Learning and Cognition: Analysis of Sir Ken Robinson's Perspectives

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Sir Ken Robinson's views on learning and cognition, focusing on his critique of the current education system and his advocacy for educational reform. Robinson argues that schools often stifle creativity by prioritizing standardized curricula and industrial models, leading to a disconnect between students' natural talents and the educational environment. The essay explores Robinson's key arguments, including the importance of personalized learning, the need to recognize diverse intelligences, and the role of educators in fostering curiosity and creativity. It also examines the lessons that can be learned from Robinson's perspectives, emphasizing the need for a shift towards a more organic and student-centered approach to education that nurtures individual talents and promotes critical thinking. Furthermore, the essay reflects on the author's agreement with Robinson's views, highlighting the potential for education to unlock human potential and address the challenges of the future.

Running head: LEARNING AND COGNITION
Learning and Cognition
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Sir Ken Robinson and Learning
Summary on the view of Sir Ken characteristics
Sir Ken Robinson is an international educator from Los Angeles, California. He is
widely known as a speaker on the subject of human resources, innovation and creativity in
education and business. “Do Schools Kill Creativity” is the most viewed TED talk of
Robinson in the event’s history. In this video, he has given a speech about the gaps in our
current education system along with the importance of creativity and the different types of
intelligence that need to be considered. Here he pleads for rethinking on the school system.
He has started his speech by raising awareness of the audience on the fact that the children
who start their schools now are likely to get retired by the year 2065. Therefore, it is the
function of a teacher to educate the children in terms of the unpredictability of the upcoming
and future events.
For him, education is a dynamic system that is constantly in flux and changing. He
opines that education prevails in the everyday activities and actions of the people. In the
video he claims that “schools kill creativity”, arguing that people do not grow into creativity,
but that they grow out of it. For him, creativity is as important as literacy. In this video, he
also cites an example of a young girl of 8 years old, named Gillian Lynne as an evidence of
how schools kill creativity. She was considered as a problem student by her school as she was
suffering from an inability of sitting still and concentrates. Today, Gillian Lynne, at the age
of 92, us a successful choreographer with a good number of achievements like Phantom of
the Opera, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats etc. But, her school written her off claiming that
she is suffering from cognitive impairment. In this way, her school tried to kill her
extraordinary talent.
Robinson has opined that every education system on this earth will have same
hierarchy of subjects- the Languages and Mathematics are always rated higher than the
Humanities. And again, Humanities is rated higher than the Arts. And this is not the end.
Within Arts, there will be a future gradation- Music and Arts are rated higher than Dance and
Drama. As per him, the net outcome of an education is focused on the heads of children,

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instead of their bodies and these further results into a system that is aimed at forming
university professors.
One of the key features of the argument presented by Ken Robinson is the
industrialisation and standardisation of the British schools system kill the creativity by
stifling the individual creativity like the artistic one or any other forms of creative expression
or thinking. According to Robinson, the school system was built for meeting the needs of the
industrialism and is therefore dependent on two key ideas- the value of an individual for the
school system, and they are- a) the most useful subjects for work are at the top and b) an
individual’s “academic ability. He has also summed up some serious issues that we are likely
to face in the coming future. He states that the data of UNESCO suggests that in the coming
30 years more number of people would be graduating through education than there have been
ever before. With the same, the progress in technology might lead to the substitution of work
that are so far performed by the human beings. The next issue would be the explosion in the
human population. It will result in the “process of academic inflation”. According to
Robinson, we must rethink about the way in which we presently see intelligence. We see it
visually and kinaesthetically. But, we must see it as diverse, distinct and dynamic.
Again, in the video titled “Bring on the Learning Revolution”, Robinson makes a
radical shift from the case of standardised schools to personalised learning where one would
create the conditions where the natural talents could flourish. In this video he argues that we
often do not get the best out of people because we all have been educated for becoming good
workers instead of being creative thinkers. He claims that schools educate children out of
their creativity and we need to change the current educational system from a linear and
industrial model of education to a model based on organic and agriculture. People need to be
able of customising the education as per the needs of the individuals in order to ensure that
people can create their own solutions on the basis of personalised curriculum.
In the video titles “How to Escape Education's Death Valley”, Robinson challenges
the way in which the modern parents are educating their children. He advocates on a radical
rethink about the current school systems for cultivating creativity among students and
acknowledging many types of intelligence. He emphasises on the notion that the current

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culture of education needs a revolution and for getting the best out of the schools, we need to
acknowledge the fact that human beings are naturally diverse and different, that children are
naturally curious and that the life of human beings is inherently creative. This is why,
children are required to be given with a broad curriculum so that they can celebrate and
develop their various talents.
Teachers have a great role to play in this regard as they must facilitate children’s
learning through engaging, provoking, stimulating, mentoring and delivering. According to
Robinson, children have the seeds of an immense range of possibilities waiting and these
seeds, with right conditions, are likely to flourish. He opined that there are three key
principles that are important for the human mind to develop and they are- a) curiosity, b)
diversity and c) creativity. The current culture of education works against these three
principles. He in this video also concludes with his opinion that the actual role of leadership
in education is climate control and creating a climate of immense possibilities and that we
need a revolution now.
The fact that Sir Ken Robinson perceives school systems to constrict the creativity of
students by means of standardising the education is again proven through his video titled
“Expanding Our Definition of Smart”. One of the main features of the argument by Ken
Robinson is the industrialisation and standardisation of the British schools system kill the
creativity by stifling the individual creativity like the artistic one or any other forms of
creative expression or thinking. He claims that the schools are stifling the creativity of the
students. Changing the education system is what Robinson has been all about for these years.
He emphasises on making a more personalised education for the students that are customised
enough as per the communities in which they are part of. He claims that education over the
last twenty years is increasingly seen as a type of strategic issue for the governments
worldwide.
In this video again, Robinson states that the school system was built for meeting the
needs of the industrialism. He in this video does an excellent work of highlighting what is
going in the current education system while asking the questions regarding how we can do
better. He also applies the concept of organic farming in the schools. There are a total of four

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principles of organic farming that Robinson applies to the schools and they are health, care,
ecology and fairness. If the schools implement these four principles, all the students would be
benefitted automatically.
Every learner has different constructions and interpretation of knowledge process that
is completely based on the mental representations. Traditional teaching approach does not
involve the students in creative thinking and collaborative participation in creative activities.
It is also to mention that Robinson spends a lot of time on the notion that children are natural
learners. A child always wants to learn but often the schools in which he or she is admitted in
is not designed for his or her optimal learning. Outside the school, people are able of devoting
huge chunks of time on the projects and not much at the schools. We move the learners every
45 to 60 minutes and then complain that the students cannot pay attention. To this problem,
Robinson believes that personalisation is the answer.

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Reflection (2 pages)
a. Do you agree with the views expressed? Explain.
Yes I agree. Robinson’s speech is really interesting for me as I am greatly interested in
education and I hope to be working in the educational sector. I believe that every individual
in this earth should have the right access to a supporting and good education. And as a
student, I am very thankful that there are people like Sir Ken Robinson who legitimately care
about our education. He is brilliant guy with a great sense of humour. After listening his
speech in these four videos, I have realised that global warming is not the only crisis that the
world is facing today. Along with the natural resources, the human resources too are in deep
peril. The present educational model actually distances the people from their true talents and
this is why I can see many people I know to feel passionate about their work and many who
believe that they have absolutely no talents at all. I totally agree with whatever Robinson
claims and argued.
b. What lessons can be learned for schools?
According to Robinson, “personalisation” is the answer to all the problems related to
education system and school system. In most of the schools, the traditional method that is
used ignores the students, particularly their mental level of interest. They involve the
coverage of the context and rote memorization on the students’ part. What is more daunting
is that the rote learning and memorization seems to be the dominant model at all the levels.
The teaching in schools does not involve the students in creative thinking and collaborative
participation in creative activities. Many of the times it can be seen that during the teaching
and learning process, instruction are remained unilateral and this can be considered as an
orthodox activity.
Every individual has different constructions and interpretation of knowledge process that
is completely based on the mental representations. Traditional teaching approach does not
involve the students in creative thinking and collaborative participation in creative activities.

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Children are natural learners. Robinson makes a radical shift from the case of standardised
schools to personalised learning where one would create the conditions in which the natural
talents of the students can easily flourish. The modern schools educate the students out of
their creativity and it is very important to make a revolution for the same and change the
current educational system from a linear and industrial model of education to a model based
on organic and agriculture. The education system needs to be customised as per the needs of
the individuals in order to ensure that people can create their own solutions on the basis of the
personalised curriculum. Furthermore, the current school systems must be changed for
cultivating creativity among students and acknowledging their different types of intelligence.
It needs a revolution and for getting the best out of the schools, it is very important to
acknowledge the fact that human beings are naturally diverse and different, that children are
naturally curious and that the life of human beings is inherently creative.
c. Other comments
From the above analysis on Sir Ken Robinson’s view of creativity, child learning,
education system, current curriculum and school system, it is clear that the modern world is
facing a strong crisis of human resources that is no smaller in scope compared to climate
change and for this, education is to be blamed. The current educational system or model is
distancing people from their true inner talents. Due to this reason, there are only few adults
who feel passionate about their work and there are many who believe that they have
absolutely no talents at all.
The wit and wisdom of Robinson in all the four videos has made an enjoyable
experience and they give a clear view on where education is going wrong and how we can
revolutionize the same. Reforming the education is not enough to cope up with the issue or
for addressing the crisis. Today, the world needs a wholly new educational model and the
educators must strive to abandon the question systems and paradigms that they have long
been taken for granted. I think we need to take a strong action to address this crisis so that
our next generation can be saved and to ensure that a better world is waiting for them. It is
very important for us to get involved in this revolution which Robinson is speaking about so
that our children can begin to flourish and spread their dreams world-wide.

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Part B
“How Children Learn”
Children are very inquisitive. One can often see children liking to touch the plants and
smell them, counting their leaves and picking them. There are many things that children often
learn while investigating their surrounding world. There are hundreds of ways in which
children learn. Young children are the human beings who are still engaged in the key process
of developing the key portion of their mental capacity unlike the elders. About 80% of their
intellectual aptitude is acquired during the first 6 years of their lives. It is a very critical phase
and their brain in this phase develops and grows as per the exercise of their minds and their
intellectual stimulation that are provided by their surrounding environment. They are not
empty vessels who are to be filled and just talking to them or reading the chapters like a
machine simply is not going to help them in understanding anything
Stella Vosniadou, lecturer in the University of Athens and the president of European
Association for Research on Learning and Instruction has written many books and articles on
the subject of developmental, educational and cognitive psychology. She is famous for her
article “How Children Learn” where she has presented her views on how children learn in
school setting and what is the role of the teachers in this regard. According to her, there are
three principles that are widely recognised as forming the basis on which teachers must
design their school’s learning environment and they are- a) learning environments that can
encourage the students for becoming active learners, b) collaborating with other students and
c) using some meaningful tasks with authentic materials. Stella Vosniadou has claimed that
the teachers must take all these principles in consideration for designing more effective
instruction and curricula.
According to the author of the article the process of learning is complex as it
encompasses emotions and affections of people as they get engaged with the environmental
content. Learning requires an active and constructive involvement of the learners.
Children need to pay attention, observe, memorize, understand, set goals and assume
responsibility for their own learning. And these are those cognitive activities that are

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impossible to ensure without having active engagement and involvement of the children.
However, teachers have a great role to play in this regard. They must always strive to help the
children becoming goal-oriented by means of building on their natural desire for exploring,
understanding the new things and mastering them.
She has also opined that creation of an interesting and challenging learning
environment for the children that can encourage their active involvement and engagement is a
great challenge for the teachers. Therefore, teachers must be aware of certain strategies to
ensure the same. They must regularly organise the school visits to technological parks or
museums as they are valuable learning experiences. They are shared social experiences that
give the student the opportunity of encountering and exploring the novel things in authentic
setting as in this way the children are exposed to new experiences which can increase their
engagement and interest in different subjects like science, social science, history etc.
regardless of having prior interest on the same. These are the experiences that can be recalled
by the students even long after the visit.
Apart from this, teachers must also allow the learners to take control of their own
learning by allowing them to make decisions on what to learn and how to learn. According to
Stella Vosniadou, allowing the children to take control of their education can give them the
tools for being much more successful in their academic career. With the same, teachers must
always strive to avoid the situations where the children act as passive listeners for long time
period as passive listening would give them very limited opportunity to analyse and assess
how well they are learning the content for questions, discussion and clarification. As in this
process, there is no opportunity for application; it does not engage the usage of high-level of
cognitive skills of the learners.
Stella Vosniadou has also emphasised on encouraging student’s participation in the
classroom discussions and the other collaborative activities. She claims that establishing a
fruitful co-operative and collaborative atmosphere is a vital part in school learning. In
this regard, she suggested the teachers to establish group goals and establish some flexible
group norms. Also, they can give students some group tasks to excel in. According to Stella
Vosniadou, “learning is primarily a social activity and participation in the social life of the

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school is central for learning to occur”. She has focused on the importance of social
participation of the children in their learning. As opined by her, social participation of
children starts early on and parents have the most important role to play in this process.
Parents interact with the children and by means of these interactions; children acquire the
behaviours, which enable them in becoming effective members of society.
Children at this stage learn through internalising the habits, ideas, activities and
vocabulary of their parents and community where they grow up. For encouraging social
participation among children that can facilitate their learning process, Stella Vosniadou has
suggested some strategies that teachers can make use of. For the same, teachers can
effectively create certain sets of circumstances for the children to interact among themselves
and express about their perspectives or opinions and at the same time, evaluate arguments of
other students.
Teachers can also strive to create a learning environment that comprises of group
workspace where all the necessary resources are available for the students so that students
can work in group effectively and collaboratively without any distraction or disturbance.
Furthermore, it is also to mention that a key aspect of social learning is linking the school to
the local or surrounding community at large. According to Stella Vosniadou, this will give
the students required opportunities for socially participating in the community events and
gain knowledge about the same. This can aid to the emotional health and well-being of the
children in positive way.
According to Stella Vosniadou, “people learn best when they participate in activities
that are perceived to be useful in real life and are culturally relevant”. According to many
researchers and research findings, most of the activities done in school setting are not
meaningful as students are not explained the reason behind why they are doing those
activities or the usefulness of the same. Also, many of the times, certain school activities are
seen to be not culturally appropriate as in schools, there are students from different cultural
backgrounds and there are certain systematic cultural differences in terms of habits, social
roles, practices etc. and these influence their learning process.

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Stella Vosniadou in this regard agrees with the research findings and she emphasised
on creating certain classroom activities that are more meaningful and culturally appropriate
so that they can fit with the culturally diverse children. This will make the children feel
differently in their classroom if they see that their culture is reflected in common activities.
Teachers must strive to make the classroom activities in a way that they are more meaningful
by means of situating them in an authentic context. These authentic contexts are the ones
where the activities are typically used in the real life scenario. For instance, debate
competition can help in improving the communication skills and oral language of the
students. Also, activities such as classroom newspaper can help in improving the writing
skills of the students and the activities like school environmental projects or community
environmental projects can aid in science learning of students.
Furthermore, Stella Vosniadou claims that the new knowledge of children is
constructed on the basis of what they already know, understand and believe. She opines that
children learn through relating new information to their prior knowledge. However, it
must also be noted that having prior knowledge is critical but is not sufficient to make sure
adequate results are obtained. Teachers again have a role to play in this aspect to help the
students in activating their prior knowledge and using them for the task given to them. They
should discuss about the lessons’ contents prior to starting teaching them to make sure that
students have the required prior knowledge and they can activate that knowledge whenever
needed. They must also ask close ended questions in between the lesson reading to ensure
that students are taking interest in learning the same and that they are attentive enough.
According to Stella Vosniadou, effective teachers always help the students to grasp the
relationships and making connections.
The next important aspect of children learning process is being strategic. Stella
Vosniadou opines that children always learn by means of employing flexible and effective
strategies that can assist them in understanding, reasoning, memorising and solving the
problems. Children start develops strategies that can assist them in solving the problems
right from their early age. For instance, when parents ask them to go to market and buy a list
of food items or grocery items, one can often see them repeating those item names so that
they can remember them better. This can be termed as a rehearsal strategy. Such strategies
are of great importance as they help the children in understanding and solving the problems

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in the ways, which are appropriate for the very situation. The broader the range of strategies
that children make uses of appropriately, the more successful they can be in the process of
problem solving.
Furthermore, engaging in self-regulation and being reflective is yet another
important factor in the process of learning. Children must know the way of planning and
monitoring their learning along with setting their own set of learning goals and the ways of
correcting the errors. “Self-regulation” in this regard refers to the ability of the children to
monitor their own learning and understanding when they are making errors and how they can
correct them. It calls for reflection in the sense of being aware of one’s own strategies and
beliefs. This reflection can be developed through the debates, essays and discussion where
the children could be encouraged for expressing their opinions and defending them. In this
process, teachers can help the students to become self-regulated and reflective by providing
them the necessary opportunities to evaluate the arguments, statements and solutions for the
problems of others and check their thinking. Teachers can also give them the opportunities of
developing the realistic knowledge of themselves as learners and setting their own goals of
learning.
With the same, children also learn when they are focused on understanding things
instead of just memorising them. According to many researchers including the author of the
article Stella Vosniadou, the information that are superficially memorised are easily
forgotten. On the other hand, when children understand something, they cannot forget it
easily and they can transfer that information into other situations. Teachers in this regard can
provide students with illustrations or video presentation on the content and explain the same
using real-life examples. Stella Vosniadou also opines that “learning becomes more
meaningful when the lessons are applied to the real-life situations”. Transfer is of utmost
importance and children when gain the ability of transferring what they have learned in
school, they learn their best. Children should not rush learning. Learning needs a considerable
time and many period of practice in order to start the development of expertise in that
particular field.