Learning is like building a home. While teachers, books, and experiences provide potential construction materials, students must choose to build things out of the information they encounter by connecting ideas. These connections become joints and walls, and eventually separate what is learned into compartments. Learners add new ideas to the appropriate part of their houses, although someone else might have arranged his/her home quite differently.
There are some common patterns in students’ structures, just as there are common elements between houses. These patterns emerge in part from what is inherent in the building materials, in how they are presented, and how the culture at large dictates that they should be connected. Yet there is also a great deal of freedom in what learners choose to accentuate, in the kinds and number of rooms they create.
Teachers and mentors provide guidance as parts of the home are built, but no learner begins with a blueprint, so the home may sometimes appear haphazard. Learners become better builders as they work, and sometimes realize there are faults in their construction. They can either ignore new contradictory information, or they may tear down prior preconceptions to make room for new construction. If they decide the foundation itself is faulty, the upheaval can be tremendous and messy. The end result will be an entirely new house, representing a new set of thought patterns and lifestyle. People live in their homes, and what we “learn” becomes the place from which we view the whole world.
Mary Ann (Nestmann) Lynch 
Excellent metaphor! I like how you used the example of creating different rooms or additions to our homes based on our experiences. My favorite was when “the learner finds faults in their own construction”. They can revise (remodel), ignore, or tear it all down and start from scratch. I find students mostly revising what they thought they knew. Part of it was somewhat accurate but it does need some tweaking and modifications. I also find that some will simply ignore what is being presented to them because it either doesn’t fit with what’s already there or it’s cognitively too complex and it would take effort to understand.
My husband and bought a foreclosed home 2 years ago that needed renovations, which we decided to do some on our own. Things we had never done before, such as sanding and staining the hardwood floors, which was a completely new experience. Did we do it right the first time? No! But we learned along the way and if we were to try it again (which we won’t) then we would have more to build upon.
Tori, thanks for sharing your personal connection with renovating the house. Great example. I’m in the process of buying a house right now, so I think this analogy came to me because I have homes and renovation on my mind.
Hey Mary Ann, I’m glad to see another familiar face here 🙂
Being the architecture nerd that I am, I really enjoyed your metaphor. A great extension of this would be the notion of renovation. Many historic old homes are beautiful and well worth renovating, rather than tearing down in favor of a Modern structure. Sometimes all it takes is a new roof and updated kitchen fixtures, while other scenarios may involve gutting most of the interior. Many times the bones of am old house are of far better quality and workmanship, and a few updates result in a swelling of superior quality and character. I kind of see learning in the same way; new isn’t always good, old isn’t always bad. How fortunate it is when we can take what we’ve previously learned (which may be of a completely unrelated domain) , and find ways to apply the underlying structural concepts to new learning experiences!
Chris, I like your point about reusing what we’ve previously learned. So true! I think I saw this metaphor more as building a house from scratch and then renovating it over the course of a lifetime because unlike renovating somebody else’s house, we can’t build on what somebody else has learned. We can add to what somebody else has discovered, though, if we make the patterns they developed part of our design.
The house represents a good metaphor for learning. The decisions that individuals make regarding the time and energy they invest in education are long lasting. Since knowledge builds upon what someone knows, it becomes critical for the individual to develop a solid educational foundation. With the construction of a home, the intent is for the structure to last a lifetime. Therefore, the foundation is critical. It is relatively simple to change and alter cosmetic issues such as adding carpet, painting rooms, upgrading appliance, but it is extremely difficult to fix structural issues. As with learning, process and product improve when adding to a solid knowledge base. It becomes a greater challenge to make connections and create change in learning when the basic foundation of general knowledge is weak. The house one builds today is the place they will live tomorrow, so it is wise to build a strong reliable house that will bring years of fulfillment. A wise investment today of your time and energy toward building a strong learning foundation will allow you to reap the benefits throughout a life time.
Karen, I like your point about simple cosmetic changes vs. extensive structural changes. That is very true. It’s unfortunate that when we are children we aren’t able to reflect much on the foundational principles we are developing that will last the rest of our lifetimes. As adults, we have more opportunity to consider how we go about learning a new topic so we can make sure that we learn the essentials first.