Born to Learn

Photo Credit cogdogblog

I have been thinking about learning a lot these days...What makes us learn? Does everyone love to learn? Do all teachers love to learn? How do we learn? Do we learn best in varied environments? Do we learn by doing? By listening? By listening and doing? As usual, I have more questions than answers and this is not something that I can "Google" to get the answer.

What I do know is that I am a passionate and curious explorer. Many colleagues and friends think that I am passionate about technology, because that is what my job title says. When in reality, I am passionate about learning. I have always loved learning...I think that is one of the many reasons that I love to travel so much...I get to learn about new countries, cultures, customs, food, smells, transportation, life, experiences, I could go on and on...

So it was kind of ironic  when I stumbled upon Maggies's post about allowing natural curiosity to flourish. Her blog referenced a set of videos from Born to Learn. Born to Learn is a series of thought provoking animations on how humans learn. Here are a few things that they say about learning...

"Most of today's schools are based on the assumption that children are born to be taught, rather than to learn."

"Children learn incredibly quickly by following the example of people they admire."

"If the wrong model of learning is applied...no country will ever get the results it seeks." 

So, have we been applying the wrong model of learning in our schools? I think so, what do you think?