BAYVIEW Newsletter ISSUE 19 Monday 17 June 2013
www.bayview.vic.edu.au
Risen Jesus, you promised to be with us to the end of time; be with me today. From the Principal– Dr Michelle Kearney Learning is addictive. It is exciting and invigorating. That sense of satisfaction that you feel when you have mastered a skill, grasped a concept or created something new is matchless. Yet the reality is that sometimes learning can be dreary. We have all experienced this. It is a constant challenge as learners, and as educators, to find the spark of excitement in our learning experiences. The 21st Century is referred to as the knowledge era. With rapid changes in knowledge production and technology, it is essential that adults and young people are lifelong learners. If not, their ability to function in society, the workforce and family will be limited. What is Lifelong Learning? For some people, learning stops the moment they step out of school and join the workforce. Lifelong learning is different. It is self-initiated and self-directed. A lifelong learner does not need someone to tell them that knowledge is power. They do not need someone to remind them that they need to expose themselves to useful and relevant information systematically. So, someone who’s into lifelong learning actively seeks out every possible avenue that can satisfy the thirst for knowledge understanding that in this uncertain global climate, investment in one is the safest and highest-yielding investment. Before we even talk about how to develop lifelong learning habits or how to improve the way we learn, if learning itself is perceived as a dreary task, then there will be little reason to continue. It’d be like trying to drive a car with flat tires — you can drag the car for some distance, but it is not going to go far. Context leads to curiosity. When we understand the context of why we are learning a topic and how it relates to a task we need to complete, a project we want to design, or an issue we need to resolve, our imaginations are fired up and the learning process is a joy and mastery of the material assured. The most critical point, when we learn in context it triggers the part of the brain’s pleasure system. This happens because the human brain contains a giant pattern recognition system. “Without this ability,” writes neuroscientist Elkhonon Goldberg in The Wisdom Paradox, “every object and every problem would be a totally de novo encounter and we would be unable to bring any of our prior experience to bear on how we deal with these objects or problems.” Imagine if we could consistently use smart phone and tablet computers and the like to deliver every young person an education built around this kind of pattern recognition. Learning would both be truly addictive and significantly more efficient. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin
Final week for our Loaves & Fishes Winter Drive! “Please fill the box”