Investigations in Learning & Difference: Metaphor Education is like Traveling The visual metaphor that I choose for education

is travelling. In this case knowing (or knowledge) is the journey, learning is exploring where the student is the traveller, and teaching is leading or enculturating where the teacher is the tour guide. For this metaphor the curriculum is unexplored destinations and different subjects represent different cultures or countries. The students also have the choice or independence to choose which countries they would like to visit or explore which translates to which subjects they are interested in or would like to study. Also the different countries and cultures may have similar landmarks or sights but every traveler or student may have a different interpretation based on their past experiences or beliefs. Knowing is a journey and learning is exploring. The traveler or student is on a journey to learn and explore different and new curricular destinations. After looking on the website thesaurus.com I found that there are many synonyms for the word explore that are related to education and learning. Some include: to analyze, to examine, to hunt, to inquire into, to question, to research, to tour, to travel, and to try (thesaurus.com, n.d.). The website also gave a definition for explore which was to investigate or survey (thesaurus.com, n.d.). I thought that these synonyms and definitions were relevant because they all have to do with the metaphor that education is travelling, where the student is the traveller on a hunt to investigate, examine or inquire into some new curricular destination. Next, I looked up the origin of the word explore, I found that it was first attested to describe going to a country or place in quest of discoveries in the 1610s, and the term explorer was first used as a noun in the 1680s. In

seminar we talked about a students agency as currency in thinking in multiply accessible ways; the freedom to consider the diversity of possibilities (as opposed to having to conform to anothers expectations); and the richness of ones example space (where a possibility comes from, where it might lead, and how it can enable a different imagining) (DAmour, 2011, p. 8). I think that a travelers or students agency is important when considered their journey; each traveler will come to a destination with their own beliefs, culture, options, biases and experiences that will affect how they interpret their new surroundings. In seminar one we talked about agency and framing narratives, contextualizing them as being inextricably intertwined with creativity and situated interpretation the imaginable within and from a set of perceived realities both forward and backward in time (DAmour, 2011, p. 5). In the following seminar we discussed phenomenology which is that the world only comes to us through our perceptive interpretations as that consideration to how we might go about these interpretive acts (DAmour, 2011, p. 7). I think that as teachers we have to recognize that each student will interpret the same material differently the same way that each traveller may interpret the same sights and landmarks differently. Teaching is leading or enculturating, where the teacher is the tour guide. I thought this was a good metaphor because a traveler does not always need a tour guide to explore new destinations just the same as a student does not always need their teacher to educate them on every subject. Sometimes a student or traveler learns more when they have the opportunity to explore on their own. However, there are some subjects or destinations that are easier understood and appreciated with the help of someone who knows them well. In plenary five, Dr. Davis outlines a genealogy tree, on this tree the terms guiding and enculturating can be

found however each is under a different branch of education (Davis, 2011, p. 24). Guiding is found under the religious branch which belongs to the gnosis branch which filters down to the correspondence theories of learning branch. Under these branches of education the concept of learning is more aligned with the sensibility that some things exceed the human capacity to understand in explicit, direct, and totalized terms (Davis, Sumara, & Luce-Kapler, 2008, p. 161). According to David et al. (2008) mystical-religious knowledge has to do with the big questions that are addressed through narratives that provide context, ascribe purpose, and offer meaning (p. 161). In this case the teachers or tour guides goal is to draw the learner into *the+ truth or to transmit *the+ truth into the knower (Davis et al., 2008, p. 163). Enculturating can be found under the construetivism branch which belongs to the coherence in/of the human world branch which is under the coherence theories of learning branch. Under these notions of education the concept of learning can be explained as being concerned with interpretation (Davis et al., 2008, p. 167). Davis et al. (2008) explain that in the context of human knowing, interpretation is about the continuous process of incorporating new experiences into the ecosystem of associations that has emerged from previous experiences (p.167). Therefore, the traveler adds to their knowledge base with each curricular destination that they visit, according to Davis et al. (2008) the teaching is not about telling, but about organizing experiences that orient learners perceptions to particular details and prompt them to associate those details with other details (p. 168). I think that it is interesting that before looking at the genealogy tree the words I choose for teaching were leading, guiding and enculturating (from the list of words Dr. Davis gave us during plenary one), guiding and enculturating are both found on the tree however have very different meanings related to education. Guiding refers to teaching as

changing learners, while enculturating refers to teaching as challenging learners. After researching both avenues, the word and concepts that I believe follow my metaphor for education as travelling is teaching as enculturating and challenging learners, as Davis et al. (2008) state teaching cannot be construed as causing or compelling learners to learn specific things in specific ways or at specific times. In brief, learning is not determined by teaching (p. 168). In the case of this metaphor, the teacher is there to help the learner interpret the knowledge they are given if they require the teacher assistance the same as the tour guide is there to aid the traveler on their journey should they require addition information or extra direction.

References: DAmour, L. (2011). Issues in Learning and Teaching Seminar [seminar 1 notes]. Retrieved from <https://blackboard.ucalgary.ca/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwe bapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_100918_1% 26url%3d> DAmour, L. (2011). Issues in Learning and Teaching Seminar [seminar 2 notes]. Retrieved from <https://blackboard.ucalgary.ca/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwe bapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_100918_1% 26url%3d> Davis, B. (2011). Issues in Learning and Teaching [lecture 5 notes]. Retrieved from <https://blackboard.ucalgary.ca/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwe bapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_94262_1%2 6url%3d> Davis, B., Sumara, D., & Luce-Kapler,R. (2008). Engaging Minds: Changing Teaching in Complex Times. New York: Routledge. Explore. Online Etymology Dictionary. <www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=explore&searchmode= none> Exploring. Thesaurus.com. < http://thesaurus.com/browse/exploring>