What is Knowledge?

Proverbs 2:6 says, "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."

This week on the education blog let's discuss knowledge. How do we know that someone knows/understands something? Knowledge is complex. Here are a few thoughts and feel free to give yours in the comments below.

1. First, we can probably all agree that there is a difference between knowing something experientially and knowing it intellectually. We are all all fantastic quarterbacks… From our comfy arm chairs in the living room. 
2. Second, we likely agree that there are some things that we learn and remember for a long time whereas other things seem to slip through our mental fingers like sand. Not all types of knowledge are equally "sticky." 
3. Knowledge seems to "stick" better when there is a solid foundation or base for that knowledge. That is why our program is progressive and builds on itself. That also explains why people who have more life experience, field experience, or biblical knowledge seem to do better here generally speaking. Also, some people learn certain things better in some environments/contexts than others. In other words, knowledge is differentiated. 
4. As we have been discussing, knowledge is not made up of a bunch of discrete, one-off pieces of information. Rather, all information is embedded in a system, a culture, and a worldview that did not develop overnight. Getting students to think about and evaluate that system requires developing a skill called metacognition. 
5. Skills development is related to and even crucial for knowledge acquisition. If people do not know how to think and learn then they will always be reliant upon a teacher, a course, or a textbook in order to tell them what and how to learn. 

Conclusion: if knowledge is systematic, experiential, progressive, metacognitive, and skills-dependent what are we doing to foster learning that is "sticky"? If the goal is to eventually create independent, lifelong learners how is the program at EBI enabling that? Are there some ways of gaining knowledge that are better than others? What are your thoughts? Post comments below or send me an email. Thanks.

The Biblical Basis for Multiple Teaching Methods/Tools/Styles

In this post we'll briefly list out 10 Biblical types of teaching. At the end we'll come to some conclusions about varied teaching methods and learning:

1. Sermons. Acts is full of sermons. Jesus preached some sermons like the sermon on the mount, commissioning the 12, parables, the olivet discourse, etc.
2. Written communication (letters). Paul's epistles are a great example. These seem to be 
3. Questioning. Take a look at Job 38-41. No systematic theology is given by God there... just questions to make Job think. Jesus used questions in Matthew 16:26, 21:23-27, 22:20-21, etc.
4. Parables. Jesus, of course, was the master of parables. He often left the parables uninterpreted and they were created to teach a lesson and make people think. 
5. Assigned tasks. Jesus told the rich young ruler to go, sell his possessions and give them to the poor. Jesus told the woman at the well to go get her husband and come back. Paul gave people in his epistles tasks and then chastised them for not following through (or praised them for doing what he asked). 
6. Learning by experience. Real, physical, verifiable miracles accompanied Jesus' teaching and life. Paul's conversion is clearly learning by experience. Israel's tug-of-war with God plays out as a giant narrative told in the OT and is full of evaluated experiences interpreted in light of who God is. 
7. Discussion and Debate. Jesus answered questions from real people in a real historical cultural context. Paul clearly had detractors and doubters in mind as he wrote some epistles. In the book of Acts there are multiple debates between early Christians and unbelievers.
8. Life-on-Life Coaching. We might say discipleship. It's everywhere in scripture. 
9. Group activities. There were things done as a group in the Old and New Testaments that served as great object lessons and hands-on learning opportunities. For example, building the walls of Jerusalem, wandering in a wilderness, building pyramids, taking up collections for the poor in Jerusalem, and standing up to the demands of a pagan culture (think Daniel and friends for example). 
10. Patience/waiting. One of the great principles of spiritual growth is that it takes time. We all know this and yet our teaching methods are often the most efficient, time-saving ones rather than the methods that allow for long-term growth. Jacob waited and worked to get Rachel. Saul was stripped of the kingdom but David exercised patience (and grew) while he waited to take it over. See the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-25. The epistles are full of references to patience and endurance in suffering. 

If there is so much variety of teaching method in scripture, why do we gravitate to the lecture method first and foremost? Perhaps there is a simple creativity problem here. Kenneth O. Gangel says (2005), "One danger teachers face is the constant temptation to offer excuses for lack of variety in teaching methodology. Many teachers excuse their consistent gravitation to the lecture method by suggesting that the amount of content, or perhaps the nature of the content, requires that approach. Actually, they are probably guilty of not thinking creatively with regard to methodology."
https://bible.org/seriespage/1-thinking-about-teaching-methods 

Where are you at? What kinds of creative ways can you think of to vary your teaching method? What Biblical examples struck you the most? Do you disagree with any of the teaching methods mentioned? What steps can we take as a staff to spur one another on to more creativity and variance in our methods as we seek to change hearts and lives?