In Search of the Great Eureka!

In Search of the Great Eureka !



In an attempt to write the learning narratives for this portfolio, I read all the samples in the notebook and I read my resume a dozen times, and I leafed through my certificates almost regularly in the hopes of sudden inspiration.

Several times, I thought I had captured ideas that would make good narratives. I started and each time none of them seemed to convey for me an actual learning experience that I felt was verifiable. Some of them didn’t even sound like I think I sound. So, I trashed them.

A learning narrative should not be a difficult thing to produce. Usually, if you ask anyone about their most significant learning, they will tell you with a light in their eyes and radiate their enthusiasm telling you how it all came to be.

Many of the things we learn to do, we learn from repetition or from understanding and sometimes from a combination of both. Some things we learn from “experience” and it’s assumed that some people, who have reached a great age have “wisdom” because of it.

Some of the powerful learning that happens over a lifetime, is sometimes quite subtle and other times profound. Much of it has engaged our emotions.

We learn to read as children without knowing exactly why, until we can actually read and then realize the value of the learning. We learn math in a similar fashion.

And with writing, we realize we can use the skill to communicate our thoughts, words and deeds to others in a more permanent media. These three, provide a good base for all other forms of learning because they all develop our ability to understand, explore, and formulate logical conclusions.

In our great life long search for information and its harvesting processes, we acquire four levels of communication:

#1. The Intellectual Level or, our ability to reason and store information. This is another reason why math is important to us because we learn logical progressions of thought to draw conclusions.

#2. The Emotional Level so that people will feel what we’re trying to convey to them, allow us to connect, and then activate similar feelings.

#3. The Visual Level which expresses our feelings in the form of facial and body expressions.

#4. The Physical Level which conveys our body language on a conscious and unconscious plane.

Some of the best and long lasting learning conveyed to us, takes the form of a story and is usually communicated as a story using the, “Hook, Line, and Sinker” method.



You first, “grab” your audience with an appropriate “hook”

You then “appeal” to them with the “lines of information”

And then you sum it all up, so that it “sinks in”.





Over time, people have developed a great many ways to learn because human beings are so diverse and because we do not all learn in the same way. Sometimes the “Great Eureka” of understanding comes to us in the form of a few words, and sometimes it is realized in the action of others, over a long period of time.

The quantum leap of understanding whatever the pathway, is usually a good feeling. There are times when we reach an understanding and feel regret that we didn’t arrive at our conclusions sooner, or we may feel less than positive, but additional information will eventually bring us to a point where we will rejoice over it.

Although it’s difficult for some people to realize, there was a time on this planet when there were no books, no paper, no inks, no TV’s and no VCR’s and no cars; fast foods were picked off trees or bushes, and horror or horrors… no computers, except the one between your ears.

So people conveyed their wisdom, learned and experienced in the form of a narrative, or a story. We still hope, dream, fight, hate, mourn, love and learn, in narrative. Stories are our basic reality.

We all have anxieties and desires that drive us to action. We all encounter conflict internally and externally and we experience growth and change as a result. The root of our desires, conflicts and changes are the basics of real and sometimes, long lasting learning. Many people avoid these experiences and refuse to see their associations.

Others fight all along the path to learning and change, complain about the obstacles, ignore the opportunities, and with their heels in the sand, rejoice in the arrival of the conclusions that follow, to everyone’s surprise.

Although the relationships between ourselves and the wonderful things that surround us are dynamic and complex and there really is no “step by step” method to understanding because of the sub-processes involved in moving from one level of understanding to another, there are benchmarks established we can all use to help us in all forms of learning.

One method to better learning, involves: Asking, Listening, Exploring, Reflection, and Transformation. In short, the process is called, ALERT.

Asking… a question. Very little can be actually learned until our minds have a question that needs answering.

How do I crochet? Or… How do I drive a car?

Can you show me how to use a computer? Or… How do you write a story?

Once the question has been posed, then we must Listen… for an answer, for instructions, or watch some demonstrations. This part of the overall process might include any informational gathering method.

Exploring…Any time we set out beyond the perimeter of what we already know, or what others have discovered, we then become explorers.

Reflection… Now it’s time for thinking about what we’ve listened to and explored. This is probably one of the most ignored of all processes and it sometimes becomes a block for many, who never reach the last stage of the process because they’ve never learned to think objectively, or innovatively. Without proper and timely reflection, we will fail to learn. This key element can sometimes take the form of group discussions, more reading or additional research. It may also involve collaboration with others in an active, thinking environment.



Just as a good writer will edit their work as part of a process, to create a better product, so it is with all learning that reaches the Transformation stage. This is where all the conflicts encountered along the learning path are resolved and the “happy ending” emerges. The happy ending can be the great Eureka, or the quantum leap of understanding that may lead to more conflicts or gaps in understanding that will begin the process all over again.

As a result, we never run out of questions just as we never finish learning.

It’s a good idea to understand the process of how we learn and communicate what we learn to others. It sometimes gives us a better understanding of how we know some of the things we know or have learned over time.

How disappointing it would be if there was a limit on learning. Our lives would be less interesting and the human race would progress much more slowly than it has. We’re fortunate to live in an age when knowledge, advantage, and opportunity become more and more available to everyone who is willing to embrace a life of learning. Whatever the subject or topic a question will emerge, and someone will begin a narration that will hopefully result in a learning experience pertinent to the real world.

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