Knowing 2

After having written what you just read I opened Children Matter. The authors are talking about teaching and learning. They ask: "How can you tell when someone has learned something? How do you know when you have learned something? What does it mean to 'know'?"[CM p. 257]

If you teach a subject and the kids ace the test, you figure they've learned something. But one child can put together a perfect portfolio of projects and fail the test. Another can ace the test and fail miserably when the instructor reviews his portfolio of work. If you train someone to do a job, you know someone knows what you've trained him to do if he can do the job. Yet someone who's been working in a field for 30 years has an intimate knowledge of what he's doing and that knowledge is different than the most skilled and intuitive rookie. The rookie may be able to ace an exam or evaluation and know all the right answers on the job. The veteran may look at the test questions and fail because he knows that the answers to such questions aren't always black and white when you're on the job. Who knows more?

What does it mean to "know?" How does it happen? Think about the different forms knowledge takes. What makes wisdom different? What drives a person to want to know more? How do we fan the fires of personal initiative and the passion to learn? How do we manage to snuff it out?

What does it mean to "know?" The authors share the Biblical definition. As Christian educators, they emphasize,"...if learning does not result in change toward godliness, it is not true learning." [CM p. 257] They share a very precise and useful sequence for knowing and learning from Isaiah 41:17 -20, [CM p. 258], a sequence we could consider formulaic but it's also "complex...interrelated, holistic" still leaving room for the Holy Spirit to do His job. The authors are more focused and specific than I: "God's story must be kept at the center of these connections." [CM p. 258] Through all the learning that we do, God's story must be kept somewhere at the center of knowing...