{"id":2013,"date":"2021-04-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2023-04-29T21:03:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T02:03:58","slug":"human-development-part-3-get-in-the-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2021\/04\/10\/human-development-part-3-get-in-the-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Development, Part 3: Get in the Zone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is a dangerous thing to become a Jedi padawan. The training and trials are extremely difficult; one might say almost impossible. Qui-Gon Jin tells Anakin Skywalker, \u201cAnakin, training to be a Jedi is not an easy challenge, and even if you succeed, it\u2019s a hard life\u201d (from Star Wars: Episode 1 \u2013 The Phantom Menace<\/em>). As difficult as the training might be, there is even greater danger in not fully completing one\u2019s Jedi training. You are liable to lose a limb. Both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker lose their right hands when they face Sith Lords before being fully trained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clearly I have Star Wars on the mind. We are watching all the movies with my son, and they have so much to teach about education. I have to be careful, because once someone gets me started on Star Wars, I can go on and on. Watching through the series of movies, I have been struck by the stages of development young Jedi go through. The very young receive training in the basic Jedi arts in the Jedi temple. Later, a master Jedi will take on an apprentice, called a padawan. Most of the younglings in the temple will not make it to this stage. After being apprenticed for a number of years, the padawan must undergo a series of trials in order to become a Jedi knight. And only after many years of service as a Jedi knight, might one become a Jedi master. The aspect of Jedi training that stands out to me is the role of the powerful Jedi master training the apprenticed padawan. Here we have the more knowing mind enabling the younger Jedi to grow and learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In previous articles, I have written about the nature of the mind<\/a> (is knowledge innate or written on the empty tablets of our minds?) and the stages of development<\/a> as laid out by Piaget. The Jedi sequence of development strikes me as being more similar to the way Aristotle<\/a> and Plato<\/a> understand the stages of development. What I am interested in developing in this article is a more nuanced understanding of development. Even though we can perceive major stages of development, much of the development that occurs for learners happens within the major stages. What I mean is that new knowledge and understanding happens in moments of learning that build over time into true mastery of a topic, subject or skill. The concept we will be dealing with today concerns the level of difficulty the learner must encounter on the pathway towards mastery. Too much difficulty and the learning halts due to frustration. Too little difficulty and the learning halts because there is no challenge to encourage growth. The concept of the right level of difficulty goes by the name \u201cthe zone of proximal development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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