In Response to - Brain - Cognitive Function and Wisdom

WISDOM

Wisdom is having sufficient awareness in various situations and contexts to act in ways that enhance our common humanity.  Caroline Bassett, Ph.D.

Wisdom and Adult Learning

Seven men and women with an average age of 77 were interviewed regarding the role of wisdom in their experience of attending a Learning in Retirement Institute (LRI) in southern Ontario, Canada.  A finding is that for wisdom gains to be an outcome of LRI education, older adult students need outward expression of their acquired learnings.  A recommendation is that opportunities for praxis (such as co-op placements) should be offered by LRIs.  In this way, retirement-age students can measure their success against objective criteria and, hence, attach meaning to their studies (Farquhar, 2010).

“Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.”

Benjamin Franklin

It is among psychologists (rather than philosophers or sociologists) that research during the last quarter-century has re-focused on wisdom as uniting forms of intelligence that are acquired and developed during the life course (Fraser & Hyland-Russell, 2011).

Source:  http://wisdominst.org/emergentwisdom.html

Reflection

I believe that wisdom is an advantaged opportunity for adults to apply in or out of the classroom.  The textbook Adult learning: Linking theory and practice by Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L.L. spoke of our long-term memory as file cabinets and our short-term memory as our desktop.  From this I understood that the more we have learned and been exposed to the more file cabinets we have.  In addition, I believe that different experiences and our surroundings open the files to implement wisdom into our learning experiences.  

References

At The Wisdom Institute, we help people move more intentionally toward wisdom in their organizations, communities, and lives. At TWI, we believe that wisdom is practical and useful in our lives. It is available to all of us. We can learn tools and strateg. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://wisdominst.org/

Farquhar, L. (2010).  Wisdom in a Learning in Retirement Institute.  Educational Gerontology, 6(8), 641-653. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://0-www.tandfonline.com.library.acaweb.org/doi/full/10.1080/03601277.2010.480875#preview

Fraser, W. & Hyland-Russell, T. (2011).  New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 2011 (131), 25-34.

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L.L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.