Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Scott Johnson -
Number of replies: 9

Hi All, wonder if receptivity to emergence can be learned or taught? An emergent outlook would be a great tool for those in the flow of change.

Thanks for sponsoring this SCoPE:-)

In reply to Scott Johnson

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Don Beadle -

Good morning all

This looks to be an interesting discussion.

I'll be working during tomorrow's live session, so I will be an asynchronous member of the group.

In reply to Don Beadle

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Jenny Mackness -

Welcome Don. We look forward to interacting with you asynchronously :-). I think Sylvia will be recording the webinars - so hopefully you will also have access to those recordings.

Jenny

In reply to Don Beadle

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Kathleen Zarubin -

Good morning - I too will look ofrward to the recordings :) 

 

Thanks for this most interesting topic

In reply to Kathleen Zarubin

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Jenny Mackness -

Christine and Kathleen - 'lurkers' or as I prefer to call them 'observers' are very welcome indeed - so welcome to you both. I strongly believe that everyone, no matter what their role in a discussion, influences the discussion and the overall outcomes and therefore has a significant part to play.

So we look forward to hearing from you if and when you want to comment, but it's equally fine to observe :-)

And Kathleen - I like 'WAITING' - even better than 'observing'!

In reply to Scott Johnson

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -

I've been watching my young granddaughter and her friends learn over the past three years and I think we are born understanding emergent learning. At 3 yrs old, she owns an iPad, talks on Facetime regularly and attends a Montessori school so that process continues to be supported in her life. On a recent visit, I was knitting and she fiqured out on her own how to cast on stitches through a process of repeated experimentation over a long period of intense concentration.

School may beat this natural flow out of kids but I think it's still fundamentally there.

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In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Jenny Mackness -

Deidre - this is wonderful and thanks so much for sharing the photo of your lovely grand-daughter.

We are on exactly 'the same page' about this and very early on in our research considered a Montessori classroom as a prime example of where emergent learning might happen. We have written about this on our open wiki - http://footprints-of-emergence.wikispaces.com/Montessori+pre-school

Why do you think school beats this out of children - and in what forms do you think it is fundamentally there? How do adults draw on these early experiences? Or what do we do in our education systems that inhibits emergent learning?

Thank you Deirdre :-)

In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Roy Williams -

Deirdre, agreed. When we first formulated our framework on emergence, and developed the footprints visualisation tools, we deliberately tested our ideas against open learning - as broadly as we could, and Montessori preschools were one of the key examples (alongside higher education, etc). 

Our generic footprint of Montessori preschools is here: http://footprints-of-emergence.wikispaces.com/Montessori+pre-school

And we used Montessori (as well as the interactive space, MEDIATE) as key examples in a further paper (forthcoming, 2014, in Leonardo) on synaesthesia and embodied learning - this is the abstract: 

ABSTRACT: In an integrated view of perception and action, learning involves all the senses, the interaction between them, and cross-modality rather than just multi-modality. In short: synesthetic enactive perception, which then forms the basis for more abstract, modality-free knowledge.  This can underpin innovative learning design, and is explored in two case studies: children in Montessori preschools, and in the MEDIATE interactive space (for children on the autistic spectrum) in a ‘whole body’ engagement with the world. The challenge is to explore the rich opportunities offered by these modes of learning, and understand the transcriptions and transformations between them.  

 

In reply to Scott Johnson

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Jenny Mackness -

Hi Scott - wonderful to see you here.

What an interesting question and one that raises the tension between emergent and prescriptive learning which we will be discussing in the webinar tomorrow.

I do think that certain conditions need to be in place for emergent learning to occur and that if we know waht these are, might be, then we can maybe design for emergent learning.

But being able to predict that it will happen seems a bit of a contradiction, which your question implies. Have I misunderstood?

What do others think?

 

In reply to Jenny Mackness

Re: Welcome to Footprints of Emergence

by Roy Williams -

Scott and Jenny and Deirdre ...

Receptivity to emergence can, in the first instance be lost (as children are 'socialised' into conventional schooling) - I think it's innate in young children, as in your great example, Deirdre.  

Once children become settled and successful at school, they probably have to re-learn what they prevously knew (how to trust their creative, curious instincts), but this it requires a move on their part back into a more uncertain and risky learning environment, away from the 'comfort' and 'certainty' of schooling. That's a big ask, and must be quite confusing. 

Does this make sense?