How do people learn?

Viewing the "Science is Messy" video, we saw the teacher demonstrate his beliefs in how people learn. He gave his students the opportunity to explore a problem on their own, breaking into groups which were free to pursue their own choice of process, given specific materials to work with. After the groups worked on their own, he brought the group together, showing  his belief in the collaborative process enhancing individual endeavors. As the class discussed their project, they learned from the other groups, leading them to additional ideas of their own. The teacher posed "leading questions" and offered suggestions, but did not GIVE the students the CORRECT answers. Rather, his prompts and encouragements allowed the students to discover ideas and conclusions themselves.

In the arena of science, students develop competency by feeling confident and curious to explore on their own. They need to be able to experiment, and to think for themselves as they collect, analyze, and evaluate their data and synthesize their findings to formulate conclusions. Collaboration with others to compare findings and question their processes and conclusions helps to strengthen and solidify their analysis. Using one's creativity is essential to view the evidence and problem from a variety of viewpoints and to "compose" the evidence to create a product or solution.

T2P: If students are given the opportunity to learn both independently AND collaboratively, and if they are given the freedom to explore alternatives to their fullest creativity, then they will learn successfully and effectively, rather than merely memorize information presented to them, because they will be fully engaged and vested in the learning process. They will feel it is THEIR learning  rather than someone else's teaching. That is, to me, an important distinction.