I digest, therefore I learn.I know that this is worse than pig Latin, and I admit that this is an extremely crude way of summing up the learning process.  But I’ll stand by it anyway: “Digestum, ergo learnum.”
We know that nourishment is feeding the body, filling its need for proteins and carbohydrates and all that other stuff.

Like most human processes, nourishment does not happen in an instant. It begins with ingestion, or food intake.  It proceeds to digestion, or the breaking down of food into its component parts.  And then it is completed by assimilation by the body of those digested parts.

Learning takes much the same route.  In place of ingestion, there is input, or the presentation of new information.  This is much like laying food on the table. LS (learning styles) paradigm tells us that such presentation can and must be achieved in different ways to suit the learning preferences of individual learners.

In place of digestion, there is incubation, or the coming to terms with the new information, This is like poking at the new dish with a fork, identifying its smell, tasting it a bit and so on.
And finally, in place of assimilation, there is integration, or attaching personal significance to the bit of new information, finding its place alongside previously stored information.

Old teaching paradigms generally equate learning with input only.  By missing out on the two other I’s of learning, it becomes half-blind often without realizing it.

A teacher who is keenly aware of the stages of learning will take time and extra effort to lead learners through the rest of the process. This ensures more lasting learning.

Different learners will learn at different paces: some faster and some slower than others.  The process can only be aided or facilitated.  It cannot be fast-tracked.

So, bring home the lesson to your learners.  Let them see it from different angles, different viewpoints.  Give them time to grapple with the new bit of information, especially if it is a rather difficult one.

And then watch their eyes light up as they are finally able to claim: “Aha! Gotcha!”
Digestum?

(Henry S. Tenedero is the president of the Center for Learning and Teaching Styles and MINDful IDEAS, an affiliate of the International Learning Styles Network, based at St. John’s University in New York. He is a graduate of the AIM Masters in Development management and of the Harvard Graduate School for Professional Educators. He can be reached at htenedero@yahoo.com.)