Douglas Masini

The Promise of an Accidental Pedagogy: Learning and Knowing in the Mountains Douglas Masini

The Promise of An Accidental Pedagogy - Learning and knowing are shy and wary chameleons who change form and color to suit the habitat and environment of the knowledge-seeker. My intent was to investigate the presence and utility of implicitly learned tacit knowledge in those with catastrophic neuromusculoskeletal injury or disease. In reflection, I now see that my ignorance about their use of technology immediately juxtaposed our roles, with me taking on the role of the listener and learner while they became the teacher. My experience with these people convinced me they were learning unusual things about complex medical equipment in unorthodox ways, using techniques that did not appear in the lesson plans or in a text book. Hearing their stories about learning and knowing made me question my own beliefs about teaching and caused me to re-examine that which I define as knowledge. This study explored historical, philosophical, and epistemological foundations of knowledge, and proposes novel techniques for measuring the effectiveness of training programs in this unique group of learners by mapping the utility, presence, and emergence of their implicit and explicit learning.