Immersion Metaphor

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines three forms of learning: Formal Learning usually involves certified teachers, accredited curricula, and institutional settings. Non-Formal Learning (sometimes called Incidental Learning) refers to structured learning situations in which one or more of the elements mentioned in the previous sentence is absent. All of those elements are absent in Informal Learning, which is not oriented by or structured around explicit learning outcomes – and which, from the point of view of the learner, is never intentional.

“Learning as acquisition” – the Acquisition Metaphor – is probably the most commonly invoked learning metaphor in English. It is evident in such phrases as “grasping the point,” “taking things in,” “getting it,” “picking things up,” “hard to swallow,” “remember this stuff,” and “cramming for the test.” It is not theoretically sophisticated, relying on the assumption that knowledge comprises externalized objects, and asserting that learning is a process of moving those objects from the outside to the inside.

Incidental Learning refers to learning that is a “by-product” of some other activity – that is, to learning that occurs without specific motivation or focused instruction. Incidental Learning may or may not be implicit. It is typically spontaneous and unstructured. The notion was developed in acknowledgment of the great deal learned by all humans without explicit intention or instruction.

Folk Theories exist within every realm of human engagement. They are, in effect, uncritical and often-indefensible principles of action and interpretation that are woven through everyday language and broad cultural sensibilities. In effect, most of the past 150 years of research into learning has been focused on exposing Folk Theories and exploring more conscious and scientifically robust alternatives.