Session 1 at the Mindlab

Hi Everyone,

                 My first day at MindLab was awesome! It was great to be in such a positive environment with such positive people who were open to learning and sharing new ideas. We were set the task to try to define what we thought knowledge was. Below are some of our ideas we came up with in our group.

We has the idea that it was about making 'links' between information and putting this information together to make sense of the world we live in. Well, that's how I felt and interpreted the words and symbols we used to try to explain what knowledge is.

It's interesting how once you start thinking about just a simple 3 words "What is Knowledge" your mind starts to open and consider all sorts of new and profound thinkings about what things are and why we do them. It also make me think about how sometimes we just do things because we are taught that is how it is or because that is how everyone else has done so. I think this is very true with teaching and education.

There are big, big changes happening in schools at present and although this can be rather overwhelming having to think, act and learn new ways, it is also very exciting and a very positive road to be walking down.

For many of our students they have had to put up with years and years of not enjoying school lessons and being made to feel it is their fault or they are a problem because they are not engaged during lessons.

As a learner who left school with little formal qualifications, One who was classed as a 'disruptive student' and one who lacked confidence and felt she wasn't 'smart' like the others because the only lessons she was engaged in were the practical and hand-on ones. I say bring on these new changes in Education!

By taking on this study, I am hoping that I will be able to work with other like-minded people to gather the knowledge, the understandings and the tools that will allow me to make this needed and positive change to the way we educate young people in schools.

Session 1: The Task: What is Knowledge? 

Lots of individual words that we came up with to describe what we understood or thought to be knowledge