Thread by @PezeshkiCharles

Education through the ages -- a thread

I've been an educator now for over 36 years, mostly at the college level (1)

Most of my formal education experience has been in mathematical and engineering physics, and design.

I have also spent a LOT of time doing outdoor education, and have learned many cross-genre educational techniques -- namely the value of experience and understanding emotion. (2)

I've also been lucky to have experienced some amazing educators that have profoundly influenced the way I view education, such as Mike Dunbar, a Windsor Chair guru, whom I made this chair with. (3)

The one thing that I have learned, that has profoundly influenced my "statistical" outlook on education, is that people change their perspective and search for meaning as they age.

Not everyone! And some people DO stop growing. There are exceptions. But in general... (4)

I also use a tool called Spiral Dynamics in understanding how people walk up through the stages of personal development in their search for meaning. SD can be very complicated -- but once you understand that the primary factor is "the ability to connect" it gets easier. (5)

"The ability to connect" is based on empathy -- and it really is a gauge of how many different variations on people we are able to hold in our head without judgment. Some folks can only hold folks JUST LIKE THEMSELVEs. That's low empathy.

Others are more curious. (6)

And here's something else to think about with regards to education. As we relate, so we think. So.. if we can only like the familiar, it makes it hard to introduce new stuff, as well as new techniques for learning.

Not good, of course, for creative evolution (7)

Back to how people grow through their lives in understanding the world -- which directly affects education.

Here's a diagram showing how we march up from believing in Santa Claus to being open to the world. (8)

The deep implication of this plot is that humans march up this path, IN GENERAL, as they age. Once past a given stage, you then have access to the earlier modes - but you keep adding new forms into your knowledge toolkit. A six-year-old can like a story- and so can grandma! (9)

The difference is your grandma might, through her life experience, understand the complexities of your divorce, including integrating all the different factors (money, infidelity, etc.)

But a six-year-old can't. And you have to remember this when you educate. (10)

The more life experience, as you get older, you have, that doesn't destroy you, the greater potential one has for wisdom.

You can simply integrate more complex thoughts. And the wise teacher takes advantage of that. (11)

You also know what else can go wrong. As well as knowing what you don't know.

That's called metacognition. (12)

Back to education. At the bottom, we read kids stories, like 'The Cat in the Hat'. Clever teachers use things like laughter, especially with younger students, to open their minds to wanting to read.

Smart teachers realize laughter is almost always a mind-opening tool. (13)

Up a level, we introduce kids to structure. We line up for recess. We stand in line for food at the cafeteria.

We may play a game where one person holds the answer, but the others have to guess. What we're doing is introducing kids to the idea of an Authority. (14)

Little facts about life lead to an introduction of following rules. These start simple, and become more complex. Take off your muddy shoes turns into "take off your muddy shoes so you don't track mud into the kitchen."

Consequential thinking emerges. (15)

And becomes FAR MORE complicated. We teach complicated rule following for most of the engineering and physics curriculum.

The rules are the rules. They don't need your input -- this is how you solve that physics problem. (16)

The next step that emerges is a big one. We want students to take the rules and apply them to designing something THEY think is important.

The rules are the rules -- but a design requires YOUR opinion. YOUR interpretation. YOUR view on the world. (17)

Now it's time for Jedi Master insight.

If you are going to have a vision, you have to establish a relationship with yourself. Up to now, you were following someone else's rules. NOW you need a new step -- agency, or self-empathy.

You must connect with yourself. (18)

Anyone who has ever had a toddler knows what a "meltdown" is. The toddler is so disconnected with themselves, they just start screaming.

Some teenage students after a rough final exam do the same thing. Trust me!

They have not developed agency.

The next-to-the-last step up the ladders is to know your opinion, and feel secure enough in it, that you can reach out to others, listen, and synergize their ideas. You realize a community is required to complete a real BIG idea.

That requires EMPATHY with others! (20)

A good educator realizes this is an advanced mode of understanding -- often beyond what students are developmentally capable of. They give a large project hoping students will synergize.

Students <22 years will always divide the project in equal pieces among each other. (21)

The last stage for this thread is where your students can do everything above, PLUS realize their own biases. First you build your agency so you can DO, then build your empathy so you can SYNERGIZE, and then build more agency so you can understand why you do what you do. (22)

OK -- now for the ages. This makes some people mad. Mostly younger people. To those folks -- hey, you will become wiser as you age. But you have to accept you're not there yet. And you have to forgive some elders that decided not to continue to grow.

(23)

Receptivity to:

Narratives -- 5 and upward!
Authority-driven fragments -- 7 and upward, tapering off around 22.
Rules -- 8/9 years - 28.
Heuristics (assembling rules and pieces) using your agency -- 20 and upward, tapering off around 45.
Multiple synergizing -- 30 and up (24)

Finally, being aware of your biases--

45- end of life.

It is the hardest one. Because it requires knowing yourself -- a very difficult person to know! (25)

Some general rules-of-thumb:

Early in life, you're receptive to stated opinions, rules, stuff coming from the outside.

Once past 25, stuff has to start meshing with your experience or you won't believe it. (26)

Teaching below 22 is largely a development exercise structured by the teacher. Advanced lessons can be introduced, but they serve more of a role of latency -- patterns that will emerge in the learners' cognitive vocabulary later in their life. (27)

The most enjoyable moments in my teaching career are when students below a certain development threshold figure out that I'm really pulling them up to a much higher plane.

"I was really mad at the beginning, but about 5 weeks in, I figured out what you were doing!"

Gotcha!(28)

Discipline in education is mandatory. But punishment is over-emphasized in our society. Students must focus.

But every time you punish, you risk narcissistic injury -- an ego blow to the student that can boomerang back onto you. (29)

Finally, the most general rule of thumb-

Students below 22 are there for the development, which means they often don't know why they're there.

Students over 25 are there for the content. Make sure your content is strong. You must remember when teaching mixed age groups. (30)

A tip of the hat to @CindyBiSV for her coaching and encouragement.

As well as all my Twitter friends who keep repeating "make it simple!" @VirginieG @RallyOn @jenniferwfawcet

The best is yet to come! Happy Thanksgiving! (31)