BURRIS L7-9 Reading Synthesis

HOW WE LEARN
LESSON 7-9: READING SYNTHESIS

CHERYL BURRIS

LEARNING IS OPPORTUNISTIC

According to Bransford et al. (2006), any opportunity is an occasion for learning:

vLearning can occur implicitly when a person listens, observes, and interacts within
an environment – even in the absence of a formal educational experience or
conscious decision/effort to learn (p. 20).

vLearning can occur informally when a person is in any learning situation and not
receiving formalized, research-based instruction. Informal learning is directed
towards a particular person(s), promotes traditional forms of learning, and
involves emotions as well as intellect due to the emotional connection to the
person acting as the teacher (p. 23).

vLearning can occur formally when a person is being instructed by someone with
pedagogical knowledge or is considered an expert in the field (p. 25).

LEARNING IS SYNERGISTIC

According to Bransford et a. (2006), learning is not just a internal phenomenon
within the individual but may also include the interaction and cooperation of the
individual with external forces for a greater combined effect:

vLearning depends on the environment and may be constrained by or supported
by the interaction between individuals and their physical and social environments
(p. 28).

vLearning depends on situative perspective of the learners – that is to say, the
perspective held by the learner of their situation influences the way they engage
with others, the learning opportunity, and their own identity within the learning
activity (p. 28).

vLearning depends on how the individual engages with the culture and the cultural
practices where their learning occurs (p. 28).

LEARNING IS ECOLOGICAL

According to Bell et al. (2009), because learning is lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep
learning, it is dependent on the ecological relationship “between individuals and their
physical and social environments with particular attention to relations that support
learning” (p. 31). As a result, learning should be examined through three different lens
– people, places, and culture – in order to gain a comprehensive grasp:

vWhen examining a learning ecology through a people-centered lens, the role of
“interests and motives, knowledge, affective responses, and identity” should be
considered (p. 34).

vWhen examining a learning ecology through a place-centered lens, the role of
“physical features, the available materials, and the typical activities associated with
specific places centrally influence learning processes and outcome” (p. 37) should be
evaluated.

vWhen examining a learning ecology through a culture-centered lens, the role that
“strong social affiliations of learners through which they access and voice their own
ideas, values, and practices” (p. 39) should be appraised.

LEARNING IS NEUROLOGICAL

According to Park and Huang (2010), “cultural values and experiences shape neurocognitive
processes and influence patterns of neural activation and may even effect neural structures”
within the brain (p. 399).

As research by Bransford et al. (2000) suggests, where and how learning occurs impacts the
way the brain develops and creates learning:

vThe physical structure of the brain’s cerebral cortex is “altered by exposure to
opportunities for learning and by learning in a social context” (p. 119).

vSince there appears to “be separate brain areas that specialize in subtasks such as
hearing words (spoken language of others), seeing words (reading), speaking words
(speech), and generating words (thinking with language)” then “coordinated practice of
skills may be a better way to encourage learners” (p. 122).

v“Guided learning and learning from individual experiences both play important roles in
the functional reorganization of the brain” (p. 123).

vRepetition of complex cognitive processes activates learning, creates structural changes
within the brain, and generates effective and efficient learning (p. 125).

LEARNING IS EXPERIENTIAL

According to Bransford et al. (2000), the amount of experience within a discipline
separates the expert from the novice and permits information to be grouped into
“familiar patterns” (p. 33). In turn, this allows for the effective, efficient, and elegant
organization of information in order to identify significant situations/problems,
understand the sophisticated implications of these conditions, and distinguish what are the
superior solutions. As a result, experience impacts an expert’s thinking in four ways:

1. An expert’s knowledge is organized around “core concepts or ‘big ideas’ that guide
their thinking” (p. 36).

2. An expert’s knowledge is contextual, and conditional when “retrieving the knowledge
that is relevant to a particular task” (p. 43).

3. An expert’s knowledge is automatically and fluently retrieved (p. 44).

4. An expert’s knowledge is adapted in innovative, economical, and efficient (p. 45)

LEARNING IS TRANSFERABLE

According to Bransford et al. (2000), learning is transferable across situations because of
“the ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts” (p. 51).
There are several factors that influence the transferability of learning:

1. The “degree of mastery of the original subject” (p. 53)

2. The “degree to which people learn with understanding rather than merely memorize sets of facts or
follow a fixed set of procedures” (p. 55)

3. The “amount of time it takes to learn complex subject matter” (p. 56)

4. The engagement “in ‘deliberate practice’ that includes active monitoring of one’s learning experiences”
(p. 59)

5. The level of learning motivation – degree of difficulty, social opportunity, and usefulness (p. 60).

6. The “context of original learning” – single vs multiple (p. 62).

a) Exposure to “abstract problem representations” (p. 63)
b) The conditions and “relationship between what is learned and what is tested” (p. 63)
c) The perspective that learners should “actively choose and evaluate strategies, consider resources, and receive

feedback” (p. 66)
d) The metacognitive view that learners should be “more aware of themselves as learners” (p. 67)

LEARNING: MY PERSONAL REFLECTION

Learning is so much more than this simplistic view of remembering facts or
exposure to information. There is an expansion in all directions to learning
that moves past the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and experience. For
learning to be truly considered, one must also ponder the relationship
between opportunities, experiences, interaction, collaborations, creation,
degree of expertise, and performance. So far, I do not have a single
definition of learning and am busy wrangling all of these influences.
However, what I can say at this time is I think I am finally learning what
learning really is and wonder if I have really been learning up to now.

REFERENCES

• Bell, Philip, et al. Theoretical Perspectives. Learning Science in Informal Environments:

People, Places, and Pursuits. Washington, D.C. NAP. 2009. pp. 27-5

• Bransford, John D., et al. Foundations and Opportunities for an Interdisciplinary

Science of Learning. Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Sawyer, K. ed.
New York. Cambridge University Press. 2006. 0521607779. Ch. 2. pp. 19-34

• Bransford, John D., et al. How Experts Differ from Novices. How People Learn: Brain,

Mind, Experience, and School. Washington D.C. National Academy Press. 2000.
0309070368. Ch. 2. pp. 31-50.

• Bransford, John D. et al. Learning and Transfer. How people learn: brain, mind,

experience, and school. Bransford, John D. et al., eds. Washington, D.C. National
Academy Press. 2000. 0309070368 Ch. 3. pp. 51-78

• Bransford, John D., et al. Mind and Brain. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience,

and School. Washington D.C. National Academy Press. 2000. 0309070368. Ch. 5.
pp. 114-127

• Park, D. C. & Huang, C. M. (2010) Culture Wires the Brain: A Cognitive Neuroscience

Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 5:4; pp. 391-400