Learning

I've been reading a very interesting book about how people learn. there are some thoughts that I've been wanting to record for a few days now about "Transfer." The ability of learning to transfer to another subject or different context.

One of the first relevant factors is that you actually have to master the initial subject with initial learning before transfer will occur. There is a difference between understanding and memorizing. Often an organizing lecture will help to provide a framework from which to learn. This is particularly true in a school setting when faced with tasks that have no meaning. Understanding when to use new knowledge is enhanced through contrasting cases.

Challenges must be at the proper level of difficulty to remain motivating and prevent frustration.

This leads a lot of things to think about when teaching preschool. In the Montessori classroom there is the opportunity to teach at many different levels, yet I also need to organize and adapt to everyone. This is ideal for the "Needs of Man" unit. It's a good time to think about abstract concepts, finding out what children know to begin with and building connections with their knowledge.

Most days I'm waking up with thoughts of the classroom in my mind. Processing some very useful things in my head.