Page 112 - Microsoft Word - The Future of Learning April 2017.docx

100
We can predict what we should do in the new, unknown context.
Most of this predicting is non-conscious and that is amazing. Conceptual understanding is also the basis of our ability to approximate, which is another form of prediction. The simple way to test the conceptual understanding of a learner in any domain is to have them predict the possible outcome for a context that they have not experienced before. The more accurate the prediction they make, the more refined the concept has become in the learner’s mind.
Back to our example: (Stage 3: CONCEPTS)
After checking that the forecast for the town of Toledo was from an independent source, you check out other towns in the region to see their forecast. After checking a number of different towns in the region, you find that they are also forecast to have fine, sunny weather for the week ahead. In fact, most of Spain has fine, sunny weather for that week. By checking some internet records, you find that this has been the case for the past five years. You have now formed a simple concept: The particular geography of Spain138 and the regions surrounding it ensure that the weather in this region is almost always fine in summer’. By checking a range of contexts and investigating the climate over several years, you can make a range of additional predictions which have a good chance of being correct.
The development of a concept is not a linear process and it takes numerous cycles of building knowledge, creating an idea via questioning, and then applying the idea to other contexts. The resultant concept allows us to make predictions with an increasing degree of accuracy as we experience its application within more contexts. Learners need to be introduced to strategies to carry out the brainstorming, questioning, synthesis and distillation processes that underpin the formation of concepts. These strategies are embedded within the competencies, and practising and highlighting these strategies is important in building our understanding of the Learning Process.
A concept is the general pattern that underpins the relationship between two or more variables that are context-independent. This definition means that once we create a concept we can apply that concept to predict how it will play out in numerous other contexts without having to relearn the concept for every context. The hundreds of millions of tripartite neural – (synapse) – astrocytic partnerships in the brain appear to be responsible for creating these concepts and concept frameworks and then automating them so that they can be applied non- consciously. BUT to take advantage of this potential,
we MUST know how to learn efficiently and effectively.
138 The two variables in this example are underlined.