Maturation VS Learning: Can Negative be a Positive Sign?

A member of Barangay Skinner, Ms. Caunca asked; If the result of maturation is negative, can it still be considered learning?

I replied that Maturation itself is NOT learning. Therefore, be it negative or positive, I think it doesn’t matter as much as learning is concerned.

I want to expound this answer in a rephrased question:

Can negative change be a positive sign of Learning?

Let me set the line between Maturation and Learning first before we proceed with the Attributes.

The diagram shows that:

1. Maturation is ONLY a matter of time. There’s NO OTHER stimuli that brings about Maturation.
2. Maturation is the biological, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and psychological growth and development inherited and takes place with the life stages (Human) such as Infancy to Adulthood or life cycle (Animals) such as Caterpillar to Butterfly.
3. Maturation results to changes that are NOT learned.
4. Maturation generates reflex: the ability to react or behave appropriately in a given situation. Ex. Nobody teaches a baby to cry nor a hatchling to fly, it happens with time.
5. Maturation AFFECTS learning. If a level of maturity has not been achieved, no matter how experience, practice, environment and knowledge influence learning, the expected change or outcome cannot be accomplished. 
6. You can’t expect an infant to count even if you teach him/her day and night.
7. Learning needs stimuli to take place. Unlike Maturation that only requires time, learning needs a trigger to occur.
8. Learning does NOT affect maturation.
9. Maturation and Learning can either be a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE Change. Cancer is a negative Maturation the same way that acquiring knowledge to cut classes is negative learning.

Negative learning is the phenomenon of new information leading to a decrease or sustained divergence of current belief from the true outcome while Progressive learning is an increase in the correspondence between the true outcome and the uncertainty characterization over time (Oppenheimer, O’Neil, & Webster, 2008).

Although the definition above is in connection to climate change, I think it is also applicable in education. People regard an unfortunate situation as a chance to figure out what NOT to do (Kohn, 2009).

Therefore, YES.

A negative change is a positive sign of either Maturation or Learning or BOTH.

People can’t just will themselves into being proficient progressive teachers; still, construing a bad classroom as an opportunity for negative learning may jump-start the process (Kohn 2009).

So as teachers, we MAY also have a contribution to bring about any negative learning to our students. Thus, it is important to continuously improve ourselves and our own views of learning in order to deliver a progressive approach in our classrooms as much and as often as possible.

References:

Kohn, A. (2009). The Value of Negative Learning. Retrieved from http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/value-negative-learning/?print=pdf

Korb, K. (2010, May 4). Maturation and Development. Jos, Nigeria. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://www.korbedpsych.com/LinkedFiles/102_01MaturationandReadiness.pdf

Oppenheimer, M., O’Neil, B. C., & Webster, M. (2008, May 6). Negative Learning. Princeton, New Jersey, USA. doi:10.1007/s10584-008-9405-1