We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. Lloyd Alexander
What are your beliefs about learning?
Which adjectives would you apply to learning? Having fun, surviving, growing, challenging, superfluous, Something to wish away.
For what reason did you attribute such an adjective to the learning experience?
What approach do you take to learning?
The answers to the above questions is what your learning schema looks like.
A schema is a conceptual framework that helps us understand or describe ideas.
It explains how you typically think and act on things.
Our schema determines how we interpret events and life.
Our experiences, memories, and feelings associated with a procedure or event help shape our schemas.
Using a schema aids with understanding.
Your learning schema serves as your mental model and structural framework.
It’s about how you view learning, how it functions, and if
Your learning schema is your metal framework and mindset towards learning.
It is how you are thinking about learning, how it works and if it will work for you.
While some people have learning schemas that suggest learning is a beneficial process for them, others may have schemas that suggest learning is a time-consuming, difficult process that has no lasting effects on our lives.
Assessing your learning schema is necessary to make the most of your learning endeavors.
Here are five (5) questions to use in evaluating your learning schema:
- What has been the most influential lesson I’ve learned? When did a learning event have the biggest influence on you? What exactly was this experience like? What inferences did you make about this encounter?
- What awful educational experience did you have? Why was the experience so awful? How has this experience changed the way you are trying to learn?
- Which mindsets or dispositions inclines you towards learning? Do you have habits that foster learning or otherwise?
- What is your opinion on the statement, “Everything is learnable”?
- What reluctance do you have to learn? Do these obstacles help you become a better person or not?
I encourage you to answer these question and record them in your journal. These answers will help you determine your dominant schema and whether it is helping you by using it as your journal.
I’m interested in reading the remarks you make regarding your learning paradigm.
