The idea of learning and knowledge…

How can we learn and construct our knowledge?

How do children and adults learn and connect with each other?

 

The educators of Reggio Emilia believe that learning isn’t a personal activity, but a group activity - Social Constructivism.  That the best learning comes in a mutual exchange with subject and object encounters, along with the encounters of other learners’ minds and reflections.  A construction is not a line, but a structure that we build; never thinking about what we learn, but how we learn. 

Thinking about Standards and Benchmarks...often so linear.  It feels so ‘Skinner’ to me.  Teachers, me included, direct and control outcomes and develop checklists to find out what children don't know.  How boring for everyone, really…but this is easy because it is a line, or steps to move up along, and too often the methods we use.  I do see the value as far as keeping things consistent, but I wonder if there are other methods of expressing Standards...

I see that we also get caught in ‘Piaget’ developmental psychology of it all.  That there is a universal child that develops along a path and we mark the key happenings on our continuum and tell the parent and child where their child is. We just completed the intro to our continuum document and it is Piaget a bit, even though I think our document isn’t very Piaget.

I’ve come to understand the values of ‘Vygotsky’, that children construct their knowledge through the interaction of others.  I believe we do this well.  We allow for the scaffolding of learning through play and the learning becomes quite complex.  I feel I am looking at play in a more detailed way and listening to what the children are saying, doing, expressing in the ‘hundred languages’ that they speak.  

I am realizing, by coming here, a ‘Moss’ view of educating minds.  We all learn through reflection and that we all have a different perspective on what we experience.   Much of this is based on the relationship we have with our community, a community who values us and the many ways we learn and view.   If we are valued and trusted as learners, then the negotiation of curriculum is easy.

What do we want to make meaning of?  How can we build on that meaning?  How can we carry on and move forward towards new meaning and understanding.  Learning is a movement where evaluation and self-evaluation takes place.  Documenting our learning allows us to reflect and revisit it.  Documentation also makes the thinking visual.   It too is a key element. 

 

We need to value the different perspectives our school has.  A play between Vygotsky and Moss’ views of educating minds fits so well with a truly international school.  We need to let the children have a voice.  They are a player in this big game.  We sometimes forget about what they want.   How do we view children?  What is our image of child?