Often people think that they understand things that they really do not understand. Being familiar with a subject is not the same as having the ability to recall information showing that the information that you have learned has been stored in your brain and can be retrieved for any purpose (Willingham, n.d.). ‘A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing’ is a poem that was written by Alexander Pope in 1709 in his ‘An Essay on Criticism’ (Poets’ Graves, n.d.). This poem alludes to the fact that people think that they know more than they do which makes what little knowledge they have dangerous. When people are unable to see the whole picture, they are often not cognizant to the fact that there is missing information that they do not have. Peter Reuell tells about a study that was conducted on learning showing that students often think that they know something because they listened to a lecture and were entertained, but that is not the same as actively learning (Reuell, 2019). These students walked away from the interesting and entertaining lecture thinking that they knew the material, but when they sat down to test, they indeed did not know the material. This showed that quality lecturing is merely an introduction to the lesson. There must be some form of active learning throughout the process to connect all the pieces; otherwise, students are left with familiarity of a topic instead of actually learning the information.
References:
Poets’ Graves. (n.d.). A little Learning by Alexander Pope. Poets’ Graves: Serious About Poets and Poetry. https://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Pope/a_little_learning.htm
Reuell, P. (2019, September 4). Study shows that students learn more when taking part in classrooms that employ active-learning strategies. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/09/study-shows-that-students-learn-more-when-taking-part-in-classrooms-that-employ-active-learning-strategies/
Sanchez, C. and Dunning, D.. (2018, March 29). Research: Learning a little about something makes us overconfident. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-learning-a-little-about-something-makes-us-overconfident
The Meaning and Origin of ‘A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing.’ (2022, October 23). Interesting Literature. https://interestingliterature.com/2021/09/a-little-learning-is-a-dangerous-thing-meaning-analysis-origin/
Willingham, D. (n.d.). Why students think they understand when they don’t. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/comprehension/articles/why-students-think-they-understand-when-they-dont
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