Trent Lowder

06/04/2015
Ways of Knowing
Learning Episode Paper
The notion of learning varies from person to person, and opinions about what is best for
learning and what are the best sources of knowledge often oppose each other or at least done run
on the same track. Through this class, studying different ways of learning and cultural
differences in schooling and other places of knowledge, and through observing an instance of
somebody learning, activity stood out as a key aspect of learning; activity being a physical
counterpart to mental development that learning is so often associated with. Learning is not
solely mental in nature, people have different tendencies and rituals that they may exhibit when
learning that could be culturally bases or adopted over time, and executing while learning is a
good way to see progress and could advance understanding of whatever is being learned.
My mother has been cooking since she was a young girl. She grew up in a small house in
South Bronx in New York, with three sisters and heavy Italian influence in her family. It was
only natural that she would pick up cooking as her life progressed, yet at 50 years old she is still
striving to learn new dishes and make delicious food for herself, me, and whoever else comes to
dinner at our house from time to time. In Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative
approach to connect homes and classrooms by L.C. Moll and others, the concept of funds of
knowledge is introduced as, essentially, the collected knowledge and skills that vary from culture
to culture that will best benefit an individual. Cooking was, and remains to this date, a fund of
knowledge for my mother and one that she has instilled in myself as well. This is why when
tasked with the activity of observing somebody learning something new, my mother learning a
new dish presented itself as the perfect opportunity to observe somebody doing something they
find challenging yet enjoyable.

When observing my mother, and whether by comparison to myself sitting quietly, she
seemed to move around a lot more than necessary. She would walk to one side of the room, stop,
and turn right back around and prepping vegetables or mixing a sauce. She was cooking peanut
sauce noodles with steamed broccoli and onions, a dish not too complicated but with enough
moving part to keep her busy for about eighty percent of the time she took to actually cook the
food. The other twenty percent werent spent sitting around though, she would find another task
that needed doing, whether it be washing dishes, taking out compost, wiping down counters. The
physicality to what she was doing was intriguing. Periodically she would look at her phone
which held the instructions to the dish that her mom sent her in a text message, but the viewing
of the directions were sparse enough to consider the idea that movement was really essential to
her learning of this new dish. She would not read the directions carefully but rather just skim
them slightly and continue working. Its like children who play with toys, they dont necessarily
need instructions on how to play with a toy, especially something that helps them learn cognitive
skills like the toy where they put a triangle block into the triangle hole, its not about the mental
processes but the physical activity that helps them learn that shape. My mother wasnt using the
instructions as more than a prompt to the assignment of cooking the dish, the actual movements
of cutting the vegetables or mixing the sauces ingredients were what were helping her learn that
dishes processes. Learning isnt strictly stuck in the mental realm, physical comprehension is
also an important, and sometimes even necessary, function of learning.
Quirks and fidgeting can also be an effect of the necessity of movement when learning.
Sometimes learning cant be correctly demonstrated without some sort of movement involved.
My mother would stop and crack her knuckles more often when she was cooking this dish than
usual which is a trait Im familiar with because I have picked it up over time. When she was

walking around the kitchen, she would hum songs to herself and tap her index finger of her right
hand on the palm of her left to the beat of whatever song it was. This could have been because
her unfamiliarity with being watched while she cooked, she is not used to people observing her
doing everyday activities, so it could have been a response to nervousness, regardless it brings to
mind a reading about gang-affiliated youth and how people often find any way to make
themselves feel more comfortable when learning something else, and will even develop
individual methods for learning. In To be part of the story by Elizabeth Moje, gang-affiliated
youth in Salt Lake City were observed to gain a sense of how learning might differ for them as
compared to other more mainstream methods of learning. At one point in the reading, Moje
explains that literacy practices for gang-affiliated children differ from those of kids that dont
identify with such a culture, evident when Moje writes that graffiti is one of many unsanctioned
literacy practices of gang connected adolescents (Moje, 2000, pg 651) and she later states that
marginalized, gang-connected adolescents use literacy not only to resist, but also to make
meaning about the events in their everyday lives (Moje, 2000, pg. 654), which alludes to the
idea that gang-affiliated youth use alternative methods to express themselves in literature.
Essentially, depending on individual characteristics or cultural influences or a number of other
sources of influence, people have different methods or niches that they use for learning and
expressing. The fidgeting of the hands and the humming could be my mothers graffiti, it helps
her to feel more comfortable with learning something new.
The last key aspect of learning that was observed through my mothers cooking task and
throughout the length of this course was that executing is done best when in close timing with
learning said thing. Basically, when executing closely follows learning. My mother was learning
a completely new recipe, but was executing the newly learned information soon after learning it.

Take for example 36 Ways to Learn a Video Game by James Paul Gee, in which he explains his,
for lack of a better word, adventure in learning to play video games at 54 years old. The author
writes at the end of a day in which I had played Time Machine for eight hours straight (Gee,
2002, pg. 406), a good example of how people actively learning something and quickly
executing their newly gained knowledge (necessary in video games) generally will get sucked
into whatever theyre doing and do a better job. As stated earlier, learning is an active process,
and for this reason an individual can successfully actively execute what theyve learned as they
go. My mother would skim the instructions, think for a second, and then put that newly gained
information to work with other previously gained knowledge. The time between the intake of
information and the execution of that knowledge was mere seconds, and she cooked the food to
perfection (not trying to biased). Video games run on the same process, especially role-playing
games in which more than one life or attempt is allotted to the user. One life is usually for a new
player to die quickly, the next is to correct the mistake they made, and again and so on. The time
in between learning what cost them a life and approaching it differently on the next turn is rarely
more than a minute or two. Jean Anyon, in Social Class and School Knowledge, explains the
differences between schools in areas that are poverty-ridden, middle-class, and wealthy. She
explains that in the poverty-stricken schools, each day that preceded the day they were to do a
science experiment, the teacher told them to copy the directions from the book for the procedure
that they would carry out the next day and to study the list at home that night. The day after the
experiment the teacher would go over what they had found (they did the experiments as a class,
and each was actually a class demonstration led by the teacher) (Anyon, 1981, pg. 199). Anyon
then explains that the kids in the wealthy schools would be free to use the labs at their own and
rate and actually do the work themselves with help from the teacher if necessary. Its no surprise

that the kids who went to the wealthier schools and were allotted the ability to actually actively
do something would be more likely to go on to successful careers in places of power than the
kids from the poorer schools (most of the poorer kids parents were in jobs such as mechanics,
janitors, gas station attendants). The ability to work hands on soon after the initial intake of
information is more often than not crucial to being successful in retaining anything learned about
that subject. My mom was successful in cooking the dish because she was able to work on it
moments after learning how to work on it.
Active engagement seemed to be something that stuck out throughout this course, and its
importance to learning was validated when observing my mother learn how to cook a new dish.
Physicality, individualistic methods, and a quick transfer from information to execution all
seemed to be a common theme in many of the readings done in this course, and it was definitely
evident in my observational study. Learning is more than a mental process, it includes the mind
but also utilized the body in many different ways. Above all else it varies, and differs from
person to person.

Works Cited
Anyon, J. (1981). Social class and school knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry, 11 (1), 3-42.

Gee, J. P. (2002) 36 ways to learn a video game. In What video games have to teach us about
learning and literacy. (pp. 1-15) New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Moje. E. B. (2000). To be part of the story: The literacy practices of gangsta adolescents.
Teachers College Record, 102(3), 651-690.

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching.
Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132141.

Appendix
Observation:
-recipe from her mom
-getting supplies out of cupboards
-disposing of waste as she goes
-smelling some supplies to verify freshness
-occasionally makes exclamations to herself
-cracking knuckles very often
-cleaning up small messes when necessary
-making conversation about current events/problems
-checking phone for instructions quickly
-putting ingredients away when she doesnt need them anymore
-even putting away dishes as she goes
-drops piece of food and scorns dog for trying to eat it
-constantly moving around to use and replace items as needed
-gets scallions from garden (muttering to herself)
-stops checking phone after 3 or 4 times skimming
-does not talk much when working
-often has to look in more than one place for ingredients/utensils
-I think my mom gave the directions a little wrong, too soy saucey. Maybe she likes it that way

-stops and looks at me as if expecting a questions

-I say is it good though?
-I think it is
-drops whisk, lets dog lick up the mess. he thinks its good
-cleans utensils and preps more as she lets the water boil
-humming a song a lot
-when shes not holding anything she taps her finger to her palm
-sort of a fidgeting
-tries to engage in conversation but loses focus on the conversation quickly
-once, she steps in the middle of the kitchen closes eyes and whispers what was I doin-OH! snf
grinds pepper
-she stops checking phone altogether and starts doing her own thing. maybe she just remembered
everything at one point.