The Nautilus of learning

Learning is not a linear operation. It is not like a book that you should begin on page one and follow through to the end. It is like a grape cluster. Does it matter which one you eat first? Actually, I visualize learning like a nautilus shell. We are first introduced to something new. Perhaps we learn the first few facts. Then we may go away and learn and do other things. Inevitably though, the idea comes back and we learn more. We continue in this pattern over and over, building on what we knew and acquiring more. This pattern actually makes the learning more memorable and relevant. The newly acquired information forces you to reenter all the previous chambers that you have built up. Each chamber relies on the one before and sets precedence for the one to come.

Consider this as you plan your lessons for your children. Be willing to do things “out of order”. It is ok not to understand things 100% the first time. As you build your shell, other encounters will help you better understand the information that you have already amassed. Perhaps it will be the not understanding of something that truly interests you that causes you to go back and learn about it, like a young lad who sees the rocketship streak across the sky and then chooses to study aeronautics, physics, engineering so that someday he can make one fly.

Like a beach our minds can be full of shells. Each at a different point of development. Some stacking one atop another. All waiting for us to pick them up.