Why The Simpsons and Mashed Potatoes Matter

True confession.

In a systematic theology class, I may have encouraged a student to use mashed potatoes as a metaphor for the Trinity. In my own defense, it allowed us to talk about the integrity of three separate flavors (salt, butter, potato) that together made up the unified thing we know as mashed potatoes. A concrete, if untraditional, example of three-in-one. Even better, it allowed us to explore other themes like modalism and the economic/imminent Trinity with a working metaphor to anchor an abstract discussion.

Too Playful?

In hindsight, I’ve wondered if this metaphor was almost too playful and I’ve been more than a little reluctant to share the specifics about that day in class with colleagues. Certainly, it was a less painful learning experience than some of my other attempts at teaching the history of Trinitarian theology—several of which came to a grinding halt faster than one can say hypostasis.

But, was it good teaching?

The Learning Cycle

Experiential learning theory claims that information is transformed into knowledge by repeating the following process: Learners receive information, reflect on information, creatively attempt to construct new ideas in light of that information, test out the idea, and repeat the process using the new information gained through the testing.

Biologists and neuroscientists are discovering that this learning cycle is neatly situated in the structure of the brain.  In The Art of Changing the Brain, James Zull describes the process: “Concrete experience comes through the sensory cortex, reflective observation involves the integrative cortex at the back, creating new abstract concepts occurs in the frontal integrative cortex, and active testing involves the motor brain (19).”  For more, see James E. Zull.  The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, Stylus Publishing, 2002 or his interview at sharpbrains.com.   (In case a quick refresher on brain structures would be helpful, here’s a succinct tour of the brain.)

Getting Physical

This means that learning has a physical component, and the learning process doesn’t begin for the first time when students enter the classroom.  They bring years of experience that has generated this wealth of prior knowledge, which is personal, complex, and contextual. If learning is to be lasting, new information must be integrated with this network of prior knowledge.

What does this mean for theological educators?  It means that transformative teaching depends on finding ways to connect what students already know when then enter the classroom with what we hope they will embody when they leave.  In some instances, this might mean mashed potatoes and modalism.

A Place of Abundance

My teaching is being enriched by each attempt to put this research to better use.  For example, I’m reordering the units in my systematic theology class to weave abstract considerations of theological method throughout the course – rather than tackling it in the first unit.  As students are doing systematic theology, they will construct and test theories about how it works.

These subtle changes have been transformative for me as a teacher, too. Rather than lament the lack of biblical literacy or faith formation or theological sophistication of current students, I can see the promise in all they bring to the classroom.  Good teaching depends on it, and the classroom is no longer a place of deficit but one of abundance.  It opens up a space to affirm more deeply the many and diverse gifts that our students bring to seminary.

Eternal in the Everyday

Paul Crabtree is a contemporary composer. He has a piece for chorus entitled, “Five Romantic Miniatures.”  It was inspired by the characters on the television show, The Simpsons, and the lyrics of the choral work issue from the show’s dialogue.  This unlikely combination makes for a surprisingly beautiful piece of music in which he searches out the “eternal in the everyday”. The transcendent in today.

Building networks between mashed potatoes and the Trinity or The Simpsons and beauty can deepen our sense that God is at work in the mundane details of our earthy living and learning.  It gives a kind of theological mandate to see God at work in the seemingly ordinary wisdom that students bring with them to seminary.  The biology of learning is furthering the case that transformative teaching creatively links the old and the new to change the hearts and minds of learners.

Let’s Talk…

• How do you get to know what prior knowledge your students bring to class?
• What unlikely combinations of old and new concepts have yielded teachable moments in your classes?
• What changes are you making to your teaching in light of the biology of learning?

 

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