Mindful Learning

Abstract

Mindfulness, achieved without meditation, is discussed with particular reference to learning. Being mindful is the simple act of drawing novel distinctions. It leads us to greater sensitivity to context and perspective, and ultimately to greater control over our lives. When we engage in mindful learning, we avoid forming mind-sets that unnecessarily limit us. Many of our beliefs about learning are mind-sets that have been mindlessly accepted to be true. Consideration is given to some of the consequences that result from a mindful reconsideration of these myths of learning.One of the primary issues in education today concerns the question of what should be taught in our schools. The research my colleagues and I have been conducting over several years now suggests that "what we teach" may be less important than "how we teach it." Moreover, the reconsidered rules for learning speak as much to learning outside the classroom as inside.Whenever we attempt to learn something, whether it is a new content area, a sport, the way to play a musical instrument, or a new way to approach our businesses or our relationships, we rely on ways of learning that typically work to our detriment and virtually prevent the very goals we are trying to accomplish. The mind-sets we hold regarding learning more often than not encourage mindlessness, although learning requires mindful engagement with the material in question. Before examining some of these mind-sets, it may be useful to define mindlessness and mindfulness and briefly review the results of research that reveals some of the costs of mindlessness, to make apparent why we might want to pursue mindful learning. MINDFULNESS AND MINDLESSNESS: DEFINITIONSMindfulness is a flexible state of mind in which we are actively engaged in the present, noticing new things and sensitive to context. When we are in a state of mindlessness, we act like automatons who have been programmed to act according to the sense our behavior made in the past, rather than the present. Instead of actively drawing new distinctions, noticing new things, as we do when we are mindful, when we are mindless we rely on distinctions drawn in the past. We are stuck in a single, rigid perspective, and we are oblivious to alternative ways of knowing. When we are mindless, our behavior is rule and routine governed; when we are mindful, rules and routines may guide our behavior rather than predetermine it.We cannot have the felt experience of being mindless; that would require mindfulness. Therefore, most of us think that we are mindful. However, we spend much more time "not there" than we know, and the consequences for us are real and often profound. When we believe we are encountering something novel, we approach it mindfully. When we believe we know something well, we tend to view it mindlessly. As will become clear, there is power in uncertainty, yet most of us mistakenly seek certainty.Experimental research, conducted over 25 years, reveals that the costs of mindlessness, and the benefits of mindfulness, are vast and of...

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