Salomon and Globerson define mindfulness in the context of learning as volitional,

medicognitively guided employment of non-automatic, usually effort demanding processes. I

found their definition of high road learning vs. low road learning interesting. They mention
that, to become an expert, it is reasonable to assume that much of the practice involved in
attaining relative expertise does not involve much mindfulness. I am not convinced of this
particular statement. In my own research, I know that becoming an expert in physics requires
more than low road practice. I have seen students work through many physics problems, but
this practice does not help them make connections to previous learning. I feel that practice
physics problems should be designed so that they help the student see the connection to prior
learning. So many times, students feel that if a homework problem from the book is from
chapter 2, then they should only use the information found in chapter 2 to solve it. This is
very detrimental to the students learning, and it forces students to jump into the
implementation phase before completing the analysis phase. It is all about plug and chug.
So I feel that mindful learning of physics can only occur if problems are designed to help
students build a robust knowledge structure, taking pieces of prior knowledge and making
appropriate connections. I do like their point that high road learning results in better
comprehension, memory, and deeper processing and allows de-contextualization of concepts.
Zabat-Zinns article shed quite a different light on mindfulness. It is defined as
awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and
nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. I found it interesting that
the words for mind and heart are the same in Asian languages, so mindfulness includes an
affectionate, compassionate quality within attending, a sense of openhearted, friendly presence
and interest. It is considered to be insight meditation, seeing into the nature of mind and
world. Although Im not sure I completely understand what exactly mindfulness entails, I think
that this quality would be very important for a teacher to develop. I believe that having a sense
of empathy for my students has helped me to become a better teacher. This requires putting
myself in their shoes, so to speak. It also helps me to consider their viewpoints about learning
physics. I feel that this quality is lacking in many teachers today. This can severely affect
students and their future learning. It is very interesting that they found that meditators skin
cleared more rapidly than nonmeditators. I believe more research should be done on this topic to
verify their results, but I personally have always felt that there is a mental component of
healing and health that should not be ignored.
In the Bishop article, they define mindfulness as a two-part process of 1) regulating
attention in order to bring a quality of non-elaborative awareness to current experience and a
quality of relating to ones experience within an orientation of curiosity, experiential openness
and acceptance and 2) as gaining insight in to the nature of ones mind and the adoption of a de-
centered perspective. It seems as though mindfulness would need to be repeatedly practiced in
order to master it, since our minds seem to wander so easily from thought to thought.
Additionally, distractions such as internet, television, phones, and other technology are so
abundant and make it difficult to engage in mindfulness. I am still a little unsure as to what the
goal of mindfulness is, but it seems that it is about gaining insight about oneself without
judgment.