If I would have to explain the "process of learning", this is how I (would) do it.

Do you remember the Kindergarden- or Primary school teacher who went out with his kids in fall to collect tree leaves ? Back in the classroom the kids put all their leaves onto the table and there it is, a big pile of tree leaves in the middle of the table.

Ask, don't tell

Then the best teachers ask the kids one question ... how do we want to sort the leaves ? And then hold back on any other help. What will happen is that the kids start to pack leafs on separate piles ... the separation is often a source of disagreement, but sooner or later we have a pile of red, green, yellow and brown leaves, one pile for each color. And you will have some disgruntled "members" of the group. This is your slot .."How would YOU like to sort them then ?" Soon the children find out that you can also make piles according to the shape instead of color ... at that point the kids found categories, descriptions of properties they can assign leaves to ... "ok let's write down, what colours do we have ? what shapes?"

They found a title for the columns (color) and a title for the rows (shape) of a "SortBox". A SortBox is a metaphor for the little wooden shelf in many kid's rooms where they can put all kind of miniature collector's items in. (For us adults it's a table, a 2D matrix.)

Now each column gets a name "red, green, yellow, brown", each row, too "pointy, round, zig-zack, ..." and soon you can see the kids find the correct spot to sort the leaves in.

What the children just did is - they learned about morphology, the study of the form, shape and structure of things.

And here is the important part: let the children find their own categories don't tell, ask! "The best teachers show you where to look, they do not tell you what to see."

In todays schools teachers too often pre-define a table for the kids. A table which is pre-categorised, the rows and columns are already named according to what the teacher thinks makes the most sense. :) and that is the culprit, students think different than teachers ... and they understand different.

The experiment

I taught 15y old students (interesting age) in a way to pose a question and give no further direction. I gave them only a tool like the one above and an Internet connection. Then I told them that each of them has to explain the topic to their peers, at the end of the class.

And then I saw magic happen, chaos and magic to be precise. Chaos that slowly transformed to order in a way that was just beautiful. Order in a sense that it was clearly not one uniform way, but a very individual paths ... everybody had his own perspective on the topic and detailed down on different aspects, but all,  - ALL-  of them could explain the topic to their peers.

I saw categories and sub-categories built, that I would not even consider to be relevant, but then again - I learn and understand my way ... so does everybody else. This "experiment" was an eye opener for me that put me on the journey I am on. To understand how we can create better software, better tools for learning and understanding. To understand how we can disenthrall ourselves from throwing even more information at our children, to consume and regurgitate, but give them a virtual space they need in order to become researchers, creative thinkers and problem solvers.

In short, to understand the "process of learning" and cater to it best I can.

So, if I would have to explain the "process of learning" I would do it as I did in the "SortBox" above. It is not about memorising and regurgitating (so called bulimia-learning), it is about gaining insight, by finding an own path to an individual understanding.