On the Evolution of Knowing and Learning

As I read through the blogs of my classmates in the MAPP Dance programme of Middlesex University of London, I read about their own process through the understanding and dis-ciphering of knowledge and learning.  It seems to have been only yesterday that I was awkwardly writing my first blogs on the subject as I joined the ranks of module one: On Knowing and Learning, September 2018.  That blog was the result of writing after a University Skype meeting to discuss learning theory and knowledge.  I recall I had been so nervous before that first class, reading fiercely so as not to be at loss during our discussion.  I was so worried that I was going to have to speak and I would sound stupid and evidence myself as a fraud before my international classmates and professors.  Oh the horror!

I remember asking in class if  there was a learning theory we should focus on and was relieved by the pedagogical of the course.  There would be no shaming, just pure joyful studying.  Just trying to understand learning...my own learning at first through my professional experience.  I read that first blog post that I wrote and I am somewhat embarrassed by how poorly written it was.  I almost started rewriting it, but decided that I should not alter it as it helps me understand my learning process through this Master´s course.  I would not want to destroy or alter the evidence of my own process that I have embarked so far as there is value in this unique learning pathway that has been my graduate studies in dance.

Furthermore, as I re-read I can still perceive how fluid learning is.  I still dance awkwardly with my understanding of learning theory.  I struggle to reconcile my educational past as an academic student from a traditional and repressive educational system based on testing and memorisation of curriculum.  It is a formation I do appreciate at the same time that I criticise, I do feel my formation gave me rigour and structure.

I am still trying to understand learning.  I now perceive knowledge and learning as an ongoing process forever influenced by new ideas and experiences that continually inform and reshape former experiences.  I often find myself bouncing with delight when I find learning and educative theory that resonates.  Yet to find myself breaking my brain to pieces the next time I study the same theory a second time.  What does all the theory mean in the dance studio and in the professional setting?  How does one translate beautiful theory to best practices within dance education and training?  Such is the case I am feeling now after studying a variety of video lectures by Sir Ken Robinson.  His discussions of changing paradigms are extraordinary.  Especially encouraging are the notions of disconnecting students from excessive stimulus and instant technological gratification, and awakening in them the self-discovery and liberating power of creative and divergent thinking.  The power of connecting by being fully aware of oneself in a respectful process of the child´s of the child´s development in which our educative process begins to stimulate instead of repress.

However, the application of this critique to our education system is quite complex. As a classroom teacher myself I understand that teachers must survive testing, curriculum, and especially school programmes.  Teachers pressure themselves because one teacher feeds off her students to the next teacher.  When students present delays on expected learning outcomes, the entire school system enters in crisis.  The second grade teacher gets upset with the first grade teacher...the sixth grade teacher with the fifth grade teacher and so on and so forth.  How to crunch time in an over-saturated schedule with routine activities crowding a short school day.  It would be extraordinary to fill the classroom day with creative activities and projects that motivate and invigorate the student and the school day.

As I return to my reflections starting this Master´s I can see that the notion of a student-centred approach to education that stimulates original thought, creativity and joy- has been in the mind of all of us.  In particular those of us in the field of dance.  Many educators, artists, scientists, leaders, parents, students, etc. echo for the need of a better education system in which our students could bloom.  The agreement is evident.

The execution of the dream is complex.  It shakes the philosophical foundations of why we educate the youth of our society.  If our students are not guaranteed a job of life security from education in today´s changing time, why slave away in school?  Of course, the alternative of students running wildly down the streets without meaning, purpose or structure, is horrifying.  Yet, this is not the reason for education in its own.  Although, the structured daycare of schooling is appealing!

So seeking best practices in education seeking to stimulate creativity and innovation in the student follow the really difficult questions we must continue to study with diligence:

Why educate?

How do we learn?

How to educate?