H O W
D O E S
T H I S
F I T?
Nothing we discuss or do occurs in isolation. Leonardo da Vinci said: 'Everything is connected to everything else.' Never were more valid words spoken. If we don't understand how things are connected, we can't use the information effectively. We can divide things easily into big pictures and details. The big picture gives the context. It orientates thinkers and doers to where elements belong when problem-solving or engaging with ideas. I love the excerpt from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where she asks the Cheshire Cat about where she needs to go:
‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where,‘ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
Lewis Carrol
The cat is right, if you don't know your destination, the goal or the context, you will be at sea and wandering around aimlessly.
In episode 25 Ortal Green and I discuss the value of understanding the relationship between the context and what happens within it. The context helps put everyone on the same page and provides the framework to connect things. If we don't have context students can experience what Professor Reuven Feuerstein, called 'an episodic grasp of reality.
Students regularly feel as though information is irrelevant and disconnected. Even useless. So, the context provides them with the purpose or the 'why' of our request for them to engage in an area of study or exploration.
Listen to the podcast for tips on how to use the interplay between the big picture and details to enhance teaching and learning.