In our everyday lives we have certain things that we know, we believe, and that guide us in how we operate. Be it an individual decision, a professional interaction, the way we learn, they way we accomplish a task, or simply doing something as basic as walking, we have a method and process for achieving these goals. It is said that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but today I am going to challenge this concept.

Stay with me now, I am going to tie this all back into digital story telling and edTech…I promise!

What We Know We Know

There are certain things in life that you simply know to be true. These are things like “what goes up must come down”, “the sun rises in the east”, “there are 24 hours in the day”, etc. These are things that once you learn it, you take it for granted. In this category we also have basic functions like walking, breathing, hearing, etc. I like to consider these things givens, and things we do subconsciously. In addition these are things that we have studied and pursued information in.

What We Know We Don’t Know

This is pretty straightforward as well. There are some things in life that we simply don’t know. These are generally things that we know exist, and somebody knows lots about, but individually you do not know about it. This is an important category because we know we could learn these things, we just have yet to do so.

What We Don’t Know We Know

Have you ever heard someone say that they have forgotten more than they remember? There are a lot of things that you intuitively know. These are things you have learned over the years, and you can recall when needed, but on a daily basis you are not pondering these concepts.

What We Don’t Know We Don’t Know

There are a lot of things out there that you don’t even know exists. These are the things you don’t think about, or try to learn about, because you aren’t even aware of them. This is the land of new tricks, new discoveries, and innovation.

Okay…thank you for reading this far, and following my logic. So since you have stuck around, you get to follow along and see how I tie this all back to what we do.

I had the awesome opportunity of watching a group of teachers experiment with myCreate, and retell a children’s story through animation. It was amazing to watch this group of adults have to break down the components of the story, figure out a solution and medium to animate with, and learn a new method of creation for storytelling. Through moving these teachers outside their comfort zone, providing them with a new form of communication, and challenging them to step into the “What We Don’t Know We Don’t Know” zone; new discoveries were made, fun was had, and learning took place.

Now I’m not calling any of my teacher friends old dogs…but I am sure that I saw some of them learn a new trick or two?

So now it’s your turn! Leave a comment and tell us what new trick you have learned recently, or a new discovery you have witnessed or experienced with myCreate or SAM animation.