A new lens: what learning by refraction taught me

By UMEH Chisom M.

For years, I have encountered several terms associated with Jesuit education, such as reflection, discernment, action, cura personalis, magis, learning by refraction, evaluation, and a lot more. I could recognize the words, but I was not always certain that I understood the depth behind them. This year’s workshop on LEARNING BY REFRACTION by Johnny C. Go, SJ, and his team stood out for me in a special way. It is safe to say that the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) appears much clearer to me now.

Before now, it used to puzzle me whenever I heard someone, especially a Jesuit, say he would have to discern before drawing a conclusion. I used to feel like it is too extreme – “Is it not just to think about the topic of discussion and give feedback in a short while?” It is clear now that discernment involves seeing, weighing options, deciding where to go, and making choices.

In making choices, we can consider three doors or levels of decision-making. The first is what feels good, which is the instinctive level, where we are guided primarily by pleasure and the avoidance of pain. The second is the good, which is the moral level, where we distinguish between what is good and what is evil. The third is the greater good, which is the level of discernment, where we move beyond simply choosing what is good and seek to identify what is greater, more meaningful, and more conducive to our ultimate purpose.

Discernment, in this framework, comes into play when the options under consideration are both genuinely good, but the question is which good is the better choice in the particular circumstances. Consider this example.

Situation: For a student to choose between Science, Arts, or Commercial subjects.

Discernment: The student reflects on their gifts, passions, context, and advice from teachers and parents asking, “Where can I serve most?” rather than simply, “What pays most?”

Wow! Could it be that I am experiencing some form of intellectual constipation right now? So many terms that were explained during the workshop are running through my head right now. I need to pour them out in a meaningful but concise composition. Well, let me try to generate a web of connection with some other key takeaways of mine.

To learn by refraction (from the light and water perspective) is to work with the content, unpack the ideas and make it personal. It is not just to mirror or parrot what the teacher says. From the perspective of the eye and lens, learning by refraction involves engaging in trial and error, receiving feedback from teachers, adjusting one’s approach, and learning from mistakes.

The five elements of Ignatian Pedagogy can be understood as a process that moves from understanding the situation to meaningful learning and growth. Context provides the starting point and ensures that learning is relevant to the learner and the situation. Experience engages the whole person, making learning holistic rather than merely intellectual. Reflection allows the learner to make meaning of the experience and should therefore be meaningful. Action follows reflection, enabling the learner to put what has been learned into practice in a way that is applicable. Finally, evaluation assesses the learner’s growth and development, making the process formative and contributing to continued learning.

What stood out mostly for me (maybe because I work with the examinations unit) in these elements is the evaluation – the fact that Ignatian pedagogy places greater emphasis on formative assessment than on summative assessment. I remember one of my colleagues jokingly telling me that he was not so comfortable about me being present at the workshop when the facilitator was talking about authentic assessment because according to him, I will start looking out for those features whenever teachers send in their questions for Continuous Assessments and examinations. Johnny C. Go, SJ and Rita J. Atienza (2019) explain:

Student learning is enhanced when teachers regularly monitor student learning and give the students feedback, as well as the time and opportunity to improve their learning and work before the summative assessment. Frequent checks for understanding also help teachers tweak and adjust instruction to make it more responsive to student needs. This is the reason why formative assessment is called assessment for learning… (pg 144)

Formative assessment improves student learning by allowing teachers to regularly monitor progress, provide feedback, and adjust instruction to meet students’ needs. Unlike summative assessment, its main purpose is to help students improve their understanding and performance before final evaluation. Since the aims of Jesuit education go beyond the academic, our evaluation of the learning that takes place in the classroom must also focus on the students’ growth as persons.

My next major takeaway was the interconnectedness of the learner, the teacher and the world. This was captured for me in what I came to think of as the ‘city of the six Es’ of refractive learning. The various relationships existent in refractive learning are:

Learner ↔ Teacher: Empathy and Empowerment

The teacher is expected to understand and to some extent share the emotional state of the student. This is empathy at work. It also should not get to the extreme. That is where empowerment comes in. The teacher is expected to guide the learners to solve problems on their own and make choices without having to depend on the teacher or anyone else.

Teacher ↔ World: Expertise and Enthusiasm

The relationship between the teacher and the world is that of expertise and enthusiasm. Explaining the two concepts respectively – the teacher should demonstrate a high level of mastery of the content being discussed. He or she should also generate a strong sense of energetic interest, excitement, and eager involvement for the subject, activity, or cause among the learners.

Learner ↔ World: Engagement and Excellence

The learner is expected to exhibit a high level of engagement – this is the state of being actively interested, participating, or involved in a task or class. Through active participation in the learning process, the learner is encouraged to strive for excellence – to become exceptionally good at what they do and continually surpass ordinary standards.

This new lens has therefore challenged me not only to understand learning differently, but also to pay closer attention to how I contribute to the learning and growth of others.

Looking back, I realize that what changed for me was not simply my knowledge of new Jesuit terminologies. I now see connections among context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation. I understand discernment less as an unnecessarily lengthy process of thinking and more as a deliberate search for the greater good. Most importantly, I am beginning to see learning not as something students merely receive, but as something they must engage with, reflect upon, test, refine and eventually make their own.