Lenses for learning

Experience or provision of information are thus not enough to learn. Information including un-reflected experiences as an undigested burden is a challenge, for us, our students, and patients. Dewey [1] emphasized the importance of reflection to comprehend and learn. I believe we all need to take the time to share reflected insights in ways that may promote a ripple effect of knowledge building, reducing the undigested burden. Reading analyses by others may promote our internal reflection and thus learning. Research plays an important role as a source of information to support our professional educational endeavor, but also research have the risk of being looked at as information sharing only. As teachers, clinical supervisors, and researchers in education, we are invited to reflect on the research results in relation to our own context and experiences. To make our reflections more complex, we may also consider the lenses used for the information collection. As I have been wearing glasses almost all my life, I’m quite aware of the impact the use of different lenses has on information gathering (such as using reading glasses or regular glasses will dramatically change what I see from the same outlook). I think this also applies to our interpretation of research. Which lens we use when addressing a question will impact our reflections and understanding. Therefore, it is valuable that researchers provide us with information using various lenses. In the current issue, researchers in physiotherapy education help us by their use of different lenses, inviting us to gain a richer picture of learning and education. Lenses for learning