Education by Example, Explanation, and Experience

Through these three we learn all things. We can learn through one, or any combination of two; but the lesson is burned into our soul when we employ all three.

   Many people teach these as the best ways to teach/learn, though everyone seems to refer to them differently. I have heard the "example" referred to as the following:

-Visual Learning
-Modeling/Role Models
-Studying Classics
-Patterning
-Imitation
-Mimicry

   and many others. These are all "examples" we learn by. I have heard "explanation" referred to as:

-Auditory Learning
-Discussion
-Lecture
-Stories
-Speakers
-Forum

   et cetera, et cetera. Any time we talk, or are talked to, we are learning. I have heard "experience" referred to as:

-Kinesthetic Learning
-Trials
-Hands-on Approach
-Doing
-Physical Interaction
-Experimenting

   Anytime we do something we are learning from the "experience". In all research I have done on the subject of learning, these three principles have shown themselves over and over again. Even in all the differing philosophies of schooling our children, it always has these pillars supporting the entirety of their complicated explanations and how-to's.

   I have even found these principles to hold true inside the gospel of our Lord. When Christ came to us, he taught by his example, and by his parables (or stories). Everything we choose not to learn by these we must learn through our own experiences.

Examples

"A baby's first textbook is his mother's face." Joyce Kinmont

Children and babies first learn all that they know by example. This is an obligatory form of learning. We learn through examples without any conscious effort. 

   We first model conversation to our infants when they first find their voice. They coo at us. We make and keep eye-contact with them, make facial expressions as we listen to their tinkling babble. Then, when the baby has a lull in his talk, we take the opportunity to talk back to them. We smile at them, they smile back. We laugh, they laugh. It is a precious simple thing, but the purest example we give our children. 

   As children grow, they continue to learn this way. (We even still do this as adults) We often call our kids "little spongues" in response to their ability to learn just by being around things and people. They are learning by observing the examples of everything in their world, and as they get older, their world grows larger, increasing the amount of examples, both good and bad, to learn from. 

   This is why we need to make sure our children have learned to assess right and wrong before going out into the world without the support of their parents and caregivers. This often isn't until around the age eight, the age of accountability. They are just starting to solidify these ideas in their minds, they have enough context to no longer be abstract ideas.

   Examples can also be found in books. Historical, Religious, Sci-Fi, Western, Biographies, Fantasy. You name it, there are examples to be gleaned. Just like live examples, books can contain bad examples.

   It is not possible to completely avoid bad examples, nor is that even desirable. The key is to be able to recognize and distinguish right from wrong, good from bad. When we can do this, and teach our kids this, then they can use that knowledge to help them gain a fuller understanding. We can learn as much, and often more so, from the bad as we do from the good. It is no longer sufficient to say "this is good," and "this is bad." We now get to take the conversation further. Why is it good? Why is it bad? These nuances help us to expand the breadth of the impact from our example. 

   This leads me nicely into the next aspect of education; explanation.

Explanation

When we observe something which we don't understand it requires explanation. As our children grow, every new thing requires some explanation. When our toddler's vocabulary and general understanding of the world around them is lacking, they resort to the one word that I am convinced every parent has a love/hate relationship with; why?

   This is the next natural progression from example. As children assemble their world view there are so many strange and new things to discover. If they do not receive enough input from observation they search for clarification. 

   

   This can usually be resolved in communication about the subject in question.  Discussion with a parent or mentor can be highly effective. A personal interaction helps verify understanding. We read body language and other cues that denote lingering confusion or satisfactory clarification. We can answer follow-up questions immediately and calibrate our word choices to the individual for maximum clarity.

   However, we may not always have all the answers to the questions we are asked, nor should we. It is equally important that we and our kids be capable of finding out the answers and explanations for themselves. It is irrelevant that you do not know the answer if you are sufficiently proficient at knowing where to look for the explanations. Books and other records of information are supreme medium for acquiring explanations. Essays, articles, blogposts and magazines are good resources as well. Just keep an eye on right and wrong, good and bad, when evaluating what explanations are given. Don't always be so quick to take them at face value and try to find reputable and trusted sources.

   Sometimes you can't find a satisfactory explanation and that is okay too. I hope we can enjoy and learn from the journey of the search. Sometimes we don't agree with the explanation provided and that is okay too. After all, it was this sentiment that led the boy Joseph Smith to the Sacred Grove and ask Father in heaven for guidance. It is this same sentiment that has challenged the known edges of scientific research. When we reach the edges of our understanding we can only enlarge the perimeter by continuing to find unanswered questions and refuse to let them remain ambiguous.

  Now, upon occasion, all the explaining in the world will not be sufficient to convince a person of the actuality of a subject. It is in these moments when we as humanity rely on our experience.

Experience

You can tell the small child that baking cocoa does not taste good, but often they wont be convinced until they have tried it. Other things simply wont "stick" in our minds because there is no context with which to apply the explanation to. If you tell a child, "Don't touch the iron, it's hot," they wont understand the explanation of "it's hot" if they have never experienced "hot" before. There is no context so the explanation is invalid and tossed aside as incomprehensible drivel. 

   Now they must rely on experience to fill in the gaps of understanding. They might touch the iron and find out really quickly what "hot" means; or they might follow your "Don't touch" on faith that you had a good reason to say this. If the latter course is chosen, the child is now sub-consciously, actively searching for experience in what "hot" is. He might walk on pavement in the peak of summer with no shoes on and you tell him, "Put your shoes on, the road is hot." He now has experience with "hot" and will automatically fill in the missing data to the iron conundrum. We can use our experience and apply the lessons strictly in context, or we can find other ways in which the same lesson can apply to other areas of our lives. 

   There are so many things in life which we can not learn without experiencing it. Think about the prospect of trying to explaining color to a person who has been blind their entire lives. It is impossible. Or explaining that love multiplies which each new child you bear, not divides. You can get a general idea most of the time, but unless you have experienced this first hand you can never know the power of it. Experience often goes hand-in-hand with emotions. Joy, fear, love, excitement. And without knowing one extreme do we ever appreciate the other extreme to it's fullest potential?

Putting it all together

Now, the teaching which remains with us best is completely arbitrary and is different with each individual person in their unique life experiences. It is impossible to have any formula or process to know which is ideal, as every person is different and everyone's list of acquired lessons varies dramatically. We take what is most useful at the moment and move on. However, if we learn a lesson through all three it will surely stay with us forever. See the example, hear the explanation, experience the reason. Learning in this way guarantees that the lesson wont soon be lost.

   I am not suggesting that this is the only ideal way. It would take far too long to progress in life and we would end up in various places it is hard to recover from. Ideally, any combination of two of these modes of learning will be a dramatic increase in understanding over one alone. This is why reading and then discussing good literature is so highly effective in producing well-mannered, wholesome, well educated individuals. Nuance, connection in understanding, application, all of these lessons taught in this way help us to be better people and get us to a position of understanding that allows our hearts to be more charitable to those around us. You can not give what you do not have. You need to possess a high level of understanding to be truly understanding and compassionate to your fellow man. 

     If we learn as much as we can through example and explanation, in books and other medium, then we will progress in life far faster than if we could only truly learn by experiencing the thing ourselves. This is the purpose of writing, of recording our experiences. So that we can share them with as many as possible. Verbally we share our insights with those around us. In written word our insights and lessons learned can be transmitted to any and all who make the decision to pick up the book and read.