Comments on: Learning History https://blog.learnlets.com/2011/07/learning-history/ Clark Quinn's learnings about learning Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:11:42 +0000 hourly 1 By: virginia Yonkers https://blog.learnlets.com/2011/07/learning-history/#comment-123330 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:11:42 +0000 http://blog.learnlets.com/?p=2141#comment-123330 I was an exchange student at 16 and that was the start of my learning journey. Just to put a bit of what you wrote about into educational context/theory. Research has shown that speaking a foreign language creates cognitive flexibility. One reason is that most language is developed through experience (either with text or communication). Broadening the language expectations broadens understanding of concepts, making them less rigid (or bound by culture). I believe the same is true in cultural immersion.

Also, immersing yourself in culture and artifacts creates cognitive dissonance. The result is that we need to make meaning of the differences and in doing so, we learn (or make a conscious decision not to learn and maintain our understanding based on our own cultural interpretation).

Friere would say that without some sort of stimulus to show us what our culture is, we will be unaware of our culture. After studying, working, and living in many parts of Europe and Latin America, I have a very different view of what makes the US great than my husband who has only been to Canada (after we were married). I can tell him my perspectives, but without the experience, it is difficult to understand.

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