Connected Learning: How Adults with Limited Formal Education Learn (American Society of Missiology Monograph Book 44)

by L. Lynn Thigpen

Neurologically, infants are already prepared to learn early after birth. They learn socially and observationally by watching the face of mother and father. A delicate, synchronized dance begins between the loving gazes of mother and child—one that creates an intense feeling of attachment,566 the genesis of connected/social/relational learning.567 Aragon et al., in researching the brain’s ability to mirror the actions of another, disclosed, “We have neural systems that support this connection and understanding.”568 Children learn through observation and imitation for some time. For some of those individuals, however, a new way of learning and a new culture is introduced, one that is foreign to learning by connection, foreign to natural learning, and early life-on-life socialization in a family atmosphere. Primary oral cultures do not transition to schooling. They continue to learn life skills and are sometimes apprenticed to an expert for further learning. Aikman related: In contrast to formal schooling, where solo performance is crucial—the social transaction itself is the fundamental vehicle of education. . . . Through their own culturally and socially patterned learning practices the Arakmbut acquire an understanding of the world in which they live.569 By contrast, many children across the globe leave home at a tender young age to be socialized and schooled into a new culture by means of an institution—one based on print. As Vygotsky noted, “The nature of man’s education...

Thigpen summarizes the development of human epistemology. Her proposal explains that difference in learning preferences is cultural.