To grasp the meanings of a thing, an event, or a situation is to see it in its relations to other things: to see how it operates or function, what consequences follow from it, what causes it, what uses it can be put to. In contrast, what we have the called the brute thing, the thing without meaning to us, is something whose relations are not grasped...The relation of means-consequences is the center and heart of all understanding (pp. 137, 146) (p. 38)
This is one of my favorite phrases about learning and teaching at their core. It comes fromHow We Thinkwritten by my hero John Dewey.I first came upon it from reading Understanding by Design. I mention this because when I went back to read the quote in the book I discovered the 1910 version I have doesn't contain this quote. The 1933 version cited in UbD must.
I am a K-8 Teacher and Technology Coordinator for the Bridgeton Public Schools.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in The Brute Thing are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.
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