从“占有”到“生成”:儿童学习观的转换

From Possession to Generation: Transforming the Concept and Practice of Child Learning

It seems widely recognized that a child should be engaged in learning，and that his future happiness and accomplishments rely on his learning outcomes． Increasingly，child learning has attracted people’ s great attention． However，there are different points of view of the child，child development and happiness， leading to different concepts of learning closely related to child development and happiness． These learning concepts each have their own epistemological basis with their own characteristics，and have exerted influence on people＇s educational ideas and practices to varying degrees． Therefore，in promoting education reforms，it is very important to understand the child，clarify child learning and transform the educational concepts． The idea that learning is possession is a concept of child learning in the context of modern utilitarian society． Under the framework of the adult-child binary comparison，this concept is built on“scarcity”，and it takes utilitarian happiness as the purpose，possession as the means and efficiency as the standard． This kind of learning concept has its defects due to its specific conceptual basis and values． In particular，the concept inverts the relationship between a child’s life and his learning，ignores a child’s active endogenous learning power，and separates the process of happiness from the results of happiness in child learning，and the holistic state of learning disappears． In fact，a child is neither inherently fixed nor a passive existence，but a generative human being who has great potential of development beyond the framework of adult － children binary comparison． Besides，generation and development are the inherent characteristics of a child’s life process when regarded as a human being． The idea that learning is generation implies the process of a child’s self-generation and self-creation． In this process，a child actively draws on his life experience based on his own needs and interests，and employs his psychological absorbability to interact with the environment frequently． As child learning is a generative development arising from his natural rhythm，it is of survival value． Specifically speaking，generative child learning is not a passive mechanical process driven by external forces， but a creative life process following the principle of genuine interest with a lot of positive experience． Generative child learning is different from that of external input，which is based on the objectivist empiricism． It emphasizes learning subjectivity and autonomy，which is based on direct experience． In addition，it attaches great importance to the unique value of a child＇s life and games in the process of his generation and development． Generative child learning is holistic． In the process，a child is ready to open himself，excited to embrace the whole world，and active in interacting with the environment in an integrated way． In the generative learning，a child experiences the unified happiness of the results and processes． Furthermore，based on the characteristics of a child’s life，this generative learning has its own internal definition that constitutes the basic conditions for the realization of the generative learning． In other words，while immaturity is the primary condition for generative child learning，internal time is the basic scale and freedom is the basic requirement．