[00:00] Speaker 1: (instrumental music) Welcome to All Learning Reimagined, the podcast that defines convention and redefines the purpose and practice of education. Here we venture beyond institutional boundaries. Whether you're a parent, educator, or curious mind devoted to lifelong growth, this is your space to challenge assumptions and co-create a more humane and intuitive approach to education. Let's reimagine what education can be.

[00:42] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[00:48] Speaker 3: Yay. And welcome to All Learning Reimagined. I'm your host, Teresa, bringing you a little ray of sunshine, as together, we're reimagining the future of education one inspired story at a time. Welcome back, everybody. It's so lovely to be with you again this week, um, in our part four of part eight of a series with my All Learn Re- Reimagined framework. Um, basically just sharing different ideas of things that we can do, uh, to shift the way that we approach learning. And I mean, our last conversations, we explored how language shapes our inner world, um, how relationships shape our experience, and how learning emerges, um, from the space between us, um, you know, with the learning field and our relational learning. But today, we're gonna move into something that sits a little bit more at the heart of it all, uh, which is passion. Uh, passion-led learning, actually. And nothing new. Absolutely nothing new.

[01:55] Speaker 3: Um, I guess passion and passion-led learning is more simply really curiosity, because when a learner is actually lit from within, um, and you can see it in young children all the time, something shifts, uh, because they're not actually not, not learning because they've been pushed to learn or, um, told they have to learn. It actually becomes more of a pull. It's more magnetic, because it's something that they're curious about and that they're interested in. And I mean, this, this, (laughs) this, hmm, I guess it's a natural drive with every human to explore and to question and to understand. You can see that particularly young children, but I know teenagers do this as well, they, they do the constant, "Why?" You know, the fascination with the small details. "But why do we do that? Why is that col- that color?" You know, "Why?" And then they ha- also have the desire to touch and to build and experiment and discover.

[02:58] Speaker 3: I mean, toddlers like to put everything in their mouth (laughs) because of their senses. Of course, I'm not saying that anyone needs to do that, but it's just that whole exploration, and they don't have any, um, boundaries about what they want to do in order to explore something that interests them, um, because they're being led completely 100% from the heart. It's not until we get older that really our mind gets in the way of what we could or should, um, do or learn. And so, what I wanna do is strip that back and discuss today, um, learning from passion, which is your highest excitement. You know, what really interests you. I mean, there isn't any- isn't anything we need to create. It's actually already there. And yet, somewhere along the li- the way for many learners, um, our curiosity spark begins to fade.

[03:57] Speaker 3: Personally, because I think it's because of all, all of the programming that we have in society and certainly schools, um, and it's bec- not because children have lost the ability, it's because the conditions around them have changed. So, if you're an adult, if you're a grandparent, a parent, um, homeschooling, if you're a teacher, a teacher aide, anyone that has anything to do with particularly children, be aware of the environment that you are creating for these children to thrive. Are we allowing them enough open-ended time to explore and to explore their questions, to explore their interest? Or is everything rigid and the way that it is, um, um, timetabled, I guess? "We need to do this, and then we have to learn this, and then I need to assess you on this. Next, next, next, next." This is what a lot of our mainstream schools have turned into now.

[04:53] Speaker 3: It's basically just pushing through whatever the government has told them with curriculum and not necessarily what the children are, um, called to explore and understand. And I mean, if you've got a class of 25 children, it's really difficult, um, to be able to get what is expected of you done and allow them that time to explore, but there's still ways that we can compromise this and give children choice, um, to be able to even if it's just to, mm, on how they're going to express what it is that they've learned. Um, there's lots of compromises that you can do to get started in this space. I think much of the current system is really built on external motivation. You know, you get rewards. You have to have grades. There is a lot of comparison. I know in high school, grades are certainly the external comparison. Um, students will do a lot of things because they want the mark that they want, and they want the grade that they want.

[05:55] Speaker 3: "If you do this, then you're going to get that." And I really personally feel that's a sad.... state of our society, because what is that indoctrinating children and what is it actually doing to their inner spirit? It's training them to just do as they're told, um, or that you have to get something. You're not doing something just purely for the pleasure of it or because you enjoy it. You're doing something in order to get something. So, it's that, well, carrot and that stick and that reward. It's a dangerous path to go down. You know, research shows that we rely too heavily on external rewards and something important within us begins to diminish, and that theory is called the Self-Determination Theory. And it really explains why humans are more motivated, or most motivated, when three core needs are met. I'm talking about the theory now. They're talking about autonomy, so when you have a sense of choice, which is vital.

[07:00] Speaker 3: Competence, the feeling that we're growing and that we're capable. This is so important today. And I feel that there's a lot of children who are d- who are dealing with, um, anxiety and lots of mental health issues because this has been robbed from them. Lots of parents do things for them, lots of teachers do things for them, and then they don't get that sense of self-competence. Um, I know, in many of the schooling settings that I have taught, I've taught lots of children in big cities and in lo- in s- in outback, uh, outback Australia, in the country, uh, and the children that live in the country seem to have this much more, that c- sense of competence, because they're expected to do a lot more around, uh, the property and they have that opportunity outside of the schooling setting to be able to get that. And then, the third thing, so we had autonomy, competence, third thing was connection. And that's the experience of being seen and being supported.

[08:00] Speaker 3: Now, I feel that there's a lot of schools that do the connection really well, but the autonomy, um, the sense that they have a choice, and the competence of growing capable and being able to do something completely on their own, is, are, are two areas that I feel, um, are hit-and-miss, depending on what their learning environment really is. So, when these three things are present, then motivation actually becomes natural. So, when they're not there, (laughs) the learning actually feels a little bit forced. I, I know personally, speaking from experience, there is sometimes there's a unit of work that I'm expected to teach, and it might be something that I'm not interested in, um, and I, I really struggle to try and get any enthusiasm to teach something that I just don't care about at all. And yet, I'm expected to teach it with enthusiasm to children. And I'm aware that my emotions are contagious.

[08:56] Speaker 3: So, it's a really a knock-on effect of being able to create the environment for children to be able to flourish and learn, but it's a, it's a double-edged sword in the current system that we have. If you're in a learning environment where you have a lot more freedom, where you're homeschooling, um, uh, or at forest school, um, there's lots of different schooling and education, um, uh, I don't even want to say systems, mm, learning environments, perhaps, is probably the right word, that do allow a lot more choice and do allow more, um, space for children to develop competence. Uh, I'm not really sure about the age group though. I'm probably speaking more for the primary school children from my experience, but once you get into secondary, it really seems to be that we've been, we- we're pushed on a treadmill or a pathway that you have to get a ticket or a piece of paper, or registered in something in order to be able to be employed.

[09:58] Speaker 3: So, you need to h- have a year 12 certificate, um, and then you either need to go on and do a diploma or get a, um, uh, a cert certificate in something, you know, if you wanna be a barista. Uh, or you need to go to university in order to get your, uh, piece of paper, your, your bachelor or your master's, or whatever the degree happens to be. And it seems like once you're on that treadmill, a lot of choice is taken away from you, and you're basically, mm, uh, given the content of what it is you're supposed to learn, with the exception of possibly some of the masters courses, which can be self-directed, but that's a long way down the track for learners when you think about the way that our learning system is really, um, it's like a conveyor belt. It's like, you're going to learn this, and then next, you're going to learn this. And it doesn't matter if it's at their pace, this is what you're going to learn from year, to year, to year, to year.

[10:55] Speaker 3: And for, for 12, for 13 years in Australia, because we have prep all the way up to year 12, and then they go on to do another three, four, five, sometimes seven or eight extra years study. That's a huge predominant chunk of their life where they're not necessarily learning through passion and learning through the heart. It's no wonder we have so many people in society today, me included, that, by default, um, uh, lead through the head and lead through logic, because it's basically how we've been trained, um, to think and to act. And many of you listening today might go, "Well, this all sounds very well in theory, but what can everybody, you know, what can we possibly do about it?" There actually is a lot of things that we can do about it within the system, and there's a lot of things you can do about it if you choose to move outside of the system, because you don't need a four walls and you don't need a, a name tag in order to be able to lead with passion.

[11:55] Speaker 3: I mean, if you're a grandparent and you've got the grandkids coming over for the weekend, and you, your grandchild is really interested in fishing, tag them fishing. So, whatever it is that, you know, if they're interested in dinosaurs, if they're interested in, um, I don't know, flowers, or clouds, or whatever it happens to be, just-... take that conversation and that curiosity where they're interested, um, and invest some time and energy, and allow them to explore what it is that they love. So, you can counteract and you can counterbalance, um, things that children are doing in their formal schooling setting, if that's the situation and circumstance that you're actually in. Um, so back to what I was talking about, autonomy, competence, and connection. That's the self-determination theory. There's also something that happens in the brain when this happens, and that's because they engage in something, when you're genuinely interested in, your brain re- releases dopamine.

[12:54] Speaker 3: Now, (laughs) the dopamine hits that a lot of children are getting from technology today is pretty much out of control, but this is, in my opinion, a different type of dopamine hit. It's not just the, "Ding! Oh, someone liked my post," dopamine hit. Um, it's one that's more that's an internal dopamine because they're actually focusing on something that's, that's internal, that's important to them inside of themselves. I'm not talking about anything superficial. And what I have observed is this really enhances their focus, and it strengthens their memory, and it increases their persistence. I have seen children who are completely detached from school, but the moment you focus on something that they love, they come alive. It's amazing. And then they want to come into the classroom at lunchtime and keep working on this and, "Can I do this?" And then they, they want to explore and they want to add more because it's something that has hit that, um, interest for them and excites them.

[13:55] Speaker 3: And of course, I would never shut them down, and you would just say, "Let's see how far we can take this." Um, and you would allow them to e- explore, in that simple term, and then the brain remembers. What I have ex- discovered over the many years, and the research backs it up, is that the brain remembers what it cares about. If children are being th- and children and teenagers, even adults for that matter, are being forced to learn something because they have to, quite often they will, um... Maybe they might learn it short-term and remember it short-term, but it's not necessarily deep learning. When it's something that they really truly care about, and there's that emotion attached to what it is that they're learning, they're truly having deeper learning, um, and the brain remembers it. So, I'd love to pause for a couple of seconds and give you some time to think about something that you have learned effortlessly.

[14:56] Speaker 3: (laughs) I mean, some people that might be learning to drive a car, they found it effortless 'cause they were really, really fascinated. That was definitely not me, by the way. I bunny-hopped all over town. It was terrible. But I learned because I needed to, and I wanted the freedom. Um, uh, (laughs) that was probably not a good example, but you know what I mean. So, they might be a child that's really interested in rocks, um, and they love, um, crystals and rocks and sticks, and they're a little bit like a bowerbird. They're outside. They're constantly connecting nature. So, if you take them to somewhere where you can dig for thunder eggs, for example, oh my gosh, they would just ask lots of questions and want to know exactly what they're doing, and geology is po- possibly one of the pathways that they might want to go down. But so, for you, what's a skill that you have, possibly a hobby that you absolutely love and adore, something that's a passion for you in your life?

[15:58] Speaker 3: Tricky to think about sometimes. When I ask this question to many different people, some of them sort of look at me and go, "You know, I don't really have a passion. I'm just surviving. I'm working a job. I've got kids. I- I'm just living a life. I don't have time to, (laughs) to follow my passion." And if that's you, if you're stopping and thinking about that, then I would urge you just to ponder about this a little bit later and go, "Hmm. What could I be interested in?" And if you're not interested or don't have a passion, maybe you just haven't found it yet. Maybe it's just that having a pl- having a play on exploring. It might be, "I'm gonna go for a, a bike ride," or, "I'm gonna go and, um, and take a trip and travel somewhere and just see," where your body feels the pull, what interests you. Just notice. Get out of your head and tap into your heart space and feel what it is that your heart sings. Like, wha- what does it love to do?

[16:55] Speaker 3: I mean, you don't really need to be told to practice something that you're actually being drawn to. So, something that you're drawn to, just notice. Take in, take, take note of this. Even if you feel like you do have your passion, there's more than one. There's- (laughs) that's why life is so amazing, because you can constantly discover more of them. It doesn't matter what age you are, you can still discover a passion. My beautiful grandfather, who's not with me anymore, he started weightlifting at a gym in his 70s. He decided he just wanted to get stronger. He was already a very strong man, and he went to the gym with all of these young people walking around in their spandex, and he would turn up with his knee brace and his, (laughs) and his walker, and he would be lifting re- gy- he would be lifting weights, and he absolutely loved it. And he had this huge, booming laugh.

[17:48] Speaker 3: And I can only imagine some of the comments that the younger people around him were thinking, but I'm hoping that he actually inspired them to... He didn't care what anyone thought. He just loved it. He always followed his heart and did exactly what he loved to do. Uh, he was, um, so passion-led. So, I had an amazing, uh, role model in, in just that one grandparent, not to mention other people in my family. So, you know, who do you have in your life that you know just absolutely follow their heart and their passion? And have a look what they do.Uh, maybe it's you, maybe it's you. And if it is you, perhaps you could sprinkle a little bit of that with other people around them and encourage others to follow their passion, because if everyone in the world started doing this and leading from our heart, oh, my gosh, the world would change overnight. You know?

[18:42] Speaker 3: If the whole world laughed at the same time, I f- I feel it would change the frequency of the planet, it would raise the consciousness of everybody around us, and we would be in such a much better place. And that includes anyone who has been through trauma. I mean, trauma seems to be everywhere at the moment, drama and trauma, and, and there's just so much hurt in the world. And yet, and yet, we don't have to choose to focus on that. We can go, "Okay, what do I love to do? Let me go and focus on that and do that, bring more of that into me." Because our, our thoughts are electrical, humans are electrical beings, we know that, our thoughts go out, but our emotions are magnetic and they draw into us. And it has been proven that the toroidal field, the electrical field that is generated from your heart is... I can't remember, I think it's, like, five or six, it might even be eight, I can't remember the number, but it is huge compared to the field that's brought from your thoughts.

[19:47] Speaker 3: It has a massive field. So, this is definitely something worth exploring, um, not just for yourself, because it affects others, it has a ripple effect. Oh, it's just so exciting to see. I mean, when you're doing something that you're passionate about and you're improving, you're not doing it through pressure, you're doing it because you're interested, um, the excitement of discovering your new abilities or the curiosity that drives your exploration or possibly even just the desire to create something or understand something meaningful, that is true learning. I mean, we see it in movies all the time. Y- you think about movies like, um, hmm, let me see, Harry Potter, that captures this beautifully. You know, learning in that world isn't just delivered, it's actually experienced, the learning is experienced. Um, and while Harry Potter's certainly a story, it reflects on something very real within us. Um, you know, so what happens when we begin to shift our approach?

[20:53] Speaker 3: Instead of saying, you know, "What should this child learn? What should that teenager learn? What should I learn?" we start to say, "Okay, well, what is this child curious about? What are they really interested in? Um, what are they drawn to?" And instead of controlling the path, just begin to follow the spark of interest that they might have or follow the spark of interest that you might have, if it's you. And it doesn't... there's... Age doesn't come into this whatsoever. There doesn't have to be a structure. The structure does... From an educator point of view, the structure does serve the learner, but it shouldn't be the other way around. You know, it, it just shouldn't be. We're supposed to guide and support and offer tools or offer environments. We're not meant to be extinguishing the flame of the passion and the interest and the curiosity in the process. And I'm absolutely guilty of this over the 30-plus (clears throat) (laughs) years that I have been teaching.

[22:02] Speaker 3: You know, there are times when you're expected to teach a certain way and get this assessment done, and you only have a certain amount of time, and passion just goes completely out the window But I always made sure that I had, uh, like, learning center tables with lots of different interesting things so that if children had finished their activities, they could go to that table and they could see what they were drawn to, um, and they can... they could continue that. I always made sure that I took the learning outside the classroom. I very rarel- rarely ever taught all of my classes inside a classroom. If I didn't have picnic tables outside, we would go, um, and sit under a tree, or, or... A maths class that we were supposed to do, we would take them outside, or we would do lots of excursions and camps. Um, real-world learning, it's something that I've always done, because I'm passionate about it. Um, so I guess that that was me following my passion within my job.

[23:01] Speaker 3: One of my passions is seeing people, any, any person, any age, um, succeed and come alive. And so, it's something that really excites me to see them and help guide them so that they can explore and become, um, better at something and, and find their interest and find their passion. It... There's just nothing better, nothing better. Absolutely love it. Anyway, I'm getting off-track. Hmm. How much time have I got? Yep, okay. I'm gonna keep going. Okay, so... Hmm. I guess, I... What it all sort of comes down to is when curiosity is present, the effort feels different. When I've got children who are really interested, or teenagers that are really interested in something, the effort... They don't care about the effort. The time also feels different. It's almost like they lose track of time, because they're really loving what they're doing. And quite often, when it's time to pack up and do something else, they don't want to, because they're in the flow You know, that magical flow?

[24:04] Speaker 3: The learning really feels alive for them. I feel like this when I'm writing. When I'm creative writing, it just flows. I could sit for hours and just not even realize. Um, and I... You can bend that time. Uh, so perhaps the question we really begin to ask ourselves is, are we trying to motivate the learning by, "I'm going to give you this if you do that?" Or are we creating the conditions where the motivations..... naturally exist? And I don't have all of the answers for these. If you have the answers or if you got suggestions, please contact me. Um, go to bbsradio.com/alllearningreimagined. And on my landing, uh, landing page where you'll find all of my archive shows, all of the articles and the activities that I create for free, they're there. Take them, adapt them, adopt them, use them. There's also a section there where you can drop me a line. You can send me an email, contact me. Thank you to the many people who do already. Um, I appreciate your comments.

[25:08] Speaker 3: And I am thrilled that you, um, love the activities that I share each week. And it's great to hear that there's so many people out there that are using them, particularly in their homeschool setting. So, thank you for that. That certainly, um, makes my heart sing, definitely makes my heart sing. Um, okay. So, from there, I guess, what I would like to do is probably talk to you about some of the activities that are going to be in this week's article. So, um, we talked a little bit about intrinsic motivation, you know, self-determination theory, autonomy, competence, and connection. We've talked a little bit about the brain engagement, the dopamine that you receive, increases your focus, your memory, and of course, persistence, and limiting the external rewards, so overuse. External, there's nothing wrong with external rewards, of course. But overuse really does reduce the intrinsic motiv- motivation, so it shifts the learning from the meaning to compliance.

[26:08] Speaker 3: Uh, I'm guilty of that as well. Uh, I think we all are. It seems to be the way that our, our system is set up. Uh, but when we tr- start to limit that where possible and have our curiosity take our natural state, children are actually inherently c- curious. Um, but their systems can either nurture that curiosity or suppress it. So find a way, even if it's a small way, to give them choice to be able to follow their curiosity. Um, and then there's a key shift from control to guidance or from the content, I have to teach you the content, to the learner being first. So that's sort of wrapping up everything that I've just talked about. So, some of the activities that you could do would be curiosity mapping. Oh, this is a good one. I really love this one. And you can do this, hmm, with crayons and felt-pens and paper. Um, some of the children like to use online tools to do a lot of mapping. Personally, I don't like to use the technology. I like to go outside.

[27:10] Speaker 3: Sometimes I can give them a, let's get some dirt or some sand. We can go to the sandpit and get a stick and see if they can map through that. Or take a clipboard with their piece of paper and go out and sit under a tree, and then see what comes to them. So, something in nature and being outside really does seem to get the creative juices flowing. But when you're mapping, you basically ask the child, "What are you interested in right now?" Um, and then, "What do you enjoy learning about?" Now, you do have some children who just go, "Well, I don't know." Um, and if that's the case, they just need time. They might need a few suggestions, or possibly they need to just hear what other people are writing down on their piece of paper. Um, and we do do that sometimes. We, we do like to share. So, we get them to write it down and then follow the threads.

[28:01] Speaker 3: Um, you know, uh, "I like to go to the beach." "Why?" "Uh, well, I like to build sandcastles." "Why?" "Well, because I really love to play or do things with my hands." "Why?" So, you can actually follow the threads and use the why question, um, as a guide if you want to. Another experiment you could do, which usually takes a little bit longer, is like follow the spark. And this is when, um, children, adults, I've done this personally, you notice moments of natural interest. So, you know, if you're a doom scroller and you're on your phone and you're scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, what is it that piques your interest? Take note of it. What is it that's, that's sparking your interest? Just go, "Oh, what is that?" Um, and then see if it's a programmed thing that you've had to, for your interest or if it's something that you're genuinely interested. Sort of tap in and allow a little bit of extra time there.

[28:55] Speaker 3: And observe, um, the changes in your engagement when it's something that you're not genuinely interested in. Another thing you could do is, as a task, is you could reframe a question. If you're a teacher, instead of saying to children, "Finish this task," um, you could ask a question like, "What part of this task interests you the most?" So, even if it's something that had to be done, you can start to s- reframe the questions because it's reframing the thinking of how they're thinking, and, and feeling about the questions. And then, of course, my favorite, which are passion projects. And I've had passion projects running in my classroom for many, many years, and that's when you're inviting, uh, the learner to build something or researching something or create something. Um, and it can be anything. It's literally following their passion.

[29:50] Speaker 3: And interestingly enough, a lot of the children's passion projects, when I watch them grow up and see what they, what they do, wh- um, who they become, what career choice they choose to do, it's not who they are. It's something they choose to do. It's often highly linked and, and intricately linked with their passion projects. It's fascinating to watch. Just love it, love it, love it, love it. So, my question for you is when do you feel most alive when learning and what environments support that? And I think I'm probably going to leave it there today. Um, uh, hopefully I've given you some food for thought, and you can go and tap into your heart space and, and follow what you're curious about. So, thank you, everybody for joining me on All Learning Reimagined. Until next week, explore, experience, express. Go out and live learning.

[30:48] Speaker 1: (Instrumental music) Thank you for joining us on All Learning Reimagined, where passion illuminates the path forward. Remember this, the future of learning doesn't arrive from above. It begins within. You are the spark, the shift, the living answer to education's silent call for transformation. So stay curious. Stay awake. Let inspiration be your compass, because how we learn today is not just personal. It is profoundly generative. It shapes the very architecture of tomorrow's world. We are not separate from the system. We are its evolution. Until next time, trust the wisdom of your own unfolding and let your life be the lessons that light the way for others.

[31:57] Speaker 1: (baby laughing)