Golden Circle of Learning
Growing up while waiting for the school bus to arrive, my dad would make me and my sister learn capitals of countries. We started with Indian states, moved on to countries all over and then eventually went to USA and Africa. As we grew older instead of dad quizzing us, we had to do our research and quiz the other two instead. Sure it was fun to outwit each other, but I never quite understood why were learning capitals. As I grew older, I rebelled and refused to play the game.
When we talk about learning there are 3 questions to answer:
What aka content
What you are learning - it could be as broad as math or as specific as linear equations. The what is one of the easiest questions to answer - we have the answer for this even when we haven’t actually ‘learnt’ anything.How aka pedagogy
How you are learning something. This can range from science lectures in school to hands-on learning at a wood workshop. From Socratic Dialogues to Active Learning - how we learn has caught the fancy of many educators over centuries and will continue to evolve as a practice.Why aka purpose
Why should you learn something. More often than not the answers to why are not for the learner, some of the ones we commonly hear are -
“Just because” or “Because I said so”
“Because its there in the textbook”
“Because you should know this”
When we talk about learning we mostly stick to the what & how but very rarely answer why. But for anyone learning something new, “Why am I learning this?" is a critical question to answer.
So the next next time you decide to learn something new? Start by answering why.
Please note: The Golden Circle of Learning is inspired from Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle