Rule 1: It's not about finding out, it's about learning more.

Educators have a nasty habit of equating experience with understanding, especially when it comes to 21st Century Learning. The assumption being that if this "has been my experience" then this is the "way that it is". Probably not the greatest learning stance to have as an educator, yet we come by it honestly: our brains seek confirmation. In fact, we literally have to defy natural tendencies when we redirect original intention. Socrates called this state of mind the “illusion of knowing” and the process directing this change-in-mind is now referred to as metacognition.

More recently, research refers to this absence of need when need is present as a “feeling of knowing” or “judgment of learning”. So, how can we shake this natural tendency to operate from a platform of positive presuppositions regarding assumptions? By recognizing that our profession is not about finding out but about learning more. Finding out is easy- a million answers could explain why something is the way that it is. Learning more is far less precise- a million reasons could describe why something is.


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