The Seven Laws of Learning

Why Great Leaders Are Also Great Teachers

Richard L. Godfrey, Hyrum Smith, Gerreld L. Pulsipher

• Publisher: G&D Media
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781722521066
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Leadership

Become a great leader like Christ, Confucius, Winston Churchill, and other extraordinary leaders. Teach new ideas in ways that both engage people and persuade them to use their agency to bring about personal and global change. By using storytelling, metaphor, and other teaching styles that motivate and inspire, you'll soon be effectively communicating and leading in every situation.

LAW ONE

We Were All Born to Learn

The very young children in our neighborhood, with rare exception, wait very impatiently for a critical milestone in their early lives—the day they will start kindergarten. I am not sure whether it is the experience of going to school generally, kindergarten specifically, or the chance to leave home for part of the day, but this I know: They are very excited to be going.

The earliest evidence of the fact that we are born to learn is seen in the unbelievable amount of learning that happens in a child’s first five years. They learn how to talk and communicate, they learn a language, they learn about relationships, and they drive parents to distraction with their insatiable desire to find the answers to the iconic childhood question: WHY?,

By the time of their fifth birthday, children are eager and ready to go to school, the first year of which in many nations of the world is kindergarten or its equivalent. I am sure part of the compulsion is the desire to “grow up” and to “go to school” like the older kids. But as I talk with these budding learners after the first few weeks of kindergarten, they are clearly enjoying the experience itself—the opportunity to learn and discover the world around them and their place in it.

At age fifty-one, my memories of events early in my life lack real definition, but they are not completely lost to me. Our kindergarten was held in an old general store within walking distance of my childhood home in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. Other than remembering the location, I have only one clear memory of kindergarten. We built a “house” out of old refrigerator boxes and then enacted and talked about all the things we do in a house—make the beds, prepare the dinner, mow the grass, etc. Kindergarten was, for me as for most other children, a special and almost magical time.

Everyone who either loved attending kindergarten or loves watching children excited to attend, owes a debt to Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel. Herr Fröbel was the creator of the kindergarten, or as he originally named it, “The Play and Activity Institute.”

Friedrich was born in the village of Oberweissbach in Thuringia (modern day Germany) in 1782.

[The village of his birth] had been known for centuries throughout Europe for its herbal remedies (and the importance of the garden and gardening would play a critical role in the curriculum of his kindergarten). (Norman Brosterman, Inventing Kindergarten, 2002)

Following early experiences with an uncaring stepmother (his own mother died when he was nine months old), Friedrich yearned for a more nurturing childhood experience. He attended school but dropped out to take a job as an apprentice with a local forester, building on his love of plants and nature. Although he returned to study at a university for a brief period, he did not stay to finalize his studies. At the university he discovered the elementary schooling philosophy of a well-known Swiss educator, Johann Pestallozi. He eventually expanded upon Pestallozi’s approach and began to develop his own ideas and approaches to early education.

Fröbel believed that human beings are essentially creative in nature, but that they do not know how to express that creativity…Thus, Fröbel asserted that education needed to encourage development not only of knowledge, but also of creativity. Through engaging in interaction with the world, our understanding of that world develops. (New World Encyclopedia, various writers and contributors, 2009)

He also believed that we were all born to learn and create. In his view, it is our inability to access the tools to unleash our creative drive that restrains or restricts it.

Friedrich Fröbel established the first German kindergarten in 1831, and his ideas rapidly spread through Germany, England, Canada, America and many other nations. His concept of the kindergarten (literally, child’s garden) relied on three elements to create an environment that would give a child’s desire to learn a place to grow, express itself through creativity, and provide a way for it to blossom. As Peter Weston describes Fröbel’s kindergarten online at froebelweb.org,

The kindergarten was essentially tri-partite:

1. toys for sedentary creative play (these Fröbel called gifts and occupations)

2. games and dances for healthy activity

3. observing and nurturing plants in a garden for stimulating awareness of the natural world

It was a search for metaphysical unity, in which the potential growth to wholeness of the individual child within the natural world would fulfill an harmonious ideal within the mind of God. (Weston, The Fröbel Educational Institute: the Origins and History of the College)

“There is substantial value in the exercises of the Kindergarten, which pleasurably bring out the active powers of the children—their powers of observation, judgment, and invention—and make them at once apt in doing as well as learning.” (Professor Payne, 1874, quoted by Weston,)

Fröbel felt that very young children, if given the proper tools, not only wanted to learn, but could learn in ways that, while substantially impacting the child’s growth and development, were also enjoyable to the child. He felt that desire to learn needed three tools to help unleash a child’s inner creativity—the right environment, the inclusion of activity in learning (he called this the activity drive) and the right tools to guide the expression of creativity and to promote learning.

Fröbel created wooden blocks called “gifts” that were used as the main teaching element in the classroom. These gifts consisted of geometric shapes (sphere, cube, rectangle, triangle) that were used to see forms of beauty (art), knowledge (form), and life (nature). The children used these shapes to mimic what they saw around them. According to Froebel, when a child begins to imitate something they are beginning to understand it. (Christina Barrett,1999, quoted online at dezigner.com)

A number of the world’s great artists, architects and designers were taught as children by teachers using the Fröbel method, including architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Courbusier, designer Buckminster Fuller, and painters Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. They acknowledged the important contribution kindergarten—especially the Fröbel “gifts”—made in capturing their early desire to learn, and guiding the unique individual creativity of each to full expression as adults. The Fröbel “gifts” are still being manufactured and used in schools and homes today. One manufacturer advertises, “The Fröbel Gifts are designed to educate the whole child—body, mind and spirit. The materials stimulate all five senses, built language skills, and help children perceive the unity and interconnectedness of all things—art, math and nature.”

I, and I expect many of you, owe a real debt to Friedrich Fröbel for providing the framework to capture and direct this innate desire to learn in ways that were both engaging at the time and preparatory for a lifetime of learning experiences.

LEARNING BEGINS WHEN WE ARE CHILDREN

Years ago I read a quote by Albert Einstein, drawing from the writings of Paul in the book of Romans, that said, “Our longing for understanding is eternal.” In a different context Einstein went further and said. “The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”

After quoting Einstein’s words above, one author described her interpretation of the second statement to mean,

In pursuit of truth and beauty, one must be innocent, naïve, willing to believe, longing to understand and appreciate, etc. A child embodies all of these characteristics. A child is not only trusting to a fault, but at the same time is desperate to know truth. When Einstein says we are permitted to be children in the pursuit of truth and beauty, he recommends that we keep our minds open to new possibilities, remain accepting of different views, and crave knowledge in addition to understanding.” (Susan Bean, PhysicsQuest)

I was at university, studying psychology, when both of our children were born. The opportunity to observe the theory of the classroom in the lives of my own children was a unique and fascinating experience. The science to support the supposition that we are born to learn is monumental in both scope and volume, but the following example comes from my own experience.

In developmental psychology, one of the most famous experiments is known as the “visual cliff.” It deals with the inborn mental mechanisms we all have that alert us to danger. A good place to observe the perceptual phenomenon this experiment illustrates can be seen on the observation deck of the needle-like CN Tower in Toronto, Canada. It is the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere, with an observation deck that is more than 1,400 feet from the ground.

Having lived in Canada for many years, I enjoyed taking visiting friends or colleagues to the top of the tower. After looking at the breathtaking views of Toronto and Lake Ontario, I took my visitors to a certain place on the observation deck where a large area of the otherwise concrete floor is made of thick glass, with no visible support below. I never had anyone visiting for the first time immediately step onto the glass. The mind, always looking out for our safety, will not allow it. Only after going through some focused reasoning (“it’s solid glass, it will support you, it’s safe, etc.”), would a few of my first-time guests step a few inches onto the glass floor.

The early childhood psychology experiment shows how this kind of response begins in infancy. The experiment’s purpose was to test whether infants will climb out over a perceived “cliff” to reach their mothers, or whether they will be restrained by the visual perception of a dropoff. The cliff was created by extending a piece of clear plexiglass over and beyond what to a crawling infant would appear to be a precipice. Although the test focused on the ability to detect depth or height perception, each child’s motivation and interest in the activity fascinated me. The children I watched in this experiment mostly stopped at the edge of the “cliff” but they were nevertheless curious in trying to understand what was going on.

I believe this inborn curiosity is one of the roots of an innate desire in all of us to explore, to comprehend, and to process the environment around us—even in our earliest years.

THE DESIRE TO KNOW WHY AND HOW

When I speak to organizations and groups about leading others, I often explore this scenario:

“How many of you,” I ask, “prefer to hire very bright people over those less talented in this area?” All hands go up.

Continuing on, I ask, “How many of you prefer to hire people who are passionate and engaged with what they are doing versus those who are laid back or disinterested?” Once again, all hands go up.

“Be aware of this truth: Hiring bright, passionate people,” I suggest, “is an idea more attractive in theory than in practice.” This time I see puzzled looks. I go on, “That’s because bright, passionate people are like bright, passionate children. When a couple are awaiting the birth of their first child it has been my experience that they hope and pray for two things—that the child will be healthy (all basic systems functioning properly, ten fingers, ten toes, etc.) and that the child will be bright. If the couple chooses and are able to have a second child, they hope and pray for only one thing—that the child will be healthy.” The idea of wanting a bright child is far more attractive than the reality of having a bright child.

Why? Because the bright child is living, breathing exaggerated proof of the fact that we are born to learn. And how do children validate that argument? By their obsession with what I believe is the most powerful and yet the most offensive question in language—the question, “Why?”. All children intuitively want to find answers, but the bright child, once possessed of the ability to speak, is especially drawn to this question like a moth to the flame and will use it ad infinitum and ad nauseum.

Why is the sky blue? Why can’t we pick our nose? Why do cows make that sound? Why do I have to eat peas? Why does the moon change shape? Why do I have to go to bed? Why?, Why?, Why?….

When Einstein adjures us to continue to act as little children, I am confident he is saying that we must never give up wanting to know “why?” in whatever situation or context we are investigating or experiencing. Adults also want to know “Why?”. Many leaders are offended by members of their organization, their team or their family who will not passively engage and quietly do what they are asked to do. These leaders forget that this happens because of our inborn “why” reflex.

We can choose, in my experience, one of the following three ways to engage with someone who is asking why:

1. “Because I said so.” Although very common, this response is not an answer. It clarifies the power coefficient in the relationship. When we answer this way, we are really saying, “Because I am more powerful, more intelligent, more experienced than you.” All of those things might be true, but this blatant move to power quickly snuffs out the initial spark of a desire to learn and to gain insight.

2. “I don’t know.” We could call this the humility response. There is no veiled threat or implied strategy here; I just don’t know. This response offers no opportunity to learn unless we follow the “I don’t know” with a search for the answer on our own, with a promise to share or, better still, by working together to seek the insight or find the answer.

3. Give the answer—and give it in the right way. We will explore this idea more in coming chapters, but in answering the question, a teacher meets the search for learning—inherent in the question—with the fruit of learning. This is where teachers and learners can truly connect. But too often bright children or intelligent adults do not get this response to their honest seeking.

My Sunday school class of 12-year-olds is filled with children who are on the cusp of moving from childhood to young adulthood. Some are farther along the maturity curve and some lag a bit behind. Parents and former teachers always introduce those they esteem to be less mature as a “problem child,” not really interested in or equipped to learn. After a number of years of working with these so-called “problem kids,” I have yet to find a single example of a child who doesn’t want to learn.

I have found kids who don’t want to learn because they have found, by experience with bad teachers, that learning is not fun. I have found kids who don’t know how to learn. I have found kids who are struggling to learn due to developmen...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for The 7 Laws of Learning
• Copyright
• Acknowledgment
• Dedication
• About This Book
• Prologue: Presentation to the Rising Sun
• Premise: The Storyteller
• Promise: How Effective Leaders Produce Change
• Principles: The Natural Way We All Learn
• Preview: The Seven Laws of Learning
• LAW 1: We Were All Born to Learn
• LAW 2: You Never Know When Learning Will Occur
• LAW 3: We Learn by Connecting
• LAW 4: We All Learn Differently
• LAW 5: Connections Come Through Storytelling
• LAW 6: Learning is Both an Emotional and Intellectual Experience
• LAW 7: Learning Can Change Lives
• Epilogue: Transferring Knowledge to Succeeding Generations
• About the Authors
• Selected Bibliography
• Home of the Brave