Synopses & Reviews
One of America's original thinkers about public education, Seymour Sarason poses the crucial question for all educators-""What do
you mean by learning?" "Learning" is the word most used in educational literature and yet educators have great difficulty in defining it. Sarason demonstrates that the lack of clarity about the concept of learning is at the root of the disappointments of educational reform, the inadequacies of preparatory programs, and proclamations of policy. He takes a good look at another question as well: Why are the principles of learning implied by what parents of preschoolers say and do so different from the principles educators employ? And he goes a step further when he asks: Why is it that no one, educators or otherwise, has ever said that schools are places where
teachers learn?
Central to Sarason's questions on all fronts is the distinction between the contexts of productive and unproductive learning, the latter being far more frequent than the former. Unlike the words "sticks" and "stones", "learning" is not concrete, visible, palpable. Learning is a process that takes place in a social context involving and intertwining motivation and attitudes, cognitive and emotional responses, no one of which is ever zero in strength. Recognizing this has enormous implications for pedagogy, school administration, and educational policy. Sarason discusses these implications by use of concrete examples familiar to any reader.
And What Do YOU Mean by Learning? is not about theory-it's a warning. It alerts readers to how glossing over what they mean by learning effectively stymies any educational reform. Educators' stock-in-trade is learning. Only when they become aware of what learning encompasses and the contexts in which it occurs can we have a starting point for real education.
Synopsis
One of America's original thinkers about public education, Seymour Sarason poses the crucial question for all educators""What do you mean by learning?" "Learning" is the word most used in educational literature and yet educators have great difficulty in defining it. Sarason demonstrates that the lack of clarity about the concept of learning is at the root of the disappointments of educational reform, the inadequacies of preparatory programs, and proclamations of policy. He takes a good look at another question as well: Why are the principles of learning implied by what parents of preschoolers say and do so different from the principles educators employ? And he goes a step further when he asks: Why is it that no one, educators or otherwise, has ever said that schools are places where teachers learn? Central to Sarason's questions on all fronts is the distinction between the contexts of productive and unproductive learning, the latter being far more frequent than the former. Unlike the
Synopsis
This book alerts readers to how glossing over what they mean by learning effectively stymies any educational reform.
About the Author
Seymour B. Sarason is Professor Emeritus of Yale University's Department of Psychology where he taught for forty-five years. He is the founder of the Yale Psycho-Educational Clinic and the author of more than forty books, most of which bear directly on education.
Table of Contents
The Major Themes
Words and Things
Infant and Parental Learning
Parent as Teachers
Home and School Contexts of Learning
What Do We Mean by Critical Thinking?
Practical versus Impractical
Creativity and Classrooms
The Disconnect Between Administrators and Classroom Learning
What Do Administrators Know About Contexts of Learning?
What Is Missing in a Voucher Policy?
What Can People Become?
Postscript: Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood