Education

Learning is basically a process of first perceiving "something", then thinking about or conceptualizing that "something", identifying and relating that "something" to other learning and understandings, and, finally, expressing those thoughts about "something" in some manner. It is a building process. Each person looks at the presented material or the world experience offered, tries to figure out what it means, particularly in light of what has already been learned and understood about related material or experienced areas, and then the new conceptualization or thoughts are enacted to express or act on that material.

For example, texts present material for students to perceive, subsequent study questions ask students to think about/conceptualize the material and to relate that to what they have learned or absorbed, and then students are requested to express learning by writing down the answers. For a three year-old, this learning pattern might look like: "The cat scratched me when I pulled her ear. When I hit the dog, he made a grumbly noise and moved away and mama said 'Do not hit the dog. He does not like it and it hurts him. Gently touch.' So maybe the cat is like the dog and I should touch gently. Mama pets, so maybe I will try that."

True learning does not occur until all four steps are taken (and not necessarily in this order because everyone is different but mostly, it is in this order):

1. First, new stuff is taken in and absorbed (perceived);
2. Second, this stuff is related to, and recollected to be similar to previously learned stuff (sorted and contextualized);
3. Third, one thinks, reflects, processes and thinks about the new stuff;
4. The conceptualizing part is tested by out and completed by some form of expression. Expression takes the form of action in some form whether written, physically manifested, or verbally expressed.

And that is how one learns. But there are fundamental differences in how we learn and a critical difference in our methodology. We are either part-to-whole or whole-to-part learners.

We are all divided into these two categories. Some of us need to see all of the parts before knowing the whole, and some of us need to see the whole before we can find a context for the parts. Text-books and most learning processes work on the parts-to-whole principle or a sequential learning process. That doesn't work for some. Because most "schooling" practices address the needs of "part-to-whole" learners, this next piece addresses the other.

Whole-to-Part Learners.

Whole-to-part individuals need to see the whole thing before being able to fit in the component parts. These individuals are the ones who have difficulty in writing because they can not develop thoughtful paragraphs because they write the conclusion (the whole) first and then just do not know where to go next when the instructions ask them to develop their ideas. They are confused because they have presented their rationale/argument and they do not know what else to say or where to go. These individuals also have difficulty in understanding chapters that are presented sequentially because they don't have a whole view that can accommodate the presented parts.

Texts standardly are presented part-to-whole as in a sequential building of material. Whole-to-part learners/processers may have difficulty in comprehending texts unless encouraged to read the chapter synopsis first to get the whole picture before reading the chapter. They can then better fit the parts to the context of their whole understanding.

For whole-to-part learners, the idea is to go backwards. In writing, the whole-to-part learners need to go backwards from their understanding, accept that they are right on in their ideas and know that they have come up with a conclusive understanding and all they have to do is to go backwards and explain and communicate how they arrived at that understanding and/or conclusion. Whole-to-part learners would benefit from the understanding that they can see the whole but that they just need to work backwards. These individuals also need to be encouraged to read the chapter synopsis first and then to read the parts and work that understanding into their whole view.

Learning is a complex undertaking. We all do it differently. Accepting that understanding without expectations that we can accomplish learning the same way that others can, gives us the freedom to learn in our own way. And that is all to the good.

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