Perceiving

The ways people take in new information occurs in a wide variety of ways, all of which range between experience and conceptualisation.

Experience – Perception by personal engagement – sensations, emotions, physical memories; the immediate, the self. Being in it.

Conceptualisation – The translation of experience in conceptual forms – ideas, language, hierarchies, naming systems. An abstract approach to learning. Being apart from it.

The interplay between the “feeling” of experience and the “thinking” of conceptualisation is crucial to the learning process. It connects the personal values and perceptions of learners to those of expert learners.

Processing

What people do with new information also occurs in a wide variety of ways, all of which range between reflection and action.

Reflection – Transforming knowledge by structuring, ordering, intellectualising.

Action – Applying ideas to the external world; testing, doing, manipulating.

The interplay between the “watching” of reflection and the “doing” of action is crucial as it provides the impetus for acting on internal ideas. It encourages the learner to test ideas in the real world and adapt what they learn to multiple and ambiguous situations.

Together perceiving and processing describe the range of learning experiences.