Brave Learner Conference Post 3, Session 2 "Read, Experience, Encounter"

In Session 2 of the Brave Learner Conference, Julie Bogart shared some ideas about creating experiences for learning.  I really appreciated how she shared three types of learning:  read, experience, and encounter.  She used the topic of a bear for an example.  She explained how we can read about bears, watch movies, and look up information on the internet to learn more about them.  That is a great start for learning about something new in a relatively "safe" way.  The next step beyond reading could be an "experience" with a bear.  Maybe we could go to the zoo an observe bears, making it a more tangible and real-life learning.  However, if we are camping and some bears come upon our campsite, then we have a true "encounter" with a bear!  We are vulnerable and overwhelmed.  We may not feel comfortable learning about bears in this up-close and very natural way!

Julie said, "Encounter is the willingness to encounter what we don't already know."  Julie went on to share questions we can ask about our encounter, like "who is telling this story?"  or "whose story is being told?" and "what ideas are being promoted or excluded?"  She wanted us to start thinking about our topic from a perspective that is different than our own.  She also had Charnaie Gordon of Here Wee Read share some ideas about greatly diverse books for kids that would share new perspectives through reading.  These were thought provoking and beautifully illustrated picture books.

We have gone through a similar process many times with specific passions of our kids.  I remember very well how much our son adored penguins around the age of 5 years old.  We started reading picture books about them from the library and we bought several different penguin books of our own.  In the coming months, two popular animated penguin movies also came to theaters and inspired more penguin stuffed animals being sold in stores.  Joseph started collecting penguin stuffed animals and had quite a "penguin family" of his own! 

Family of penguins, 2007

During our first year of official home school, his favorite part of the Indianapolis Zoo was the Oceans exhibit building, but it went down for remodeling for a few months.  Finally, we were able to go to the zoo on the day that the Oceans exhibit finally re-opened so he could see the penguins again!  The smile on his face was priceless.  He knew so much about them, he even ended up teaching some older gentlemen the difference between the Emperor Penguins and the King penguins. 

J & B at the Indianapolis Zoo, May, 2007

Later that year, we found out that the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati had a special program where you could be in the same room with a real penguin.  We were all in!  We traveled to the Aquarium and we all encountered the real life penguin in as natural a habitat as we could find in our area.  We saw the trainers work with the penguins and we even got to pet one.  I remember a strong smell, too, but it was worth it.  It was an incredible experience!

Our penguin encounter at the Newport Aquarium, July, 2008

 Julie's steps of reading, experiencing, and encountering can make any topic come to life and create lasting memories for the learner.  This is how we learn the most, to go deep.  We don't have to do this in every area of interest, but for something very special that is an intense passion for a child, getting to experience and even encounter that topic will be so much more meaningful and memorable than simply reading about it.  Reading is an incredible way to learn many things, but experiencing and encountering can take us way beyond reading.  Now we can remember the sights, the sounds, and maybe even the smells of our multi-dimensional experiences and encounters in learning about penguins.  That is brave learning!