Evolving Notions of Knowledge and Learning for Today�s Students

This paper addresses current and fundamental issues in the classroom and raises some important issues and perspectives commonly ignored by practicing teachers, their student counterparts and existing literature. This position paper is, essentially, a report of a troubling phenomenon among students, their mindset and motivations, which, if true, has serious implications for learning. Specifically, students' focus on information acquisition over knowledge or understanding and how this skews their motivations in the educational experience. Teachers exacerbate the problem by teaching toward information and skills ignoring the development of knowledge, critical thinking and wisdom. This paper raises issues and suggests further debate and awareness.