By neglecting to focus on knowledge accumulation, therefore, and assuming that you can just focus on developing conceptual understanding, today's common yet misguided educational practice ensures not only that pupils' knowledge will remain limited, but also that their conceptual understanding, notwithstanding all the apparent focus on it, will not develop either. By assuming that pupils can develop chronological awareness, write creatively, or think like a scientist without learning any facts, we are guaranteeing that they will not develop any of those skills. As Willingham and others have pointed out, knowledge builds to allow sophisticated higher-order responses. When the knowledge base is not in place, pupils struggle to develop understanding of a topic.
Lauren D on 05 Jun 12" Children and adults learn for different reasons. Adults are not impressed or motivated by gold stars and good report cards. Instead, they want a learning outcome which can be put to use immediately, in concrete, practical, and self-benefiting terms." "Adults learn best when they use what they already know and integrate new knowledge and skills into this bank of knowledge." "Adult learners in a college classroom can frequently be given more flexibility in determining their assignments, with the understanding that the basic criteria for the assignment must be met" "Few of us consider our college students to be merely an extension of the K-12 group. In addition, those institutional staff and faculty working with training and faculty development need to keep in mind that their patrons or clients are adults and need to be treated as such when they take part in training activities (Thomas)."
