Learning, unlearning and relearning

We all value learning. And much of what we have learnt can be difficult to unlearn. Usually that's a good thing. But there are times when unlearning just has to be done. Sometimes it's impossible to learn new things if you don't unlearn some of the old stuff you are hanging on to. At the extreme end, a lot of irrational beliefs and prejudices are based on what we have learnt and find we now cannot relinquish. It's a principle a number of clinical interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy are based upon. Phobias and other psychological challenges have their genesis in the act of learning a response to a given situation and then being incapable of unlearning that response.

Times are changing. Kathy Sierra features a timeline on her blog which suggests that the 1970s and 80s were about how well we could learn, the 1990s and 2000s focused on how fast and how much we could learn, whilst today's education should be based on how much we can unlearn. And, she says, learning to let go of old and out of date rules is one of the skills we all need to develop. Futurologist Jack Uldrich is applying the same principle to the medical profession, arguing that the key to unlearning is to come to the realisation that 'we are all in a fog', and can't clearly see the future. Unlearning will be a strategy for coping with rapid change and uncertainties, he argues. Philosopher Trevor Pateman sees a barrier that often stops unlearning from occurring. We are living in an acquisitive society, he says, where learning theorists talk about acquisition and retention of knowledge, but they never refer to giving away or expulsion. But unlearning is not simply about forgetting something, he continues, sometimes it is about rejecting a previously held belief, or repudiating a long revered theory. This often feels counterintuitive for educators, and can pose a threat to many learners.

Our current school systems are designed around learning as the acquistion of knowledge. The challenge is to try to turn this around so that students have the opportunity not just to learn new things, but also the challenge to unlearn and then relearn. What would it take for schools to begin structuring unlearning and relearning activities into their curricula? Often it is the task of the skilled educator to deconstruct, confront and challenge so that unlearning and then relearning can be facilitated. The Towers of Hanoi puzzle is a classic example of this kind of creative destruction. I often use it during workshops to demonstrate the idea of unlearning and relearning. You need to constantly dismantle what you have built in order to successfully solve the puzzle. This construction metaphor is quite helpful. An unsafe building is a danger to the public, and must be demolished before a newer, more functional and safe building can be constructed in its place. It is the same with theories and beliefs that are past their sell by date. I hope I made this clear in my blog post A convenient untruth. Sometimes we really do need to knock things down before we can build them up again.

Image by Nualabugeye


Learning, unlearning and relearning by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.