Christopher Nye: What is Deeply Transformative Learning
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Ben Franklin got it right: Learning that engages heart and hands as well as the head produces deeper, more enduring transformation.
Fully engaged, learners live their educational experience. To rigorous thinking, they add creative activities that build intuitive intelligence. With an educated intuition they can appreciate the Big Picture, see not just the trees but the forest and the beauty in the patterns and mysteries of growth. The third dimension of fully engaged learning turns the fruit of intellect and intuition into action. Challenges hone the will. These three intelligences together—intellect, intuition, and action—propel the engaged learner toward a life marked by caring and courage.
A gifted teacher can make learning deeply transformative, by fostering a relationship of mutual love and respect. This becomes fertile ground for learners to thrive, growing and expanding their horizons. When Dostoyevsky said, “To love a person is to see them as God intended them to be,” he wasn’t but could have been talking to educators. This fertile ground helps the student find his or her inner compass, something only the student can do, but a devoted teacher can discern and nurture potentialities the students have yet to apprehend in themselves.
Beloved professor Kathleen Dean Moore offers this wisdom to students who want to know how to find their way in life: Your calling lies at the intersection of your keenest passion and what the world needs most.
“Deeply transformative learning” could be the English definition of a German term. Bildung involves a person taking charge of his or her own maturation and education. It implies determination to become the person you want to be. The connection between personal or inner growth and the change we would like to see in the world becomes important because the two are inseparable. Think: become the change you want to see in the world. If you want society to make brave changes, become brave yourself. Springboard understands the need to structure learning so that personal changes like this can happen.
Deeply transformative learning allows a person to find their higher purpose, to serve in ways the world needs, to apprehend and even create beauty that feeds the soul.
