The Joy of Learning

Came to campus early this morning.  Picked up a coffee and a book and sat in front of a bunch of trees, with birds chirping all around. 

The book is “NOISE - A Flaw in Human Judgment”, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein.  The chapter I am reading this morning is on how much do we actually understand an issue.  I found it very relevant to the research that we are conducting - understanding service-learning.  What works and what doesn’t?  And why?  

In our research, what we often found is correlation.  For example, there is a good correlation between a good learning experience and desired learning outcomes for the students. 

We may state this in a formula:  causation -> correlation

But that does not necessarily mean that one cause the other: correlation X-> causation.  

On the other hand, causation should result in correlation: X correlation -> X causation.  

That is, if a good learning experience causes good learning outcomes, then we should be able to see a good correlation between the two.   On the contrary, if we cannot find correlation, that should imply that one does not cause the other.  So, finding correlation should at least mean that causation may the there. 

From a broader perspective, if we truly understand an issue, e.g., the critical success factors of service-learning, then we should be able to predict, with high degree of accuracy, how to put together a service-learning course/project to achieve the desired learning outcomes.  If not, then that means we still do not fully understand the issue yet.  In the terminology from the book, there is still a lot of “objective ignorance”.  In other words, there is much to learn.  

It is so exciting to know that I have learned something.  Even though there is still so much to learn.