when I have done something similar outside of school. The way teachers teach at our school works but I think that it is harder for people to understand it fully. Like you always find that the best people at any subject do something outside of school relating to that subject. This all together would help prepare people for the real world. Understanding subjects to their full extent is the only way that teaching can help you in the real world. The only other way you can be more prepared for the real world would be getting hands on experience for that particular subject in the real world. This would not be practical because there are too many subjects for this type of learning to be successful in high school, but college is different. That is why you choose courses that relate to your desired profession.
Michael Blake
3rd hour
I believe that the best way that I learn new material is by using my senses, but most of all, by looking at the information. Therefore taking notes and making note cards to study is a vital part of my learning process. It is hard for me to grasp information only through listening, even though I do that too. Not only is it hard to get it into my head, but it sometimes hard for me to even hear it. I have had four ear surgeries, one of which required me to get a new ear drum. This makes lectures and not as appealing to me. The flashcards and notes I have taken have been very helpful to me and I plan on continuing that until my days at school are finished. I do not believe that I learn as well using reason because there are many things I don’t doubt and I accept many things as facts without questioning them.
ReplyDeleteAs for what schools are lacking, I think that most of them, not necessarily Groves, just focus on the curriculum and the day to day assignments given to the class. The teacher follows the exact instructions given to them and will never go off topic. But sometimes it is important to expand upon a point and teach students a broader lesson, even if it does not pertain to the subject. It is also important to have activities in which students learn while having fun. Many Groves classes do this, and that is why many former Groves students are very successful in life. They are prepared for the outside world. The curriculum in most other places may get the students past college, but after that they won’t know how to handle themselves in daily life. That is why we are exceptionally fortunate.
Carter Freeman
4th Hour
Blog #14
ReplyDeleteDaniel Zamler
Q: How do you best learn? Why? Combination or one way best for you? In which way do you think schools are lacking as they prepare kids for the world? With this question, I am looking for an analysis on where you think the emphasis is misplaced, not specifics on any teacher's methods or a slam session on Groves H.S.
A: I learn best through a combination of observation, reasoning, and hands on experience. I think that the first two are absolutely essential to experience before the latter. Observation is obviously key because our vision is our strongest sense and thus we can most easily relate to it. By observing we absorb the basics of what is to be learned. Then comes reasoning, the logical processes involved with learning are extremely important because once you understand what it is that you are doing on a logical level you can begin to apply it in situations other than the one that it was initially presented in. It’s like the quote from Marcus Tullius Cicero - “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.” Finally comes hands on experience, this is vital as well because without this hands on experience we have no way of duplicating what it is we have just learned, there is a reason why doctors don’t just have to read the text book to get their licenses. I believe, unfortunately that Groves is lacking in the hands on experience field of education. I do not blame the school system though, it has what our system has become due to trivial lawsuits and hyper-sensitization of parents. No longer are field trips allowed for fear of kidnappings or other such mishaps, students can no longer participate in some labs, some with good reasoning behind them but not all, and textbooks have been more emphasized than ever. Another reason why we cannot have an appropriate hands-on experience is class size, there simply is not enough time to have 30 students all perform a procedure. It is unfortunate but it is the truth.
Another interesting quote: Dionysius of Halicarnassus - “History is philosophy teaching by examples.”
I think that most people would say that they learn something better if they see visuals. Something can tell you something over and over again but there is nothing like seeing it. It’s just a different level, the next level, of learning something. I don’t think anyone would say that seeing a visual of something makes you know less about something. Another way I learn better is if I respect and like the person that is teaching me and they have my attention. If someone stands in the same spot and talks in a mono tone the whole time I will not retain hardly anything they are saying. Teachers who you enjoy and respect and who you feel treat you the same way and do not belittle you are more likely to have students learning because you want to listen to a person you respect them and do not want to disappoint them. I think that schools today lack what school is really about. Schools are too focused on following a formula like every two weeks you have a test every one week you have a quiz. Sometimes this is not the best way to test kids on things. Things today are too focused on test scores like the ACT, which can’t even be studied for really...you study some material and more strategy.
ReplyDeleteKaelin Roberts
1.I believe I learn best through a combination of Descartes and Locke’s ways. I am the youngest of four and I can tell you right of the bat that I have never done anything really bad in my life because my brothers have done it all. Through observational learning I saw the outcomes of their mistakes and learned that it is not worth it to make those mistakes. One of the biggest ones is smoking and drinking. My older brothers have done it all and I have never done either because I have seen how they act when they use the substances and what negatives can come from them. There are many things I have learned through reason though also, at points I have been tempted to do wrong but I reason my way back to reality so I will not. Let’s take drinking for example even though I have learned not to drink through my brothers I have also reasoned out why I should not drink. For example I can get in trouble with the law, die from too much, become addicted, and make other stupid mistakes while drunk. Now for experiencing, I am always learning through my experiences whether they are good or bad. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about learning through experiences is driving. I am always making stupid mistakes while driving but I always learn not to do it again. In conclusion, I learn from observing, experiencing, and using my reasoning.
ReplyDelete2.I believe schools in general are lacking Locke’s method of learning. This is because we are always discussing (reasoning) topics in class but we rarely interact with those topics. I think we pay too much attention to small details in school when we need to experience and observe the lessons not just talk about them. Yes we can do math problems over and over again but if we don’t understand how they apply to the real world then what is the point of doing the problems? I think teachers need to let the kids do more activities that are also learning experiences so that we understand how we could use the tools learned in school in the outside world.
Anna Beaufore
3rd hour
I would have to say that the best way to learn is through a combination of Descartes and John Locke’s beliefs. It’s wise to question things, especially when you don’t understand them, but if you question everything and are skeptical of the answers you’re not really learning anything. I personally know that I learn the best through experience and observation, which are products of my senses. Descartes thought that one shouldn’t believe their senses because their senses can be deceived. I disagree with that thought. You can’t believe everything you see, hear, etc. but if you couldn’t believe anything what would even be the point of having senses at all? One must question to be enlightened and one must also experience to be enlightened.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that schools are helping kids become more and more intelligent everyday. Each year curriculums become more advanced and kids are learning more at younger ages. While this is great I think that they way they’re taught puts too much pressure on them. I don’t think that kids should have to feel any stress about schoolwork. I think that the emphasis in school should be more on finding out what an individual is interested in rather than how much information they can memorize. I feel that people are less likely to be interested in school if it pressures them too much to be something that they’re not. Schools should guide students to find out what their passions are. To me it’s more important to find out what really makes you happy in life than to feel that you have to get all A’s to keep up.
Lauren Lounsbery
3rd hour
Sean Turner, 4th Hour
ReplyDeleteI view the experiences and memories category as the most helpful, but it is dependent on the situation. When learning how to ice skate, you need to experience it. You could spend a month religiously watching (observing) professional hockey and still not be nearly as skilled as if you had spent the month actually skating. In this scenario, observing professionals and knowing the physics behind ice skating would help you, but only by a marginal amount.
The most valuable assets (for me) to learning between reason, experience, and observation is really dependent on the situation. Sometimes a combination is best, like golf which requires a lot of experience and reason, or ice skating which requires mostly experience. With math problems, you need to understand the logic behind how the problem works, with observation and experience providing a far less significant bonus in this example.
I think schools don’t give us enough logic. We are given skill related logic such as physics and chemistry and writing (I don’t consider high school math a skill), but we really don’t learn general logic. Until my junior year, I had little to no knowledge of politics. After my government class and the recent election, I have became interested and know what to look for when judging a candidate or voting on a bill, which is made easier with logic. I took business law and am currently enrolled in investments, which have given me a lot of knowledge on stocks, finances, laws, courts, ect. Prior to my junior year, the only “logic” class I took was computer tech.
After four years of the wonderful world of groves high school, I have found my niche and I also established the best way that I learn things. I can pick something up or learn something very easily with visual teaching. I love hands on learning and interacting with my peers. I don’t mind lectures, but I do mind dull lectures, or “the handout” way of teaching. Which means you give a student a handout and have the students do it, the student body isn’t learning anything with that method.
ReplyDeleteSchools across America are lacking in many ways in preparing students for the world. Schools are not as strict as they could be. Remember there are two different kinds of “strictness”. One, the being to overly power strict which doesn’t give the student the freedom that it may need to grow or two, the prefect level of strictness. This is when the school allows the students the freedom they need and are strict when it comes to work and all of that sweet stuff that comes with school.
Groves does a very nice job with keeping the students in line. Groves also gives the students freedom which is another plus. Some people within our school district have no idea how easy they have it compared to other schools. Some schools can’t even go out to lunch. Yet the juniors and seniors have the privilege to do so. I’m Happy with my high school experience, and now I’m tired of it. . . . . HELLO COLLEGE :D
Rocky Shattuck
3rd hour
Mr. W
Although I think all of the three learning techniques are useful, there is one that I deem most important. I learn best from Locke’s technique. I think that his technique is the best because it takes Descartes and Berkley’s ideas and meshes them. I think we all learn from our experiences, observation, senses, and reason in different ways. We use our experiences to find our morals and define who we are. We use observation to learn a variety of criteria and to learn proper behavior. We use our senses combined with reason to uncover various solutions and answers to problems in different subjects. I learn different things through all of these methods and wouldn’t be well rounded in my knowledge if I wasn’t able to learn through all of them.
ReplyDeleteThe area where I see schools lacking is not placing enough emphasis on learning from a lot of different techniques. The school system today is becoming so concrete that independent thought is slowly deteriorating in classes. Restrictions are increasing and choices, for teachers and for students, are almost disappearing all together. The mandatory course load keeps growing and elective choices are being pushed to the side. The criteria to cover in classes is also growing and creativity in the classroom moves aside to make room for it. I feel like with more freedom, learning becomes much more memorable. If you memorize a bunch of equations or concepts, chances are you’ll forget them later when you’re out of school. However, if you remember a really cool experiment that just left you in awe, you’re much more likely to remember the concepts that went with it. By teaching through all the different methods, students are more likely to remember their importance later in life. I think that if the school system stopped piling on a bunch of restrictions, learning would be much better.
Samantha Paul
4th Philosophy
The way that I learn best is through experience and explanation. When you get to experience something you can interpret it anyway that you want to and still understand something. Also seeing it allows you to remember it and something may stick out to you and click during the experience. Being with other people too helps me remember during an experience because they may say something that I would never think of. Hearing others thoughts and what they think makes me think deeper into what happened and what I am learning about. When I don’t understand something at first, I need an explanation of it, and then when someone shows me how it works I usually understand. Seeing something in front of you helps because you are seeing and hearing what you are learning. You are using two senses instead of one so information becomes much clearer that way.
ReplyDeleteIn school I think that they should let kids do more hands on activities because it really makes it clear of what they are learning about. Schools should also let children think about things to themselves for a while and see why and how things work. I don’t think there is enough emphasis on preparing yourself for life, and analyzing things to see why things are the way they are. Schools need to teach students to question more, and to dig deeper into situations. Not to question how something works, but why things are the way they are, and why we believe in what we do.
Nicole S.
3rd hour
I think I learn best through reason because I like to analyze the world around me. Gathering information from classes, documentaries or through experience (which is probably my second method for learning) and constantly apply them to the world around me. It becomes so habitual that it’s annoying at times, for example, when I was leaning against a counter at Meijers at an angle, the stuff from physics popped into my head and I analyzed the reason I wasn’t on the floor in pain because I slipped. My brain likes to gather as much information about a topic and then apply it as soon as possible to test whether the information I acquired is possible or not. Like a computer, I run simulations of situations in my head to see what would happen in situations and I this is the reason that we make decisions, we look at situations and calculate the best way to do something that usually brings the least damage and most profit to us; though I like to analyze those subconscious thoughts for no apparent reason to me.
ReplyDeleteI believe that schools lack in their understanding the importance of teaching classes such as philosophy (this is real, not just some point booster :D). Schools need to place emphasis on how we learn, through classes such as psychology, place more emphasis on the arts, and help students to open their minds through classes such as philosophy, because I believe that people these days are too dense and unable to see the world though the perspective of others. Personally I believe that by taking classes such as philosophy, we get a greater understanding of their ideology and how it relates with ours.
Experience AND observation depend on one another. There must be a balance between both. There are some situations that are extremely important for people to experience whereas there are many situations that are better left observed. It takes common sense to know the difference.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, it was necessary for me to experience a lack of money. Once I started relying on myself for money, I found myself saving instead of spending, working instead of wasting time. It was necessary that I know the importance of money by experiencing the need for it.
On the other hand, there are situations that I'd rather observe. For instance, I know through observation that meth is extremely deadly and addictive. Had I experienced that addiction, I would be completely different and unhealthy. In situations that seriously threaten my well being, its best to watch.
In schools, you can't experience the loss of a loved one, the struggle with money, and the thrill of falling in love. This can definitely happen in school, but there can not be programs or cirriculums that teach the significance of these events through experience. When it comes to life lessons, schools should stick to observation. They can't have students experimenting with drugs to know the dangers.
From an educational standpoint, schools can emphasize experience with literature by applying the lessons in the books to our own lives. Science classes can promote experiments. Math classes can assign more board work to add a physical element to the lesson plan. These can all be implemented to academics, but anything more than that usually can not be learned in a school.
Chelsea R. 3rd Hour
I would have to agree with John Locke theory or how we learn. I feel that as humans we are born with blank slates and that we learn through a combination of our senses and observation and experience and memory. This why I feel the best way of learning for me is threw practical observations and experience. As a visual learning it gives me the ability to look at something and analyze its use and features. As a practical learner I can touch, taste, see, smell, and hear which helps me retain better the information because I have actually observed it and experienced it. I find that this is a radical difference then just being taught from a book because with a book you are not experiencing or observing anything which can make it in my opinion much harder to grasp or understand. Learning straight from a book or lecture can also be boring which makes it even harder to stay focused unlike experiencing anything first hand which can be very exciting. A perfect example would have to in chemistry class when we first read the lesson from the book and then go into the lab and do an experiment about the lesson. When we first learn the lesson from the book it is very confusing or unclear to me but after doing an experiment about the lesson I understand the lesson much clearer because I am personally experiencing it and observing it. I think that in high school they are lacking kids in personal experience and observations with the learning material. We spend too much time just read information from text books and answering questions about it or just having to listen threw a long boring lecture than actually personally experiencing it. I think classes should be more like our honors philosophy class were we do things such as discussing the train story, or the sins project, blogs, or watching lost where we can understand the material better threw our experiences with working on it ourselves or discussing it as a group.
ReplyDeleteTyler Howe 3rd hour
Out of the three philosophers listed above, I feel as though I can relate more to John Locke when it comes down to how I learn best. Just like Locke, I believe that I learn by senses, observation, experiences and memory. Depending on the situation, it is often not enough for me to learn mainly by hearing classroom information. So, I guess that you can say I am a cross between a visual learner and a hands-on learner. As a visual learner, I often remember material better if see how it plays out in front of me or even if I write the information out myself in an interesting way. I too have learned that various forms of media on a subject can help me. A teacher can talk about a subject, but if I watch an interesting documentary on it, I will more than likely remember it more. I can also learn better if I am physically involved in the lesson, especially in subjects like science. As for the second question, I believe that our school is doing a very good job in preparing us for the real world, but I cannot speak for all schools. What I can say is that some schools should start using technology as a better learning tool. Also, I believe that there should be more emphasis on taking life management classes. Math and science are great, but I have learned more about the real world through classes like Contemporary Life Issues where we learned about things such as personal finance, relationships, etc. Often in these classes, the textbook is real life situations.
ReplyDeleteBrittany C.
3rd Hour
I think I, as do many others, learn best by experience, colloquially, “by doing.” This doesn’t mean we need to run around in the woods looking for epiphanies. The quality of learning is determined by two factors. First, the deeper the understanding, the better it is. Second, a mark of good learning is the strength of the memory it provides. I have found that when I discover something by myself, or develop a line of reasoning, whether mathematical, linguistic, or philosophical, independently, I have a much better conception of what I have learned. Moreover, I am not likely to forget it. This individual experience is the best kind of learning we can obtain.
ReplyDeleteGiven the varying answers to the first question, it should be clear that everyone learns differently. Thus, the main problem, though it has been cited frequently already, with our educational system is its rigidity and lack of ability to provide the right types of learning opportunities to the right students. A first step in the answer to personalizing education is to focus on the type of learning I outlined above. We must give students the power, the minds, the attitudes, the situations, and the problems such that they can discover things for themselves. Not only will they learn the material better, but it will be more fulfilling, as they will feel accomplished with each new discovery. The method, supplying students with the ability to think so that they may make their own discoveries happens to be the classic liberal arts approach. It would truly be successful if schools took the same attitude from the earliest ages.
I think we can relate learning and how we learn best to John Locke and his theory. When we are born, we have all this capactity for learning and to store new information. It is kind of like a computer system. You just keep adding more and more stuff and we, hopefully, remember it as we get older. I think in order for us to learn best, we need both observational learning and learning from experience. I know I learn best with both. If I read something and I dont understand it, I would prefer to see someone do it or have a visual that would help me understand it more. This is true I think the most in school classes like science and all the labs. I learn more from it if I have visuals like pictures on how I am supposed to do it. We learn from experience everyday. I think this is part of our trial and error ways. If we make a mistake, we gain insight and learn why it was wrong and why we shouldnt do it again. If we see someone do something wrong, we register it in our brains that it is not something we should want to or be doing due to the consequences that come along with it. When I make a mistake, I know that it was the wrong choice and I learn from my experience that I shouldnt do it again. I think that schools are lacking the experience part of learning. We read from text books all day long and then go home to read more and take notes and answer questions that follow. I know in order for me to actually retain that information I was just given I have to encode it in some other way than just reading small black words line by line. I think a great way of helping students learn is by powerpoints or movie clips that have to relate to what they are learning. A lot of my teachers use powerpoint and film clips, like Lost, and I really think it helps me process what we are learning better. Groves is doing a good job of this I feel. Lots of teachers are starting to use the different technology we have here and it is a great way to help their students.
ReplyDeleteNicole M
3rd Hour
TJ Hyland
ReplyDelete3rd Hour
I believe that John Locke had the right idea. I think that humans, or at least myself, learn best through experience. I can be told a million times not to walk on the ice in the winter time, but I take a stroll to the middle of the lake in the winter time and I fall in. I can honestly say I will never do that again. My point is that people can be told what to do, but they are going to what they want until they discover what works for them. If everyone listened to their parent’s reason, they’re would be no risk in life. Every precaution would be taken. Life would not be interesting, life would be simple, and if life was simple everything would be a lot easier, but a lot less intriguing. We learn through the best through suffering, because it imprints in our brain. We also learn the best through accomplishment, because when we succeed, we feel a sense of euphoria, we remember that feeling later in life when it is gone, and do what it takes to achieve that feeling.
I think that schools need to reduce the amount of social anxiety felt by a teen as they make the transition from kid to adult. The education level in schools is improving, and schools are better preparing students for college at the academic level. What about the students who feel socially awkward, or unconfident? They can make it through high school maybe, but what happens when they go to college and they are forced to interact with other students? I am not suggesting that schools take on a social insecurities class. I just think that if schools could somehow offer more help to kids that are afraid of going out into the world and starting a life that our society would ultimately be improved
I think the best way to learn is a combination. Combination learning is the best for me because I feel like if you limit yourself to one type of learning its actually harder on yourself because something’s could be better learned or categorized into another type of learning. I think Descartes method of radical doubt, that we can only truly be certain that we have a mind is very true because all we can know is that we really have something that enables us to know. I think John Locke's tabula rasa learning through a combination of our senses is good because we shouldn't just limit ourselves to one sense, and using them all we can figure a problem out much more accurately. Finally George Berkley saying our senses and observation were the primary learning tool is good because obviously our senses are really the only way we can tell anything.
ReplyDeleteI feel that instead of schools grading kids by how good they do in the class, they should find a way to measure how hard the student is working. A subject such as math, where one student just understands and can do everything and another has to struggle and work very hard but still doesn't get as good of a grade. In my opinion its just not fair, and it should be about you effort and how hard you try, because some people trying their best still can't achieve an A and that doesn't mean they're not hard working or trying ten times harder then the other students. I feel grading the amount of effort you put fourth is way more accurate grading on an individual then judging them by getting an A on the test.
Katie Rothenberg 3rd hr
Kate Goforth
ReplyDelete3rd Hour
Many people can say that they have one specific way of learning. I cannont say the same. My knowledge has been gained through a combination of experience and observation. Even simple things as a a child I learned through experience. I found out the difference between hot and cold by being burnt and by then putting ice on the burn and feeling the cold.
Many of my personal opinions are based upon my experiences. For instance I have learned how to handle certain situations from experience. I have learned through trial and error. I have found the best way, well that I know now, to handle things such as fights with friends. I'm sure my way as of now will change as I gain hew experiences to pull from.
School now focus too much on logic and reason with the exception of chemistry and other sciences. These classes do use observation as a learning tool through experiment. Other than those classes no other classes really utilize experience and observation as a means of teaching. Using those learning tools could helpother learners similar to me.
I took service learning which is a part of Groves' experiential learning department. I learned more valuble lessons in that class than I did in others because for me I retain more of what I learn through experience. So maybe I could learn more and retain more of my math classes by somehow experiencing the rules of math.
They way I learn best is through a combination of my senses, experiences, memory, and observation. So John Locke is the philosopher I agree with best. The reason why I learn best like this is because I am a visual learner. I have to see and observe to understand what I am learning. Also, if I can experience what I am learning, the lesson will most likely stick with me. George Berkley also believed that senses and observation were the most important learning tools, but the reason why I don’t agree with him is because Berkley believed that what we don’t perceive doesn’t exist, but I don’t agree with that. I know that my phone exists, but I don’t always see it. I can feel it vibrate even though I can’t see it vibrating.
ReplyDeleteI think that education lacks in experience in high school. Many teachers just stand up there and lecture for all class, and we don’t get to get up and do an activity or anything. Back in elementary school, we used to learn math by doing our problems in games. Now we just have to do a lot of homework and tests. The only classes that don’t lack in experience are gym and science. But in gym we have to get experience because we have to be physical. But besides those classes, I think that school is sorely lacking in experience.
Loren Bailey
Learning is a very complex thing. While we all learn through different techniques I learn beat through doing something my self. If I experience it and I actually perform the action a will remember how to do it. I’m very hands on. I believe that being able to use all your senses not just your sight and hearing is very important and that it helps to reinforce the lesson of the activity your doing. However I also believe that if you observe your surroundings and truly analyze what’s going on around you that you can learn just as much. A combination of “clean slate” and “I think therefore I am” Is best for me. I like to question why things are and I can also sit back observe and learn that way.
ReplyDeleteSchool is very flawed but I understand why. Now in school you sit there for seven hours and have teachers talk to you telling you what to do, then you do homework to reinforce the lesson of the day. This is boring and it is not the best way to learn for everybody. But I do see that it is the way that the majority of the people in the world learn. I believe that the school systems should find ways to make classes more hands on and not just have teachers talk at you for an hour.
Josh .T
I learn best by learning with my sense. My experience things I know what they are about. I agree with Locke that we are all blank slates. By living our lives we gain knowledge about the world around us. While books are important and can teach us a lot of information, it is important that we learn by experiencing things. For example in anatomy, we read about how the heart functions and the structures of the heart, but when we do the dissections I have a better understanding of them. I think that the problem with American education is that we no longer place emphasis on learning. School is about teaching students to do well on standardized testing. We also teach children to read to early in life. It is important to not only learn how to read but how to understand what you are reading. Many students learn how to read in Kindergarten but don’t know what they are reading means. At the school that I used to attend, we were how to tell stories. So that students could understand emotions that the characters have and what a story is all about. I didn’t learn how to read until first grade but reading comprehension always came very easily for me. American education is also lacking a teaching of the fundamentals. For example in elementary school we learned math by using “Chicago Math”. Instead of teaching the memorization of math facts or even how to multiply the book would teach us “alternative methods”. This may have made learning easier when we were little but it doesn’t help in higher level math.
ReplyDeleteLeah
4th Hour
Everyone learns and understands new material differently. For the most part, I think that hands-on procedures and observation are essential to learning. If people cannot do a hands-on experiment, then I believe that repetition is another great way to remember things and learn new things. Both Descartes and John Locke have a good point about learning. Descartes had a good point because if we doubt things, then we will question things and learn more from that. Some things are hard to question, such as scientific laws and math because they have been proven years ago. John Locke had a good point of view because rather than always memorizing things, he is saying that people need to piece things together themselves and learn with their senses. This I agree with because it is a much more effective way to learn things. I believe that Groves is lacking hands-on experience and observations. Other than chemistry and anatomy class, where students have to conduct labs, there really is not much hands on learning. If teachers were more enthusiastic about what they do and think of new and exciting ways to learn material, it would help many students comprehend the material. I have had many teachers in the past (not going to mention names) that would come to class not wanting to teach. It's noticable because they would always be very lathargic and boring. Most students will learn if the teacher has an interesting way of teaching or is just enthusiastic to teach because that will make the student excited to learn. This is not something only Groves is lacking though, because I am sure that many schools have teachers that don't want to be there and show it.
ReplyDeleteAshley Connelly 4th hour
I agree with John Locke. I believe that every thing that has been learned is through our senses, observation, experience, and memory. When learning in school, I work best with the teachers if they relate things that we are learning in class back to our everyday life because that way I can relate to what the teacher is saying. This way I can relate the two things to each other and on a test it will come easier for me, because I didn’t just memorize it, I know it. I have to have examples as well as visual aids, if a teacher just talks the whole time without showing me anything or having it relate in some way to my own life, there is no way I will remember the info presented. I feel like most teachers give students a step by step outline for the class, what I have also heard from teachers is that colleges will not be like that. Teaches also hound us for our missing work and no professor at college will do that so it is letting the students get into bad habits.
ReplyDeleteErin Dickieson
3rd hour
I personally learn best through observation or experience. I do not learn by getting a leisure I learn by doing hands on things and by watching what happens. For instance if I were simply told that whey you mix yellow and blue you get green I would not believe it and I would just forget about it, but when I actually go and take some paint and mix blue and yellow I can see that it makes green. Then I learn that blue and yellow make green because I have actually seen it.
ReplyDeleteIf I am given a book with some problems I normally will be able to work out how to do them but it will take a while and I may get the first one or two wrong. But when I have a teacher explain it normally comes very easily and I can do it after they explain it one time.
I think that schools are lacking in many ways. They do not teach kids anything that they need to know for the real world. For instance they never teach how to cook or pay bills unless you take special classes. But they do require that you learn what the ninth president did while he was in office or what the capitals in Africa are. The skills that they teach are not necessary to everyone like math for instance, I will in later life need to know geometry and algebra 2 and all that but for a lot of kids the basics will do fine because they are not going in there career. They should be teaching classes on how to write business stuff and take out loans. That is just a small portion of things that I think is wrong with the classes.
Chris 3rd
Experience, questioning, analyzing are basic processes through which I learn best. A foreign language teacher will always instruct students the best way to learn the language is emerge yourself in it, watch movies , listen to songs, involve yourself in conversations. This method of learning applies to all subjects including academic subjects and learning about philosophical ideas. For example, lunging into queries about existence, ontology, realism, and other aspects of philosophy is the best, most effective way to learn about what you believe and what you are unsure of. I think instruction and forcibly imposing thoughts on others is the most ineffective way of teaching that ensures students will ignore, forget, or become uninterested and not develop any individual insights on the matter. I learn best by becoming involved, working on developing my own thoughts and skills, and genuinely becoming intrigued by the matter at hand. Playing a game, puzzle, tricky question, or something interactive could perk my interest. Therefore, I believe the emphasis on instructing students to retain all the information they are told and blindly soak up and recite facts is useless and harmful to the mental development of the student. When teachers recite information in the form of notes or lecture, and the students are mandated to copy the information mindlessly, they are learning absolutely nothing and shutting off their brain. Teachers should challenge students to think about the information being told to them and encourage them to think and analyze the facts instead of merely memorize them. Realistically, what is the benefit of a student learning the distance formula or the significance of the Northwest Ordinance? If the student ends up being a psychologist, these facts will be beyond useless. However, if the teachers who teach these subjects introduce these facts in such ways that stimulate critical thinking and improve the student’s thought process, then these classes were beneficial regardless of the actual information or subjects being taught. In conclusion, more emphasis must be placed on motivating the student to develop their own ideas, logic, rationale, and thoughts instead of simply regurgitating pointless facts.
ReplyDeleteLaura 4th hour
Personally I learn best by observation and hands on interacting. To really remember or learn something I have to be involved in the lesson. By being personally involved somehow it is easier to relate thus making it easier to understand therefore making the lesson stick. I agree with John Locke that we are born as “blank slates” and we gain everything from our observations and senses. I disagree on that I believe we learn a lot from our own thoughts I believe that when we have those times when we just sit and think about the world or our problems we gain a lot more then talking about it or observing something about it. I believe not only Groves but in all school systems they are lacking in teaching history. I believe history always repeats it’s self and that we can learn a great deal from what has already happened. I think that in most history classes the information is very sugar coated and often slanted to one political side, leaving out may important details and facts. I also feel that school is becoming to have a much too great emphasis on grades and not actual learning. There are so many teachers who are only concerned with making you read a poorly written text book and take a poorly written test and hope that you get a good grade. I feel like some teachers no longer care whether or not you’ve actually learned and retained something. I understand sometimes it is hard to instruct 20 to 30 students and some who would rather not be there, but I know some more effort would be appreciated by some.
ReplyDeleteErin Bay 4th hour
I learn best through reading and listening. If I read or hear something while I’m in some state of attentiveness, I will not forget it. The knowledge is stored away in some part of my brain forever. Between reading and listening I am much better at remembering things I read. When I am listening to someone speak I drift in and out based upon my perceived importance of the current topic. When I am reading I dedicate my full attention to the material. An example of this is a computer science class I took last trimester. There were no lectures, speeches, or words of guidance from a teacher during the class. I was given a textbook, worksheets, quizzes, test, and labs and expected to complete all the work correctly by the end of the trimester. This worked out great for me. Instead of wasting class time semi-listening to a teacher talk and only getting part of the information I was able to take all the information in by reading the textbook. For most classes this type of work would be assigned as homework, likely glossed over or not done at all, but in this class I got to learn everything. Some may argue that teachers can share information not found in the textbook or make students view things from different angles. Personally, I would rather have all the necessary information than some of the necessary information and some of the expanded information. This fits in with my opinion on how schools should change the way they teach. Students should have a choice on how they want to learn the required material. If all classes were offered in the same form as my computer science class I would easily choose them over a normal class. Some classes such as foreign language may not be compatible with a self-study style of class, but most other classes would be. I recognize that people learn in different ways, which is why I believe the ability to choose how one learns is essential to effective learning.
ReplyDeleteStefan Rush
4th Hour
Lectures, textbook reading, notes and outlines are how I learn best. When I’m being taught something, I want the person who knows (the teacher) to come right out and say “This is the truth / this is the way it is” and I will write it down. I want to be able to look at the outline I have written on my paper and automatically know I have all the information listed in a clear and usable manner. I want to be able to directly reference a straightforward textbook for more in-depth information which proteins to what we are learning in class.
ReplyDeleteWhat I believe is the worst form of education is the Socratic method. Attempting to teach concepts by asking a series of questions seems like a long and round about way of reaching a point, and rarely leaves a student feeling like they have learned anything. Education shouldn’t be about self discovery or personal learning, it should be directly about teaching, or the passage of information from one source to another through the most efficient means. If we know everything already (as a Socratic method teacher assumes) then there seems to be little purpose to education. Under such an assumption, I should immediately enter to workforce, and when I come to a task that I don’t know how to complete, I’ll figure it out for myself. Another issue with the Socratic method is the impossibility of recording the learning you gained from it. When you are trying to study for an upcoming test, it is often useful to review the material you have discussed. If that material is simply a series of questions you have been asked, and the class’ response, you are unable to take notes because you don’t know the concept your learning, you don’t know what answers are “right” and what is “wrong” and you don’t know what key points are, which makes attempts to study virtually impossible.
I personally learn best in situations that would likely not be acceptable for classroom settings. I love when there are a lot of things happening. I feel I can associate what I’m learning with what is going on around me. When I study, I usually have some quiet music playing, as well as when I do my homework. Professionals would say that this is not a good thing; however, when it is quiet I am much more likely to get bored and lose focus. I cannot stay on task for very long without trying very hard, and once I start trying to stay on task, its much harder for me to focus because I really don’t want to be studying. But with music, and non stressful situations, I learn much better. I pay more attention sitting on a couch or a more comfortable chair, I greatly dislike the hard metal and concrete feeling chairs we are forced to sit on day after day in traditional classroom settings, which explains why I sit on the couch as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think schools lack preparation techniques because students are forced to take classes they might have no interest in, thus not applying themselves. This can only hurt a students GPA. In the long run, I think it is a good point of interest to bring up that students should be able to not take some classes, and focus more on others. Some classes will never matter to a person’s future job, or life in any way. In a colleges mind, I feel they care more about what GPA a student has, rather than having them do badly in classes they have absolutely no interest in being in. I really disagree with the requirements in classes that need to be taken. However, I don’t really foresee this ever changing.
I learn best through experiences. There is just no better ways then to do it yourself and find what way works best for you. Areas where this needs to be used more are math and English. Math is amazing when we do proof of concept experiments allowing us to see in a real life situation. Those are the best days in class. And in English, papers and essays with very simple or extremely flexible guide lines allowing me and others to express themselves within the confines of the subject. Very few areas other than the arts teach through experience it would take months of soul searching and reading to learn about the philosophers. It takes more time which in schools mean more money and we have no money as it is. So its hard to come up with the money to give kids the experiences social interactions that could really enrich there lives. It’s the reason I believe in multicultural retreat so fervently. We learn so much about ourselves and where we stand through others. Its more than we could ever learn ourselves and especially when we are given a complex task to complete by ourselves for a group we care about I have seem minor miracles kids come into there own and eyes being opened about others.
ReplyDeletenick e
Lou DiVizio
ReplyDeleteWickersham 3rd
People say that everyone learns best differently. I disagree. No matter how a subject is put across to someone, if the person is truly interested, he will learn it. One must be able to act out a process and see it happen in front of them, while interested at the same time. People become interested if the subject can relate to themselves.
In regards to the second half of the question, I believe that most high schools lack the teaching of morality. This is not a schools fault or the fault of the educational system, I believe it would not be accepted by parents. Many children are raised by parents who have good morals and wish to pass them on to their children, yet the simply lack the ability or know-how. One must have more than one set of role models in his/her life. Many find another role model through sports, or some other extracurricular activity, but for those who don’t, I believe it would be beneficial to both the student and the world, to teach them morality and important life skills associated with it.
Kristin Thomas
ReplyDelete4th
My learning philosophy would be most closely related to John Locke’s with a dash of Descartes and I think George Berkley is crazy and I don’t think he even understands himself. In learning in school some of my most memorable experiences are just that experiences, activities we did in excel (both tenth and eleventh grade) were so much more impacting that just reading out a text book. The multiple media sources and learning techniques used like movies discussions projects music activities were so much lasting and believable than reading something from out of a book. I believe that you can’t believe everything your told or see or sometimes even experience because these things can be altered, by entities such as governments like how some middle eastern schools instill anti American views and hatred into children or Hitler brainwashed millions into (somehow) believing Jew’s “should not be alive”. I have learned about things that my parents and friends have told me because they are people I trust so I know that I can believe them but I don’t just take what people tell me and that’s it I do experimenting of my own or else the lessons is not as valuable. I definitely think others experiences influence my opinon and I think its valuable to know about other humans we share this planet with, but some things, love, heart break, death, the ocean, a win, ect that you just need to have happen first hand or its just not the same.
Kristin Thomas
ReplyDelete4th
My learning philosophy would be most closely related to John Locke’s with a dash of Descartes and I think George Berkley is crazy and I don’t think he even understands himself. In learning in school some of my most memorable experiences are just that experiences, activities we did in excel (both tenth and eleventh grade) were so much more impacting that just reading out a text book. The multiple media sources and learning techniques used like movies discussions projects music activities were so much lasting and believable than reading something from out of a book. I believe that you can’t believe everything your told or see or sometimes even experience because these things can be altered, by entities such as governments like how some middle eastern schools instill anti American views and hatred into children or Hitler brainwashed millions into (somehow) believing Jew’s “should not be alive”. I have learned about things that my parents and friends have told me because they are people I trust so I know that I can believe them but I don’t just take what people tell me and that’s it I do experimenting of my own or else the lessons is not as valuable. I definitely think others experiences influence my opinon and I think its valuable to know about other humans we share this planet with, but some things, love, heart break, death, the ocean, a win, ect that you just need to have happen first hand or its just not the same.
I learn best by eperience and observation. After actually doing what I am learning about or applying it to the real world helps me understand information. It is also helpful for me to learn by example. In math class, if I see the example problem it is very easy for me to apply that to the new problem. In a way I think we are born as blank slates. I do think that some people have more complex thoughts than others. It is really hard for me to learn anything by a lecture. I tend to just go in my own little world and totally disregard what is being taught. This could be my ADD kicking in but I do know that 30 minutes is the normal time that someone can pay attention. I also learn by saying what I need to know out loud. When I am studying for a quiz or test and I know that it will be hard for me to remember a specific thing I will say to the person Im with that I will never remember this and for some reason I always remember it when Im taking the test. I think that high schools are somewhatlacking preparation for the real world. When I get a job I will never have to ask my boss if I can go to the bathroom. I think it is really strange that we have to ask to do things like that. I also think that we need more classes to help you figure out what career you want to go into. There are too many classes that are mandatory. Why do I have to take physics or geometry when I know I do not want a career in these feilds?
ReplyDeleteHilary Burns
3rd hr