A Little Theory
Quick thoughts on adult learning vs student learning
I have a little theory. My theory is that the things adults typically learn are structured differently than the things we want students to learn in school, and this difference misleads teachers into thinking that learning is simpler than it actually is.
Things adults learn might include:
How to use a new app or website
Developing a habit of regular exercise
Cooking a new recipe
Understanding a need of a partner, child, or colleague
Discovering a new resource
Reading something new about a political or cultural topic
These are all relatively small steps building on domains where the adult already has a lot of knowledge. That type of learning often happens in one big burst as some new knowledge connects to what you already know.
But that learning is very different from what we want students to learn in school. We want students to develop new domains of knowledge. Learning to read is a small miracle. There is an enormous amount of knowledge, from the alphabetic code up through vocabulary to comprehension. All of the subjects we care about involve layers upon layers of interconnected knowledge. That's very different from typical adult learning. I think that difference can bias adults into underestimating the sheer amount of learning we ask of students.
Some of the best professional development I've done has been trying to learn a new, complex domain. It's a great thing to do for any human, but especially for teachers. Learn a foreign language, or how to code Python, or play a musical instrument, or rock climb, or play chess.
You'll find that it's a ton of work and requires a ton of practice. You'll find that having someone to guide your learning makes it much more efficient. You'll find that it's often really hard to motivate yourself. You'll find yourself struggling to remember all sorts of little things that are really important. You'll need to break skills down into tiny pieces, practice the pieces, but also keep an eye on the big picture. If you stick with it, you'll also feel a sense of accomplishment watching your skills improve.
Teachers often want to find shortcuts. If we can only help students have this one insight, or really inspire them to want to learn, or something, learning will be easier. But there are no shortcuts. Trying to learn something complex is a great way to remind myself of that. Learning is hard. It’s a grind. The magic of teaching is taking that grind, breaking it into little pieces, helping students make steady progress, helping students see the progress they’ve made, and motivating students along the way.
"Learning to read is a small miracle. There is an enormous amount of knowledge, from the alphabetic code up through vocabulary to comprehension."
I love this idea! It's try that most of our learning as adults is more about gradual change or improvement vs learning completely new systems as you do when you are learning to read, to write, math principles, etc.
Learning an instrument (and thus learning about music theory, history, composition) is one of the few things I've learned as an adult that have had such a scope for me. Also learning to do improv, as someone who had never performed or acted before. Thanks for the fun reflection!