Re: Bewilderment, ambiguity, and understanding

Robin Harwood (HARWOOD who-is-at UConnVM.UConn.Edu)
Wed, 10 Apr 96 08:12:17 EDT

Jay wrote:
>available to others) something that can be _made into_ something
>useful for our own emergent purposes -- partly emergent in the very
>processes of fashioning the tools for the purposes we had a moment
>ago. Not to simply take from others or from tradition (that is
>both dangerous and impossible), but to change it (a little bit by
>necessity, more for opportunity) and remake it, recontextualize it,
>and in the process participate in the making of ourselves, and maybe
>also of others.

Jay, I think this is a wonderful definition! (definitely a very
nice version of my personal favorite, chocolate chip :-) ) I guess
it brings me back to the other question I have been struggling with
as I go about this business of "being a college professor": what can
we as professors do to facilitate this sort of learning in our
students? Is it really something that springs entirely from within,
and all we can do is nurture it once present? Or can we structure
settings or activities which make it more likely to occur?

Robin