Learning and Teaching Articles
for Students and Teachers

What is "learning?" How does it happen? And what is a learning "disability?" What about "teaching." What is teaching? And are there "teaching disabilities?"

Most times, when I ask people questions like these, they struggle to come up with answers. Not too surprising really. These are really difficult questions. So what do they say?

Some give technical, scientific answers, like that "learning" is a "biochemical / psychological / socio-spiritual process in which people become able identify and understand information and life." Whew! Others offer more personal answers like that learning is a wonderful discovery process wherein you learn to see the beauty in life. And I agree. But what makes it wonderful? And others offer answers from the perspective of a wounded student, things like that learning is a lot of hard work and mostly no fun.

When I hear answers like these, they make me sad. And more determined to help.

So are these things what "learning" is? Obviously, learning involves all these things. And so does teaching. However, the truth is, none of these things are "learning" itself. In fact, despite the obvious benefits people get from going through schools, most people simply "parrot" enough to get passing grades. In other words, most students do little more than memorize someone else's "learning."

Does education have to be this way? I think not. So what is it we have been missing about the "learning process?" What exactly is a learning "disability?" And what is "teaching?"

In this part of the emergence site, we explore the concepts of learning and teaching; both personal learning and academic learning. We also explore how wounds in and around learning and teaching causes people to avoid learning. We'll also look at some ways in which we can help heal these wounds and in doing so, make learning be what it was meant to be; a wonderful discovery process.