This article, and many more we’ve read this summer, discusses the discovery and adventure involved in researching. We have all become more independent and competent in finding, analyzing, and using information. I was so excited the first time I made a link. I like feeling capable. To me, and I’m sure this applies to more of you, knowledge is empowering.

But, the fact is that not all students feel this way. Some students find libraries intimidating, teachers unnerving, and the Internet daunting. This piece of writing alluded to a lack of self confidence as a probable cause. I agree and feel that the lack of confidence possibly originates in our schools. In school, we are identified by our strengths and rarely encouraged to pursue things that we are not good at. If a student is failing anatomy, the teacher may give him extra help, but would she ever encourage him to go to medical school? Do coaches suggest that college scouts talk to their third string players? No. Why? Because they feel it would be waste of time.

We unknowingly breed complacency. We encourage students to accept that there are some things that they just are not good at. This is good to a point. No one is good at everything, and this is hard for some students to learn. But, some students develop a self-defeating attitude. They give up easily because this task must be one that they are not good at. They do not think of the learning process or research as an adventure, but find it to be more of a pitfall.

So what can we do about this? I think one thing we can do is encourage people, students, teachers, whoever, to explore areas, topics, outside of their expert field. I really think, and please don’t hate me for this, that the Marshall Plan is a really great idea. It ensures that students are exposed to different areas of study. This way, they have the chance to explore topics, which they might not have explored otherwise. Personally, I learned that I love history. In high school, I took the required history classes and stammered through. In college, I learned that the stories you find in a history book are better than any best selling fiction book. By exposing ourselves to new
things, or even old things, we give ourselves the opportunity to find that “scholarship is an
adventure.”

Think about your experience and history as a learner. What story can you tell? Write about your
disconnections with learning (the things that cause you grief, create barriers, impede your progress as a learner). Then, write about the tensions and excitements associate with learning. Use specific examples when possible to illustrate your meaning.

I have always enjoyed school. There has rarely been a time when I felt uncomfortable in the classroom. The only negative experience I can think of occurred in the 8th grade. We had a new teacher that year, Mrs. McKinney. She had us keep a journal during class and would often take the journals up to make sure we were writing in them consistently. One day when she took them up, a girl in the class did not have as many entries as Mrs. McKinney expected. The teacher just blew up and started yelling at her in front of the whole class. I’ll never forget the way Tesha just sat there crying while the teacher humiliated her.

After that incident, the class was never the same again. We were terrified of our teacher after that. If her purpose was to ensure that we always had our homework done on time, it worked. We were all to scared of her to slack off. That was the most uncomfortable situation.

The next year, our English teacher was the complete polar opposite of Mrs. McKinney. Mr. Mills really made learning active and fun. The first time I ever felt excited about class was in his ninth grade English class. We were studying the short story and we read a piece entitled “The lady or the tiger.” At the end of this story, the audience is left guessing what is behind the door the protagonist is preparing to open. It is either his beautiful lover or a deadly tiger. For this story, we had to choose which lay behind the door and then support our theory with evidence from the story. This assignment made me very nervous. How was I supposed to know for sure whether it
was the lady or the tiger? I went through the story, gathered as much evidence as I could to support my theory, wrote my paper, and crossed my fingers. When the papers were handed back, I realized the real purpose of the assignment. As my classmates and I compared our graded papers, we discovered that it did not matter whether you choose the lady or the tiger, it matter how well you defended your point. No one really knows if it was the lady or the tiger. There was no right or wrong answer, only an answer poorly supported.

As I progressed through school, I came to realize that this principle can be applied to other classes. Science, math, psychology, and almost every other text book is full of theories. These theories cover every subject and are from every school of thought. Not one of these theories can fully explain their topic. That is why they are called theories. Each has its strengths and its weaknesses. We hold to the theory, that based on our own experience, makes the most sense.

This seems like such a trivial thing, but it had a profound impact on me. Once I realized that there
is rarely an absolute, I understood my role in the learning process. No one is going to tell me what the right answer is. There’s seldom a right answer. It is up to me to discover what I think is the best answer. This is why I love taking new classes and learning new things. The more I learn, the more capable and prepared I feel.

There are several ways, I think, that we can continue our learning development. Some simple ways are by reading about new research and keeping up to date on new techniques. Professional journals and sites are a good way to learn about new ideas. You can then decide whether you should implement new ideas into your professional practice. Attending professional conferences and talking to other professionals is another way to extend your understanding and gain useful resources. You can continue to grow and develop your understanding by realizing that you always have more to learn. By continuing to study subjects that you may already be familiar with you learn information on a deeper level. You are also able to relate that information to other topics and apply the information better to your practices.

You can stay an active questioner by being willing to double check yourself. It is always a good idea to double check yourself and your work. Even if you are very familiar with a topic, it never hurts to revisit information. Ongoing research and study help to further your professional and academic development. If you are static in your research, your development will halt. This will negatively affect you professionally because it is then possible that you will be unable to provide your clients with the best treatments possible. If you are dynamic in your research and your approach to learning, you will, hopefully, be more flexible in your ideas. If you are open to new
ideas, you may be more willing to try new techniques that may be very beneficial to your clients.
Opportunities to do research should be sought after. Doing research can only help. Even if you do not support the ideas you find or new techniques you learn about, you have still learned something.

In my own studies, I try to be independent. Whenever I have questions, I try to find the answers
myself. I keep all my text books and my notes from classes. I also have a really good Encyclopedia program on my computer. I use these resources a lot. I tend to be very curious. If I have a question, it tends to gnaw at me until I find an answer. For example, last fall we got into a discussion in one of our classes about Cerebral Palsy. I realized that I had heard the name a lot, but that I really did not know what CP was. When I got home, I started looking up information and reading about it. I really try to be an active learner. I like the feeling of being able to find answers to my questions.