Three impetuses to learning; Better learning

Three impetuses to learning
October, 17, 2006

It seems to me that there are three impetuses to learning, all perhaps reducable to one .
The first impetus is some form of hurdle or discomfort, something that prevents something else desirable from happening.

The second impetus is the flash of insight, often discussed in terms of "I suddenly realized…" or "Then out of nowhere it occurred to me …"

The third impetus is the jollied acceptance of a challenge. In this version someone hears about something new but resists, usually openly, sometimes hostilely, the challenge. However in the situation someone else champions the new idea and 'works on' the resister who finally has her/his interest piqued and agrees to try it.

The one that all three can be reduced to is discomfort. In all three for different reasons some dissonance or discomfort is introduced. Not until this happens can learning begin. The hardest one to integrate with discomfort is the flash of insight which is a positive event thus hard to call discomfort, but it does reveal a disparity between what is and what might be, thus impelling the learner into action in order to resolve the gap.

What is better learning?

I presume that better learning is the integration of skills, concepts and attitudes closer to an expert level in the area. I am trying to work on a visual aid that illustrates this concept. Right now I am using the color theory model. Imagine a circle that has the rainbow colors at spots around it. Looking down at it one would see red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. From them all colors can be made. Then imagine a line descending from the center of the circle for some distance. At the top of the line is white and at the bottom of the line is black. Then imagine a line angling up from white to each color. As a color, say red, adds black, it becomes a shade; as it adds white it becomes a tint. All the variations of red can be represented on this triangle, and if the triangle is replaced by a cone, all the colors that can be created would be somewhere in that cone.

That cone is learning. All knowledge resides in it. The color or hue is expert disciplinary knowledge. The white node is creative analysis. The black node is disciplinary facts. As a learner integrates facts and critical analysis, he or she moves toward professional disciplinary knowledge. Thus better learning is moving away from pure critical work or pure factual work toward disciplinary knowledge.

While this is a fine start, the troubling point for me is the lack of a spot for attitude, which krathwohl has shown is very important. That is yet to be determined.