Theory of Mind

On the first day of Professional Development at the school I currently work in, our Academic Directer instructed all of the faculty members to break into small groups, and work together to analyze a current issue in education, find a solution and present our solution using all of the multiple intelligences. The requirement of having to determine how we could present information in so many different ways drilled the information into our minds; we thought about it repeatedly and we essentially lived it as we analyzed how to teach it to others.
Why would did she approach the subject this way, instead of just lecturing about the issues and telling us what the "researches" have to say?
Because she did not want these subjects to fall on deaf ears. She wanted us to take these issues to heart and use our own knowledge about teaching to find constructive solutions that could be utilized in our classrooms.
She said, "We remember 90% of what we do, and about 5% of what we are told."
The reason I am telling this story is because I believe it exemplifies my own theories of how our minds learn.
I believe that people can only acquire new information if they are able to make the information personal to them in some way. Information becomes personal if we experience it, or in other words actively make meaning of it by engaging in thoughtful group work or some other hands on task. Learning may also occur when we reflect on new information and connect it to what we already know, or think about how this new information can be utilized in the future.
Optimal learning will take many forms, and vary from person to person. But it will never be passive. I do not believe that anyone will truly learn something just by hearing it. If someone does claim that they learned a fact, or string of facts, by lecture alone, then I believe this is because the person connected themselves to the facts, analyzed them and made them applicable to his/her life. The information was not just heard then stored forever.
My ideas about how learning takes place, mirror the theory in educational psychology called constructivism. According to constructivist theories of learning, "...Learners must individually discover and transform information..."(Slavin) In my personal experience, to learn a subject is to own the subject, and be capable of explaining in a multitude of ways, which can only be done once we have applied our own selves to the information.

1. Slavin, Robert E. Educational Psychology. 2009. Person Education Inc. New York.