When teachers want to get the students’ attention in order to emphasize a point, they will often announce, “Pencils down, I want everyone to watch what I’m doing.” I always ignore these instructions. In fact, comments like these alert me to start scribbling down in my notebook. I cannot bear to not record something that might be important. I am all too familiar with my long-term memory and its shortcomings to know not to rely on it. If the teacher is saying something important, I’d better write it down if I want to retain the information.
In a cruel and unusual world, where I would be forbidden from recording important information and instead be forced to learn it in a hands-on way, I am almost certain I would not succeed. My certitude comes with good reason; I’ve experienced this hands-on learning in my chemistry classes. For the lecture part of chemistry, I have never had a problem doing well. I study hard, often cramming before a test, and come out with high scores on tests. In the laboratory part however, I am forever on the verge of failing. My experiments never go (still, presently!) as planned. I might be able to write out an entire chemical reaction on a piece of paper, but I cannot replicate that reaction in reality. No matter much I review the pre-lab exercises and instructions beforehand, I still have the most stressful experiences in lab. Even now, in my fourth semester of chemistry, I’m constantly frazzled and end up borderline deranged when it comes to lab. The disparity between my test scores and lab performance are a clear indication of what type of learner I am, and what type of learner I am most certainly not.
Now that I think about it, I don’t even have to think that hard to imagine a world in which I had to learn in the opposite way because in fact, I do it each Thursday morning from 9am-1pm in the organic chemistry laboratory. In a dystopia where everything was like chemistry lab, I have little doubt that I would fail. I’m able to channel my high-strung personality into an acute focus when I’m taking a test. When I’m in lab, however, this high-strungness results in one too many broken beakers and spilled solutions.
If I tried to apply the laboratory-like learning to my other subjects, I cringe to think of what my classes would be like.
Music: Having to write a song based on a certain genre. I would not be able to handle this; I could barely get by on the listening parts of the tests
Biology: Dissecting a pig. I get queasy just thinking about it. I’m still grateful that I haven’t had to dissect something while in my second year as a biology major.
History: Creating a multimedia project based on a culture/time period. I actually had to create a podcast on a certain culture for one class. I silently cursed the teacher the entire time while making the podcast.
Sociology: Visiting a community and commenting on the social interactions. I had an assignment like this as well. While I enjoyed the trip, I found it difficult to summarize the community’s social trends and was relieved when the professor resumed the typical reading-based assignments.
I’m not sure what it is about the hands-on activities that makes me so averse to them. Maybe it’s because the “right” way is not as easy as memorizing information and repeating it back on a test. These activities require a further application of knowledge that does not come easily to me. I feel uncomfortable when I have to synthesize various pieces of information into a unified whole. I don’t know if I should attribute this to a skill that I’m lacking, or to the fact that I become so agitated because I do not understand what a teacher is expecting. Yet I’m hesitant to say that I’m opposed to this way of learning simply because I find it challenging. I also don’t see it as useful a tool in retaining information. I accumulate knowledge not because I practice it, but because I hear and see it multiple times and make a conscious effort to commit it to memory.
All in all, I’m very thankful that the instituted method for learning consists of note taking and tests. I can only hope that this convention lasts until I graduate.
So the course is now officially over, your final grades are posted, and I'm having a hard time admitting that we're finished! But since we've had a course (and a terrific course, thanks to all of you) about the future of education, I guess it doesn't really have to be done. When are we "finished" with the future? 
We can talk a lot more about memory retention (and we will!) in the next unit. So I’m glad to see that topic introduced.
I’m also interested in another subject you open here…something about discomfort. It really seems like you’re saying (and it makes sense to say) that with the hands-on activities you have a negative emotional reaction. You’re uncertain, insecure, and uncomfortable. And that emotional response really interferes with your learning. I can very much understand that.
I wonder if we’ve talked enough about the emotional component of learning. There is one philosophy that making people uncomfortable, intentionally, breaking them down so you can build them up, is a good strategy to promote learning (this is how military boot camps work, as one example). That’s worth thinking more about.
It seems to me that throughout your reflection you’ve outlined two distinct skills that you think you lack in: retaining information without writing notes, and coping with hands-on activities. Taking your example from the sociology bullet (hands-on activity), do you think you’d feel more equipped walking around with a notepad? You would solve the second lacking by channeling the first.
I find, in my situation, that memory can also be an issue. In writing music, for instance, I usually carry a music notepad to scribble quick thoughts. I feel like there are so many people like this (like us) in other areas too; reliant on note-taking. Whether it be you in class, or me with my music, it seems like memory retention is a lost skill in this age of hyper-technology use.