PUBLIC MARKS from Takwann with tags Pedagogy & learning

When we are learning a new skill, say for instance a new kata or a new type of kick, your movements may be clumsy and jerky – not at all like your instructors movements. This is because your brain has not yet laid down a memory pattern for this movement. It hasn’t recruited the appropriate motor units in the muscle and developed new neuronal and synaptic connections that enhance communication between the muscle and the brain.

Here first is the 'conscious competence' learning model and matrix, and below other theories and models for personal learning and change. The earliest origins of the conscious competence theory are not entirely clear, although the US Gordon Training International organisation has certainly played a major role in defining it and and promoting its use (see the notes below about the conscious competence model origins).

You may be familiar with an essay that I wrote in 2008 on the topic of Respectful Irreverence as an approach to tactical training topics. I want to explore an underlying theme in more detail, the theme of Sapere Aude, “Dare to Know.” Originally, this Latin phrase was used to advise people to “trust their own reason.” Don’t take someone else’s word and don’t automatically doubt your own logic or impression of a situation. If something doesn’t make sense to you, figure it out. In this way, Sapere Aude ties in very well with the concept of Respectful Irreverence.

Once we finish a personal defense training class, a question that should remain in our minds is, “Where do I go from here?” We trainers almost universally say that you have to practice after a class to ingrain the skills you learned in order to achieve the unconscious competence necessary to prevail in a critical incident. In order to practice properly, you have to have a plan for it. The saying “Only perfect practice makes perfect” applies not only to the physical skills involved but also to the structure of what and how you practice.

“(When you are silent,) you see it” or “You find it”. What struck me was that this “it” made it sound like a person experiences or practices silence and the result is immediate or even immediately visible. Of course, I think that it’s presumed by the speaker that it isn’t actually so simple. It’s just that the language is not sufficient so we rely on the presumption that the listener understands that there’s more beyond the words. Two things come up for me: one is the use and handling of form, in this case words or language; the other is the tendency, or danger, for people to not notice that they are handling a form at all.

The idea that, in aikido, a new person needs to learn how to learn is paralleled by the above topic. If it’s really been shown based on study of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, then it’s almost silly to regard it as a novel insight tied to aikido. Yet, a trap that many seniors and teachers fall into is to try to teach people everything, indeed, spending very little time on the most elementary aspects and “moving on” to more advanced topics, considering them to be more practical, applicable, “real”, or possibly just more interesting. There is, on the other hand, a trend in some circles to strongly emphasize the elementary aspects, and implicitly de-emphasize, possibly creating a subtle taboo around, more advanced topics.