Educational Volume - Modern Teacher Reader

Author: Chen Guisheng, Zhao Zhiwei / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Learning to learn is more about mastering the means of cognition than acquiring classified, systematic knowledge. It can be seen as a means of life or an end in itself. As a means, it should enable everyone to understand the world around them, at least to live with dignity, develop their professional skills, and engage in communication. As an end, its foundation lies in the joy of understanding, recognizing, and discovering. Even though situations where learning has no direct purpose are becoming increasingly rare, the importance of acquiring useful knowledge in real life is growing, along with longer schooling and more free time, which will allow more adults to experience the joy of knowledge and self-directed learning. Broadening one's knowledge can help each person better understand their environment from various perspectives, awaken curiosity about knowledge, stimulate critical thinking, and contribute to discerning right from wrong based on independent thought. From this perspective, let us once again emphasize that every child, wherever they are, should be enabled to learn science appropriately and become a lifelong "friend of science." In secondary and higher education, introductory training should introduce all college and high school students to the various tools, concepts, and reference methods provided by scientific progress and contemporary modes of thought. However, since knowledge spans all aspects and is constantly evolving, it is becoming increasingly difficult to know everything, and maintaining teaching in all subjects after basic education is unrealistic. Nevertheless, specialized learning, even for future researchers, should not exclude the study of general cultural knowledge. "Today, a truly well-rounded individual needs a broad foundation in general culture and the opportunity to deeply study a few subjects. Throughout the educational process, both aspects should be developed simultaneously." Because general cultural education exposes learners to other languages and knowledge, it first helps in communication. Experts confined to their own fields may show little interest in what others do. In any case, they may find it difficult to collaborate. On the other hand, as cultural education serves as a bond that transcends time and space and connects different societies, it inevitably makes learners aware of knowledge in other fields, thereby helping to maximize the synergy between disciplines. Especially in research, major breakthroughs in certain knowledge areas often emerge at the intersection of disciplines. Learning for the sake of understanding knowledge first requires learning how to use attention, memory, and thinking skills. Particularly in a society dominated by television images, young people should start early in life learning to focus their attention on people and events. News reports on media platforms switch rapidly from one topic to another, and skipping advertisements by changing channels while watching TV programs is so common—none of this is conducive to the discovery process, which requires time and deeper understanding. Learning to concentrate can take various forms and can also be practiced through opportunities in daily life (games, internships at companies, travel, science experiments). On the other hand, training memory is a necessary method to avoid being completely influenced by the immediate information transmitted by media. It would be dangerous to assume that with our current massive storage and communication capabilities, memory is no longer needed. Of course, we must make choices about what to "remember," as the human associative memory does not function automatically and should be consciously cultivated. All experts agree that memory should be trained from a young age, and it is inappropriate to eliminate some traditional training methods considered boring in schools. Finally, there is the training of thinking skills, which children first begin to develop under the guidance of their parents and then their teachers. It involves a repetitive process of thinking from the concrete to the abstract and back again. Therefore, in teaching and research, both deductive and inductive methods, which are often seen as opposing approaches, should be combined. Depending on the subject being taught, one method may be more targeted than the other, but in most cases, the coherence of thought requires both to be used together. The process of learning knowledge is endless and can be further enriched through various experiences. In this sense, as the nature and content of work become increasingly varied, the integration of the learning process with work experience is becoming closer. If initial education provides the motivation and foundation for lifelong learning both at work and outside of it, then such education can be considered successful. P20-21