Learners are like a growing tree

I kept trying to think of something more technologically advanced than trees, but I couldn't think of anything else to better describe what I was thinking. Trees are an important part of our environment, just as students are in the school environment. As trees are constantly taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, students are constantly taking in information and turning it into knowledge to access. Learners of today come from all different kinds of backgrounds and lifestyles. I like to compare these to the roots of a tree. Learners are constantly bringing in new information, but they are still grounded by who they are and where they came from. These roots hold them in place just like the roots of a tree. I think it is important to also relate that trees are also trying to fit into a new world of constantly growing cities and technology. The tree itself, like a student cannot help but adapt to this world. This means that no matter what both are growing through the changes they constantly facing and growing.

When choosing my analogy, I kept thinking about the branches of a tree being similar to students trying to connect with each other and the world and branching out. I have not heard of Connectivism until reading that article, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age by George Siemens. Connectivism talks about how "learning can reside outside of ourselves, is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing." This ideology of learning emphasized the importance of realizing how important adapting to the idea that the world is constantly changing and what might have been a source of information yesterday could possibly be outdated tomorrow. George Siemens elaborates more in depth in the video What is Connectivism. The video is similar to a PowerPoint, where his lecture is put into different sections and discussed. In one slide he talks about the key points of connectivism and states, "the experience of learning then is one of forming new neural, conceptual and external network, this is increasingly occurring in complex, chaotic, and shifting spaces rather than a somewhat formulaic approach to learning that defines much of traditional schooling." In essence is is discussing how technology is causing us to not only think outside the box, but be willing to travel outside of it to grasp new and better sources of knowledge regardless of the environmental changes.

Learners, like trees, are constantly growing and adjusting to a new world around them. They must take whatever path to continue to grow, even if that means breaking through new barriers.