WHAT IS LEARNING?

Learning means acquiring new knowledge, understanding, changes in thinking, skills, methods, attitudes, interests, values and connections.

I think we are constantly learning, starting at birth, through our observations and thought. I think learning is a progression. Learning occurs when we reflect on an idea or concept and attach it to our current knowledge. We first must make sense of what we observe, and then based on past understanding, associate it with some meaning. We take external facts and incorporate them into our own personal pattern of understanding.

In a given subject, learning begins with memorization and a quantitative increase in knowledge. These need to be retained and applied to future learning. We will need to make sense of these facts and relate them to other subject matter, to fully interpret, comprehend, and possibly reinterpret as we gain more knowledge.