What Is The Highest Form Of Learning?

Learning is an integral part of everyday life and we all go through it. It is basically an ongoing process through out our lives…

Of course there are a different number of ways in which we learn and one of these is through everyday life experience.

This form of learning is usually put on a pedestal and rightly so …it’s a good way of learning.

Even knowing this, one of the questions that I frequently get from people in various walks of life revolves around what ultimately is the highest form of learning.

This post will explore this in some detail to provide some understanding around this topic.

With that said, what is the highest form of learning?

The highest form of learning is creation. This form of learning is when we use various things and resources to create something new. Through this process we discover ourselves along the processes and use our intelligence and judgement to create.

This is why things that you teach yourself to do, you usually become a master at.

There are of course other ways to learn but creation allows us to explore and put the pieces of the puzzle on our own.

Creativity as a support framework for learning

As we have obviously established creation is at the heart of learning… It has various facets to it but I’ll stick to the 4 things that you have to heavily understand and look into.

Critical thinking

The very first thing that makes creation the framework of learning is critical thinking.

Critical thinking is careful thinking done by analysing details when learning anything in any particular field.

With creation you’re almost forced to be Critical thinker because without this ability it is impossible to create.

You have to draw on your powers of attention to detail to be able to progress and deal with things that need deep exploration.

Which is a very key thing in learning as well.

Which is why creation is the support framework on which learning rests.

For example, think of people that are super successful in their fields such as Warren buffet.

A man who spent his life using his creation abilities in knowing and learning how to invest in companies.

Planning

Now that we’ve talked about the role of critical thinking in learning while using the ability to create as the back bone.  We can then move on to something related to critical thinking which is planning.

Planning is basically creation in motion and it is how we externalize our thought process to achieve a desired end.

In any form of learning (even outside creation) planning is something that happens.

Without it, learning becomes a moving target.

Therefore its easy to establish that creation requires critical thinking in the assessment of many details and requires planning .

The point of planning is to establish a course of action to get results.

Focus

Critical thinking as we’ve noted is necessary for anyone to learn anything. Planning is also necessary to ensure that a person have a detailed plan of action that allows them to move forward.

Another aspect of creation is the ability to focus.

No one ever learns anything without the ability to focus on the learning part.

Without focus we cannot deeply think of things to warrant any critical thinking and we wouldn’t have anything close to plan if we don’t necessarily have the focus to get there.

Any form of learning is done by careful thinking, critical planning and the right focus while the underlying creation process goes on. Which leads to the forth element …

Creation in learning

Of course we have discussed the important things necessary for creation/learning to occur. But we also need to understand creation as a process.

Building something new or creating is a form of learning in which you utilize your knowledge whilst acquiring more as you go

This process signifies what learning should be at the highest level and once you understand that one thing. It will change how you go about learning.

Types of learning

Now that we’ve discussed how creation and learning are intertwined… Let’s get into other forms of learning.

Experience

Experience is one of the best forms of learning and should also be treated just as creation.

Being on task or being on the job is one of the best ways to learn because you’re guaranteed real time feedback to plan better as well as restructure your ordinary view.

An example of Experience can be an internship which puts a college or university student in the real world where they have direct access to practical problems and practical solutions.

The theories they may possess can be see in real life and they’re able to understand them better….

That is a great a example of learning through experience at play…

Questioning

Another form of learning which is quite overlooked by many is Questioning.

This is when we utilize our logical abilities to assess and understand situations with a little more depth…

It can be seen as the same as what we discussed earlier which is critical thinking. Although, in creation we are merely using deep thinking as a tool to create.

Questioning is basically the use of our investigative abilities to fully look at a problems, ideas, situations and understand them enough to know their implications.

Through this process, we learn.

For example, schools teach us math… they teach us math … they teach us that 1 + 1 = 2 ….

They basically teach us the rules of math and then we use our own questioning abilities to understand it in our own way to be able to apply it.

Which leads me to the final form of learning which is my favourite.

Teaching

Another type of learning that you should be aware of in order to understand this topic better is teaching.

Teaching other people is never one sided even though it may look like that..  teaching goes both ways… both the learner and the teacher both learn…

Which is why most people say that if you want to test your understanding of something. You must teach it to somebody.

Your ability to teach and make the other person understand would then be a clear reflection of your own understanding.

Furthermore, teaching something to somebody means that you’ll have to revisit things that you supposedly know.

Which means it’s also a test on your memory as well as a relearning experience.

Conclusion

There are a number of ways to learn but the highest form of learning which atleast encompasses a broad spectrum of learning is creation.

Every other form of learning is closely related to creation which makes creation at the heart of actual learning.

Helpful Resources

Creating is the Highest Form of Learning | by Jonathan E

What is the highest form of learning? | Learner Weblog