Dialogue, a Quantum Process!!!!

Danah Zohar calls dialogue a quantum process since the quantum approach to adult learning is based on twelve principles which hold that adults have enough life experience to be in dialogue with the teacher. Moreover, adult learners are more likely to learn knowledge if it related to their lives’ experiences, but how will the teacher know their lives’ experiences in order to relate new knowledge to it? Well it is through “Dialogue.”

Danah Zohar present us the “ Quantum approach” to adult learning which, as I said before, is based on twelve principles and practices that are different forms to begin, maintain, and foster the dialogue;  Some of these twelve principles are the followings:

 

• Needs assessment: The dialogue between the teacher and the adult learner must begin long before the course stars in order to listen to learners’ wants and needs so that teachers can design a course that meets all their learners’ needs. This listening effort is what is called a learning needs and resources assessment.

• Safety: Danah Zohar describes safety as a principle which is linked to respect for learners as decision makers of their own learning. So this is what it is all about, about making our adult learners feel safe in a learning environment so that they can be willing to participate in class, ready to learn, and eager to take an active role in their learning process. One of the ways in which we can make our Ss participate in the class and find their voices to enhance the power of safety is by making them work in small groups. So, what teachers must do is to look for the different ways in which he or she can create a safety environment for his or her Ss so that learners are able to be active participant of their learning process.

• Praxis: Praxis a Greek word meaning action with reflection. Praxis  is doing something with reflection; this means that while you are doing a task you are reflecting upon it at the same time. 
 

 

• Respect for learners as decision makers: To respect learners as decision maker of their own learning, we as teachers, first must recognize that adults are decisions makers since they themselves decide what works for them from the content they are studying and what doesn’t work. One way in which we as teacher can foster our adult learners as decision makers is asking open questions since while answering an open question, our adult learners will share their own ideas and be critical thinkers who make their own decisions. So this principle is directly related to participation.      

• Teamwork: Since teams provide a safety environment even while solving the most difficult tasks, it is a very effective technique to use in class that cannot be overlooked. Besides that, while respecting our learners’ choosing of team members, we, as teachers, are also fostering the principle of safety.

  

• Engagement: We, as teachers, must include in our lessons, activities that make our learners feel and be actively engaged in their learning process in order to make learning take place.

So, Danah Zoahar calls dialogue a quantum process since all the twelve principles and practices make adult learning a process that needs to go step by step; that’s why, you cannot skip any of them since they are linked together in order to begin, maintain, and nurture the dialogue.

This Quantum Thinking approach is a new way of looking adult learning since it goes beyond the subject-object dichotomy honoring and respecting all adult learners as subjects, as decision makers. Moreover, quantum thinking is teamwork since we learn together by being actively engage in the learning activities. So, I consider that Danah Zoahar calls dialogue a quantum process because the Quantum approach is based on the twelve principles that help teachers to begin, maintain, and foster dialogue.

This entry is based on the book “Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach,” the power of Diologue in Educating adults Jane Vella, Part 1 Twelve Principles for effective Adult Learning.