What is Good Learning?

What exactly does it look like for students to learn? What takes place when students learn? What do the students in your classroom do that allows for good learning to take place? As a teacher, what will you have your students to within your classroom to allow for them to have the opportunities for good learning to take place?

What will the students be doing within my classroom? First they will be intrigued by other things beside the standard curriculum content. They will seek out information to further their own learning. They will share their opinions and views in class. Students will use their different backgrounds to enhance their learning. Good learning is cooperating with others to gain knowledge and help others learn. Good learning is making meaning. Constructivism is an approach that considers learning as the active making, or constructing, of meaning from experiences and observations (Ch. 5 in the text). Students within my classroom will most definitely learn from their experiences in my classroom and make conclusions from those experiences. I won't always tell them exactly what they are learning, they will make observations and learn from them. This will also enhance their critical thinking skills. Good learning is gaining deep understanding of abstract concepts, reflecting on what they are learning, asking questions, analyzing, interpreting, and predicting. Good learning is also learning from observing others (modeling). It is learning based on natural curiosity and increasingly sophisticated thinking. It isn't memorizing facts to be regurgitated back at the teacher. It is being fully immersed in the learning and content being learned.

Students should be engaged in their learning. Good learning is having discussions where students can put their two cents in and share their opinion. Which then also allows me, as the teacher, to see if they are really understanding the content. It is asking questions and solving them together. Good learning is evaluating evidence and coming up with a conclusion and then having the ability to justify it.

Good learning will look different for every student and it is important that as a teacher I realize that. It isn't a universal thing that will be the same for everyone because everyone learns in different ways. Learning by observing others and basically being a visual learner might be the best way for one student to learn but another student might learn better with a more constructivist way of teaching and learn by doing and figuring out the answers in that fashion. I think that what is best for teachers to realize is that we can have an idea of what good learning is, but we also can't limit our thoughts to one specific way. We have to be open-minded when thinking about our students.