Uncommon Sense’s Learning Principles  

1. Engage people’s minds.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled  - Plutarch

Unless there is stimulation of the mind, it is unlikely to be receptive. Learning occurs best through dialogue and discussion – lectures are boring and tiring. The more people can be made to think, the more they are likely to learn.

2. Everything is subject to re-examination and investigation.

It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it - J. Bronowski

Nobody knows it all. There are few facts and many opinions, and today’s heresies are tomorrow’s assumptions. The temptation to regard current knowledge as final must be resisted at all costs. There are more questions than answers; people should be encouraged to question constantly.

3. People should be encouraged to discover their own learning and thinking styles.

The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatises, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself - Edward Bulwer-Lytton

We only discover our own potential through exploration. We comprehend certain inputs and internalise them differently; we are not all the same. Finding out how best to structure our own learning and thinking is critical to the growth of the individual’s knowledge.

4. Mistakes are stepping stones to continuous learning, and essential to further growth. 

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely - Rodin

If you’ve never made a mistake, you probably haven’t learnt anything worth knowing. Growth is only possible when we directly experience the consequences of not knowing enough, giving rise to the need for greater understanding.

5. Learning is not about a database, it’s about a process.

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated - Alec Bourne

The database is constantly changing; what people need is a process that enables them to learn for themselves. Education must better equip people to profit from experience.

6. Most learning takes place in the real world.

Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing -  Oscar Wilde

From instruction one learns ‘passive’ knowledge – one knows about things. Only when we have experienced how the theoretical construct happens can we gain true understanding. ‘Active’ knowledge is being able to do, not talk about, the things we have learnt. And we learn active knowledge by doing.

D (just call me D)

justd@justd.ws

© Uncommon Sense Communication - Enabling Independent Thought