Parts of the Whole: Logical Categories of Learning: Why Teaching QR is Hard

Abstract

This column introduces the reader to an essay by anthropologist Gregory Bateson on the nature of learning. In that essay, he stratifies the learning process into categories based on what aspect of the student’s understanding is required to change in order to accomplish a given learning task. A discussion of the first three categories is followed here by examples from quantitative reasoning tasks and a further example from the ongoing discussion in the community of what numeracy entails. Bateson’s classification of learning into “logical categories” sheds light on what the goals of numeracy ask of both student and teacher, as well as what may be needed beyond a single course to accomplish those goals.