January 22, 2025

Learning – Passion or Skill?

Learning – Passion or Skill? (and what else matters?)

 

Is learning about following one’s passions, or is it a skill that develops over time with practice and hard work?

 

The answer to this question may lie in the view that passion and skill are both important for children to broaden their intelligence and enrich their lives.

 

People learn by:

 

  1. being open to figuring out new things, including actively engaging in problem-solving strategies,
  2. having good support and models, including parents, teachers, and extended family members who offer guidance and
  3. having plentiful opportunities to try and practice different learning processes, including cultivating joy in those processes, one step at a time.

 

 

More About Learning

 

Fundamentally, learning is a relatively permanent change in thought or behavior. It’s not pre-programmed—it occurs as a result of experience and stimulation. Learning is what education is all about. However, the best classrooms are not only in schools and don’t necessarily include a teacher. Life itself—and the dynamics of life-balance—can promote learning and extend it. This includes interacting with others (family, friends, community), seeking stimulating environments, taking advantage of choices and opportunities, making decisions, and thinking about the experiences one has—or might want to have. Young children can do all of this!

 

Learning is about enthusiasm and effort. It’s a progression, and it occurs incrementally. It requires motivation, energy, and different kinds of thinking—creative, critical, focused, and more relaxed or broad-based. And, it involves being flexible about thinking, and having the desire to think. It may also involve elation or frustration; excitement or reservation; surges forward, backward, or sideways; the use of visual memory or past experience; and spontaneity or careful premeditation. Parents can reinforce children’s ideas, offer reassurance as needed, and model the power of thinking.

 

Indeed, learning involves reflection—that is, being able to recognize and deal with the kinds of factors that can hinder learning (constraints such as resistance, distractions, and difficulty communicating), and the factors that can amplify learning (such as using the imagination, synthesizing ideas, being playful, and participating in hands-on activities). Kids may need help with these factors. Moreover, it’s important to encourage children to develop and hone their communication and language skills because these facilitate thought. It, too, helps children appreciate that change is inevitable and that changes have an impact on everyone’s learning as they grow and mature. Kids will begin to see their world differently as they reflect—and as they come to terms with transitions, continue to explore and play, develop skills, and follow and also create new pathways. Change and reflection can lead to fresh understandings and meaningful growth processes.

 

Last Words

 

Learning is “a smorgasbord of processes.” (So says psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman.) That’s a apropos descriptor! And, if we look at learning like that, parents need to think carefully about what is “on offer” in children’s learning milieux. This means ensuring that kids can develop their passions AND their skills in various ways, and across different domains. (Almost like experiencing a wonderful buffet!) Choice is important, as is exploration.

 

Grown-ups can encourage children’s life-balance, enthusiasm and efforts, and ample reflection (as noted above). Plus, they can support kids’ proactivity and engagement as they play, and as they “taste” and discover new attitudes, methods, technologies, creative avenues, and opportunities for learning—every day.

 

 

 

AUTHOR’S NOTE
This article is an updated adaptation of a segment excerpted from pages 84 – 85 of my book ABCs of Raising Smarter Kids.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne Foster, Ed.D. is a multiple award-winning author of several books. To find out about Dr. Foster’s publications, presentations, and newsletter, and for resources on supporting children’s learning, productivity, and well-being, go to https://joannefoster.ca

 

Cover Photo by Ivan Samkov

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