THE SEARCH FOR A NEW FORM OF LEARNING

‘Before they will dare to take the risk to learn, students must trust that there is no penalty for not knowing  – Lester Laminack

Sophia was always bursting with ideas! She can be described as a cauldron, bubbling with thoughts and ideas that can change communities, governments and even generations. However, one thing that Sophia lacked…the willpower to execute her thoughts.  For some reasons, she never saw herself good enough to transform these life-changing thoughts into action.

     This narrative is similar to that of so many young adults in Africa today and the reason for this can only be traced back to their childhood. The human child is a born explorer and adventurer, that is why a child will desire to explore the use of his or her five senses without first considering the consequences and this action is responsible for the development of the cognitive part of their brain which is necessary for building problem thinking and solving skills. Unfortunately, we fail to realize early that learning is instructing and not imposing or stifling the inborn ability to explore and if this part of a child is not developed, we are bound to raise intellectually dependent adults.

This is where the role of parents and teachers should come in, it is time parents and teachers begin to collaborate on the methods of learning that will benefit every individual child. To achieve the desired change we want, there is a need to improve on our methods of teaching, especially as the skillset needed to make any form of advancement in the 21^st century cannot be realized through regimented forms of learning.

Children should be given the room to explore, evolve and adapt; they should not be asked what they want to become but rather asked the problems they want to solve and they should be allowed to learn without the penalty of not knowing.