In contemporary education, there is a need for a significant change in how we understand and practice learning today, adopting a naturalistic perspective of Learning, which involves recognizing and working with the processes and patterns found. In the very nature of human Learning. Thus, we find ourselves needing to modify how we design learning environments. Because? Learning is no longer limited to the traditional classroom; it must be mobile, online, and connected. As Thomas puts it, Learning naturally occurs from birth to death but is often hindered in the school environment.
Indeed, when carrying out teaching practice, we find ourselves with the paradigm of a traditionalist education, which, despite multiple investigations, is still focused on observable results through numbers, pressure from standardized tests, and the lack of space for creativity and imagination in the classroom, which must be reformed in such a way that we can recreate our educational systems, based on three essential elements called passion, imagination, and restriction.
That will allow us to achieve effective and meaningful learning environments. This approach must focus on students' needs and interests, promoting creativity, passion, and imagination. Thomas suggests that play is central to the new learning culture as it combines rules with imagination, resulting in an emergent property that fosters creativity and innovation. The idea of a new learning culture is based on passion, imagination, and limitation. In this sense, the game is a combination of those three elements: passion, imagination, and restriction, and it is the emergent property of the application of rules to the imagination. Considering the previous approach, as teachers, we must create dynamic and conducive learning environments that allow students to develop their skills and knowledge autonomously.
At the same time, as instructors, we act as guides and facilitators in the process.
As Bates points out in the gardening metaphor, the role of the teacher is to provide the appropriate conditions for learning growth, but the students must actively engage in the process. A teacher's job is to create a context where they can cultivate imagination, honor passion, and help students connect their passions with what they need to learn. Finally, I have always tried to be proactive within my classroom. However, I have been trained under the paradigm of a traditionalist education culture, which, as I advance in the development of the master's degree, I have been updating through the acquisition of new Learning, highlighting the perception of knowledge and learning as dynamic and growing processes, as opposed to a static perspective.
Digital Resources:
Creating Significant Learning Environments (CLSE), https://youtu.be/eZ-c7rz7eT4
Douglas Thomas at TEDxUFM. A New Culture of Learning, https://youtu.be/lM80GXlyX0U
Dr. Tony Bates on Building Effective Learning Environments, https://youtu.be/3xD_sLNGurA
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