Theresa M. Bowers

   I believe learning is a natural, multi-faceted human process.  I believe education is a human right and need, as well as a civil right in America.  I am old school and new school; I am everything.  My philosophy of education comes from all of my education, experiences, teaching, learning and Jonassen, Howland, Marra and Crismond’s theories ascribed to in Meaningful Learning with Technology.

            First and foremost, students must want to learn, be open-minded and receptive… intentionally learn.  I hate hearing students say, “I hate math” or groan when I assign a task.  I like to turn these students’ negative perceptions around by making a game or enthusiastically saying, “OK, who likes money...  I know you’re all brilliant students who are going to be making loads of money someday, and you’re going to have to know how to account for it all...”  I teach fractions with pizza pies and an Italian accent, chicken nuggets or whatever may be the key to opening their mind up to how math is used on a daily basis.  I read literature aloud using character accents, too.  Once they can laugh and see how they can understand these concepts, their mind and the proverbial floodgates have been opened.  Learners must want to and believe they can learn.  Having goals and intentions with an open mind to tackling a project is an essential element to learning.

            Second, most students learn by doing.  They increase vocabulary, knowledge, creativity and reading skills by reading; double digit addition, subtraction, or multiplication by doing many problems (using various methods like fill in the picture by product or sum, Franklin Math or bursting Nemo’s addition bubbles on a computer, algebraic equation puzzles with dorky riddles, etc.).  Students understand science concepts from experimenting, proving and disproving, not just by reading the theories from textbooks.

            After intending and doing, being able to articulate and reflect on what you have learned is also an essential element to learning.  I believe we do this both consciously and unconsciously.  It enables us to put the puzzle together, have light bulb moments, analyze and process knowledge more efficiently and effectively.

            Key to retaining, understanding and future learning for all students is the ability to relate concepts learned to real life experiences and applications.  To me, knowledge is never useless and it is always applicable to solving real life dilemmas.  The practical application of knowledge has been and will continue to be the key to human evolution and success.

            Finally, we as human beings are called upon to talk about and share what we have learned.  For some students, this is essential to learning, and they learn best in groups or by talking it out with others.  For others, they rather master learning and knowledge, and then, share, discuss and collaborate with others. 

collaborate with others. 

            In conclusion, my theory is that meaningful learning is a multi-faceted natural human process, which requires students be intentional and active to learn; reflective and constructive to be able to contextualize knowledge and learning into practical applications, and be able to demonstrate, apply and discuss their knowledge learned with others in the world.

              This is my philosophy of education.

TechEd1.