I find that I most closely identify with a blend of empiricism, pragmatism, and constructivism, although I don't agree completely with any of them. I think there is an objective reality existing independently from our beliefs and perceptions, but as we have no means to access that reality, it becomes irrelevant and our beliefs and perceptions govern how we interact with our environment and each other.

I believe that our personalities are built by our environment, our past experiences, and whatever physiological factors create our brain structure. We start out by reacting to stimuli, just like training a puppy, and what we perceive as our sentience and intelligence is built from that foundation. Our natural tendency to move towards what makes us happy and pull away from what makes us unhappy guides our more complex needs and desires.

I believe our ability to learn is tightly wound with our desire to do so. The available knowledge is vast, but any part of it is only learned efficiently when the learner is motivated to concentrate on it. This is easy when a student has a genuine interest in or curiosity about the subject, but this is not often then case. Most of the time, it is not enough to know for the sake of knowing -- learners have to know why they should make the effort. What will I gain from learning what this class has to offer? Motivating students will also encourage them to be persistent in tackling new or confusing ideas.

To encourage learning, teachers should:

• stress the benefits gleaned from learning the subject material
• provide a real-world context for practical application of the new knowledge
• challenge the students to apply what they've learned during the class
• encourage interaction among students and, when possible, between students and others who have applied the knowledge in real-world environments
• clearly describe the ultimate goals for the course
• create smaller goals during the course to help learners measure their progress and to encourage the slower learners
• assess why a student got an assignment wrong and work to correct the source of the problem
• provide a comfortable, relaxed environment
• use a variety of teaching tools to help maintain focus and to aid those who learn better with some methods than with others (for example, lecturing might frustrate someone who is hard of hearing, reading can baffle the dyslexic, and the wrong types of visual aides can confuse the color-blind)
• when applicable, list resources where learners can research the topic more in-depth or look up alternate views