Hi Andrea:

The study of cognitional theory and surrounding philosophical meaning comes 
from the work of Bernard Lonergan's Insight:  A Study of Human Understanding 
(1958 & 2000) and a massive collection of other related works.

However, do you mean by "useful examples," more ideas of questions to pose? 
As far as examples of insights is concerned, I use my own examples where I 
have had "aha" moments--but a common example is when we finally "get" a joke 
we didn't understand before but that everyone else understands.   And all 
adult students have minds and, thus, have had various kinds of insights 
about concrete events in their lives over the years.  The "insight" is a 
general/universal term for what everyone has in the particular case as 
experience.

But in this arena of learning, the point to stress in reading--for instance, 
stories, novels, poetry, etc.,--is not to objectify-to-analyze what the 
meaning of the writing is (a valuable thing to do in its own right), but 
rather to self-reflect--to consider what the poem or story brings to mind in 
my own life--how does it relate or inform my own experience, what did I 
learn from it?--and we can note how such stories, etc., can inform our own 
depth of thinking and our critical judgments (critical thinking)?  This is 
besides just the joy of reading.

As an aside, I am myself a "late" adult learner.  All through K-12 I thought 
school was a horrible thing--socially and educationally (a later insight). 
I never experienced it as being for me.   What caught me onto my own 
education was my realization of how good I felt when I really understood 
something well (had insights).

It's a great feeling to really grasp something--and that experience--now 
reflectively understood itself as something valuable FOR ME--was what gave 
me the impetus to want more--learning and reading and studying became a real 
discovery process for me instead of something boring and horrible to 
memorize and spit back--I learned to love learning, as it were--I felt my 
mind breathing--quite literally; whereas my own K-12 background was a horror 
story of not only neglect of learning potential, but actual quashing of that 
potential by teachers and others who either didn't know what they were 
doing, or teachers who had 36 kids in a classroom for 55 minutes at a time. 
Shuffled from room to room with no connection between rooms or my past 
experience. Enough.

If I missed what you meant by "example," let me know?


Catherine





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrea Wilder" <andreawilder at comcast.net>
To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List" 
<professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 7:16 AM
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2316] Re: Critical Thinking 
andLearnerLeadership


Catherine--

Do you have any useful examples of this?  it's a lovely idea.

Andrea:)

On Jul 16, 2008, at 9:27 AM, Gabb, Sally S. wrote:


> I agree absolutely, Catherine - we use such exercises on a regular

> basis in college developmental reading, to enable students to

> reflect on their own knowledge and thinking process. Thanks for a

> clear explanation of this kind of exercise.  Sal

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of

> Catherine B. King

> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 8:37 AM

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2314] Re: Critical Thinking and

> LearnerLeadership

>

> Hello Sally:

>

> One way to distinguish merely memorizing for a test, and the more

> remote

> development that will help open horizons and create the basis for

> more and

> better understanding (and critical thinking)--is to focus a session

> on the

> activity of understanding itself.  One way to "focus on understanding

> itself" is to have them do some self-reflective exercises, for

> instance,

> where they locate and write about (or talk about) having had an

> INSIGHT (an

> Aha! moment) in a real-life situation (we've all had them), or

> where they

> discovered they had been on the wrong track, and righted their

> view, or just

> didn't see the whole story or problem, and then REALIZED it, and that

> realization sent them off in a different direction.

>

> What was the experience like?  What were the circumstances? What

> made them

> have the insight?  What changed because of it?  How does it feel to

> have

> such an insight?

>

> Part of the "self-esteem" problem (across the board in education)

> is that

> such moments of clarity and sometimes-critical judgment AS

> EXPERIENCED are

> taken for granted, not reflected on, and not valued by the learner

> themselves.  This judgment is fostered by our sometimes-obsessive

> assessments environment and by us, the educators, who continue to

> give the

> implicit message through our focus on testing, that such learning

> is really

> not that important--wink/wink, nod/nod.   And yet, these moments

> are the

> substantial internal movements, without which, all education is

> "rote" and

> meaningless.

>

> In my view, it's not that testing and assessments are bad; it's

> rather that

> an over-focus on assessments has erased its own substantial

> center.  If we

> cannot directly test for it, then it must not be important?

>

> Catherine King

> Adjunct Instructor

> Department of Education

> National University

> San Diego, CA

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "Gabb, Sally S." <Sally.Gabb at bristolcc.edu>

> To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List"

> <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>

> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 5:04 AM

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2313] Re: Critical Thinking and

> LearnerLeadership

>

>

> Great answer as always Wendy!  Since being able to think

> 'critically' is

> indeed 'on the test', you have hit the nail on the head (great

> metaphor or

> cliché??) Thank - and an important part of 'transition to college'

> learning

> as well.  Sally Gabb, Developmental Reading, Bristol Community

> College, Fall

> River MA

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wendy

> Quinones

> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:36 PM

> To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2312] Critical Thinking and Learner

> Leadership

>

> David and all,

> Anyone who's ever taught a GED class will tell you that English

> language

> learners aren't the only ones with opinions about how their classes

> should

> be taught -- "Is this going to be on the test?" is the mantra of

> the GED

> student.  Their assumption is that the GED  consists of discrete

> items that

> can be taught, and on that basis they want to learn "stuff" rather

> than the

> habits of thought that will benefit them both on the test and in

> future

> life.  How do we challenge that assumption when it is precisely that

> challenge that a great many GED students want to avoid?  In my

> experience,

> telling students that the GED is not about content is a lost cause;

> at least

> at first, they simply don't believe it.  I'm afraid I have taken to

> abusing

> my position as an authority figure, and I simply answer "Yes" to that

> question whenever it's asked, no matter what crazy (to them) thing I'm

> asking them to do.  My reasoning is simple:  most haven't had the

> experience

> of being in a situation where they are valued as thinkers, so they

> don't

> know what that kind of classroom environment looks like.  Without that

> experience, how can they make informed judgments about how they

> best learn?

> If telling them that everything in the class will be on the test

> will open

> them to new methods that do value their thinking, I will certainly

> do it.

> Eventually we do get to practice on GED test items, but by then

> they have

> learned that getting the "right" answer (and what is more

> discouraging to

> critical thinking than that!?!?!) is more a matter of critical

> thinking and

> clear reasoning than of memorizing "stuff."

>

> Wendy Quinones

>

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