Real learning

We read through your freewrites and found the following themes:

Descriptions/definitions

• Aha moments, when things finally connect, insight, things “click”
• When learning something new changes the way you think about things, gives you a new perspective
• Deep, multiple connections, integration with prior knowledge
• Complex, holistic, comprehensive understanding of something – grasping the big ideas
• Able to use the knowledge/skill flexibly and creatively to do or understand new things
• Learning something personally significant, important, or interesting
• Real learning is ongoing, can be revised
• Real learning sticks with you
• Real learning is when something you learn enriches your life
• Understanding why or how things happen

Related ideas:

• Real learning/knowledge is necessary to be able to teach something, but really knowing something doesn’t mean you can teach it
• Real learning requires being open-minded
• Real learning is constructed by people, groups, cultures
• One can really learn something that the teacher did not intend
• Tests do not necessarily measure real learning
• Not just memorization of bits
• Real learning is exciting
• Real learning is applicable outside the classroom