Reflection... how I learn...

This was a 'timed-write' exercise for my EDST 314 class that dealt with the subject of learning and I was pleased with what I wrote at the time, so I'd like to share it with you. These moments of clarity, where endless streams of consciousness prevail, there is opportunity for learning and growth. And I was lucky to be writing when I encountered this one:

"I often see problems or solutions as an aggregate of ideas. There is some process, whether scientific or artistic, for distilling and refining concepts in some way. Like fitting a curve to data or finding a theme in a body of work, there is truth hidden in the details. As students, we do this process of analysis in the greatest space possible to provid e ourselves a maximum amount of meaning.

In education, I see this process as most common among students. Each contributor to the students' learning (beit teacher, peer, mentor, etc.) provides "some part of it"; some part of an accumulative data set of perspectives. Contained within each, is that grain of substance that must be isolated and appreciated. The meaning of life, in part, is devised in this way also, as a summation of a global definition of this meaning.

We search continuously for more ideas and opinions that can clarify our world. Like a compilation of 'trace paper' sketches all totalled to produce a final picture. In this way, as individuals, we see only a part of it, but as a collective academic and learned society, we continue to approach the entire thing. But like the drawing of a fractal image, each layer of detail only attends to a small piece of new information or structure. And like a fractal, this process continues indefinitely on an infinitesimal scale. Perhaps the meaning of life is to continue this trial for as long as we believe it serves us. Or perhaps, we will stumble upon a discrete end; a finishing step. We will have to wait for the unification of our beliefs and understanding for that to occur. Like a mathematician conceding defeat at the hands of a quantized world. But we are grateful for that opportunity of discovery, our chance to be wrong. "

This brief piece of writing was done in about 5 minutes and so there was little preparation, proof reading or lifting of the pen from the page. Gleam from this what you will (if anything) and use it as a jumping-off point in your own thinking.