Are schools teaching to help students learn?

Children learn in many ways. They are influenced by those around them and by their prior experiences. Their learning is affected by what they already know and by what they do not know. I agree that the transfer of learning is one of the most important aspects of the learning process. If a student knows facts, but does not know how, when, or why to use the information; the knowledge is meaningless. In order for a student to truly understand a concept, he must be able to apply that information in a different situation, or in a different context.

Babies have the ability to problem solve in order to get what they want, but how do they know how to do it? Do they watch others? If that is the case, and there are no other children around, how do they learn to do the “baby things” that they do? Do they watch adults and apply what the adults are doing to what they need to do? If so, they are processing what they see and adapting the actions to fit their situation. These are clearly advanced skills, and it is fascinating to think about how they learn how to do things.

When babies are born one of the first things they do is eat. Do they teach themselves to suck because they are hungry, do they learn because they have to figure out what to do with the “thing” that is in their mouth, or do they start because the milk tastes good to them? All of the theorists have their own ideas about what happens, but I think that if you keep shoving something in someone’s mouth they have to think about their options and make choices. As children get older and parents try to force them to eat different foods, many children will refuse to eat some things and continuously spit them out. Do they do this because they are no longer hungry, because they are not in the mood to eat, because they have figured out that they do not like the taste of what they are eating, or is it because the person feeding them has made negative comments about the food or made “bad faces” while feeding the child. When thinking about this situation, does the child, at such an early age, already know how to manipulate his parents? Based on the research, I believe so. I think that children learn by observation and by trial and error. If a baby gets a positive response to an action by someone that action is being reinforced, which teaches the child that they can do it again. If a child is reprimanded for doing something wrong, many times they do it again anyway. Are they testing the adults? Are they fully aware of what they are doing and just want to see if they can get away with it?
I found the theory of Lewis and Freedle to be very interesting. When the child ate the apple in the highchair, but threw it in the playpen, even when told to do the opposite, the child proved that he was doing what he believed he was supposed to do, even if he was told to do something else. As MacNamara stated, language is a clue to meaning, so the spoken words that accompany actions and requests guide children to do what they are asked. As teachers, do we model what we want the children to do? If not, we should. We should show them what we want as we tell them. This is a practice that we sometimes use, but not always, maybe if we support our words with actions, they will have greater meaning for the students.

Obviously young children are smarter than we give them credit for being. They learn necessary life skills in just a few months. As they grow we expect them to keep up with that rate. During the first few years of life the focus of learning is on how to exist in the world. The knowledge that is acquired is some of the most important we will ever have, but very little of this learning is done in a formal, structured environment. I do not believe that schools are teaching the best way to help students learn. I believe that many schools are encouraging teachers to apply various instructional strategies; however, I do not think that the school administrators are supporting the needs of the teacher to do so. For example, do we have all of the materials that we need? Do we have access to the advanced technologies that would enhance our lessons? Can we set up our classroom in a way to allow for various learning activities? If we do not have the support of the administration, how are we going to do what is best for the children?

Maybe as teachers we need to reflect on this idea and establish a classroom and a curriculum that supports the inquisitive nature of children and young adults. Maybe we should let them keep trying until they figure things out. Maybe we should correct their papers, hand them back, and ask them to try again before we give them a grade. This will give them the opportunity to not only change their incorrect answers, but also improve the quality of their work. Maybe we should establish an environment where the students can observe others, imitate their actions, and try them out for themselves. These ideas all suggest the need for a student-centered classroom where children are allowed to actively participate in their own learning, like they did as babies.

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences teaches us that everyone learns differently. We need to support this idea and allow students to use their strengths to learn what they need to, but we, as teachers, also have to be aware of their weaknesses in order to design lessons that allow them to excel. If we constantly set our children up for failure, what are we teaching them? Is it that we do not care about them, or that we have more important things to do, or that they are not capable of doing something? Whether we believe it or not, our choices as educators not only affect what the students learn but also how the students learn.