A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change

Abstract

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination fora World of Constant Change Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination fora World of Constant Change. 1 37 pages. ISBN-1 3: 978-1456458881A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change is a delightful, thought-provoking bookfor educators of all levels, as well as for parents and student teachers. It provides readers with an understanding of 21 st-century learning styles of our newer generations in the advent of dynamic and innovative technologies, and shows how teachers and parents can accommodate these new learning patterns, needs, and interests. This book is an updated understanding of informal, intrinsically motivated learning in our technology- and information-oriented 21 st-century world.The North American school system that we currently have is about 200 years old, and it was designed to produce 19th-century industry workers (Universidad Francisco Marroquin, 2012). This system was never designed to meet individual needs, incorporate technologies, or consider the dynamic changes of the world (Hess & Meeks, 2012). Thomas and Brown posit that the current school system should reflect the newer culture of learning that is really not confined to existing school curricula and classrooms; rather, learning happens everywhere, anytime, and sometimes even without teachers. This new learning culture can be reframed as structured informal learning-which is knowledge from the vast Information available at our fingertips, through various technologies and interactions-and yet we still have boundaries and rules around which we have to work. Indeed, Thomas and Brown contend that obstacles are necessary to harness more creativity and innovation.A good example of this: When an individual has the passion to learn to crochet a sweater and the simultaneous imagination to embody the feeling of wearing it or gifting it to a special person, she thus learns how to crochet with joy. However, some sort of internalized boundaries are necessary in this scenario because she can create a more customized sweater if she sets a boundary for its color, size, style, and so on, which provides a structured learning environment. Then, she can start exploring the resources online and through printed materials, as well as by conversing with people who crochet. As such, she gets better at crocheting over time by repeating this process. WhileThomas and Brown emphasize this new culture of learning that is made possible through technological developments, they also acknowledge that learning always has been about passion and imagination-it is a lifelong process no matter how and where it happens. Learning is a natural human activity, just like breathing (Falbel, 1993).In the first two chapters, Thomas and Brown introduce a new culture of learning with several examples that separate the mechanical view of learning from the organic view. In the mechanical approach, learning is viewed as a form of treatment, and we all need to learn certain things based on top-down metacurricula, lilich (2002) defined mechanical education as the type packaged for certificates and diplomas given to students who fulfill the mandatory attendance and demands of standardized test protocols. This is precisely the type of learning that the current school system uses and the type that Thomas and Brown warn to avoid. On the other hand, the organic view reflects a new culture of learning that is flexible and creative, in chapter three, the authors expand on this organic view of learning that embraces ongoing change in technologies and ways of learning, rather than resisting them.In chapters four and five, Thomas and Brown discuss the differences between the community and the collective; the former a passive and the latter an active learning space where participatory learning happens. …