Chapter 2 - Creating a Safe Learning Environment

            In the text by Reys, Piaget suggests “knowledge is not passively received; rather, knowledge is actively created or invented by students.”  However, the next question would be how would we get students to actively receive knowledge?  Besides reflecting on their own mental actions and recognizing patterns and what not, learning is suggested by the text as a social process.  Ideally children would be engaging in dialogue and discussion.  To achieve this, I learned or confirmed what I had already known – the importance of a positive learning environment.  This can be done in a number of ways but to mention a few, let’s start off by saying that teachers should be aware of their students and their academic stage – what material is appropriate for which stage their students are in.  This awareness of your own students can help lessen the anxiety of the students and is simply just logically efficient.  Another way to create a safe and positive learning environment is emphasizing communication.  Contrary to my previous assumption that student to teacher communication was the most vital, the text emphasizes not only the student to teacher but also the student to student communication.  Talking between students provides the opportunity for not only explanations, but also for sharing methods, while perhaps simultaneously lowering the anxiety of the student in comparison to a student to teacher scenario.