Philosophy of Learning

Transformation begins in the heart.
The biblical witness, educational theory over the last half century, and recent neurological research demonstrate that all learners are complex cognitive, emotional, social, and volitional beings who can be transformed through a heart change that occurs by providing individualized, authentic learning opportunities where they can act as image-bearers and reconcilers: trusting God to provide for their needs as they provide for the physical, emotional, and social needs of others.

This means that transformative learning takes place when:

• Children construct their own understanding of concepts, and they benefit from instruction by more competent peers and adults.
• Children benefit from opportunities to see connections across disciplines through integration of curriculum and from opportunities to engage in in-depth study within a content area
• Children benefit from predictable structure and orderly routine in the learning environment and from the teacher’s flexibility and spontaneity in responding to their emerging ideas, needs, and interests.
• Children benefit from opportunities to make meaningful choices about what they will do and learn and from having a clear understanding of the boundaries within which choices are permissible.
• Children benefit from situations that challenge them to work at the edge of their developing capacities and from ample opportunities to practice newly acquired skills and to acquire the disposition to persist.
• Children benefit from opportunities to collaborate with their peers and acquire a sense of being part of a community and from being treated as individuals with their own strengths, interests, and needs.
• Children need to develop a positive sense of their own self-identity and respect for other people whose perspectives and experiences may be different from their own.
• Children have enormous capacities to learn and almost boundless curiosity about the world, and they have recognized, age-related limits on their cognitive and linguistic capacities.
• Children benefit from engaging in self-initiated, spontaneous play and from teacher-planned structured activities, projects, and experiences.
• Children benefit from thematic units and systematic instruction of skills.
• Children benefit from both fine and gross-motor experiences.
• Children benefit from exposure to rich literature narratives and hands-on environmental experiences.
• Children benefit from having their physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs addressed and from them serving and meeting the needs of others.