Weeds can can emerge from just about any piece of ground where their roots can crack the earth, but producing a bountiful harvest of nutritious plants requires careful attention to and cultivation of the soil.
Similarly, human beings are wired to learn, even under the harshest of circumstances, but some environments, some contexts are much better than others for supporting learning. Fertile learning contexts are (in no particular order):
Free
They allow for an open exchange of ideas – all ideas – and insist on the responsibility that accompanies this freedom.
Challenging
Fertile learning contexts resist complacency and passivity, continually stimulating the learner to think and act in new, different, and better ways.
Ambiguous
They offer a level of uncertainty that sparks curiosity, productive stress, and that often requires experimenting and taking risks.
Transparent
They allow us to see the results of our our actions and the actions of others – and, because they are free, to react and respond appropriately.
Malleable
They are not fixed or static in their nature or in the aims with which they are associated. They are changing and changeable.
Diverse
As Dewey noted, “only diversity makes change and progress.” A fertile learning context manifests diversity in all its diverse meanings.
Social
They recognize the inherent social value of learning and foster learning through social interaction.
We tend to focus a lot on content when we talk about learning, but learning emerges from experience, which requires both content and context.
We must seek, cultivate, and consciously orchestrate fertile learning contexts for our own lifelong learning. And we must do the same for those we teach, those we parent, those we lead.
JTC
