The concept of "learning to learn" (3 hours)

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Read at least one of the articles listed here:

• "Learning: your first job"
  • This is a practical introduction to learning strategies for new university students.
• "The dangers of fluent lectures"
  • This discusses how active learning can be more effective than listening to lectures.
• "Desirable difficulties in the classroom"
  • This, although addressed towards teachers rather than students, discusses some of the ways that encountering challenges during learning can help you learn better.
• "Learning to Learn"
  • This article is quite difficult and technical, and focuses mainly on learning theory. You don't need to read and understand every word of it; if you choose this one, skimming the article to understand the main idea is sufficient, and I recommend you can focus mainly on the sections "Need for new kinds of learning", "What really is learning?", and "Metacognition"

After you have finished reading one or more articles, answer at least THREE of the questions below.

• Explain the distinction between "taking notes" and "making notes". How can this help you in this subject or other subjects you are taking?
• What strategies does a successful learner use?
• Explain the difference between information and knowledge.
• In research on teaching methods, are lectures considered good or bad? Why?
• Are there any things you have done in previous classes that are not conducive to good learning? What were they, and what can you do differently in the future?
• Give one concrete example of a way you can improve your learning in the future based on what you've read in these articles. This needs to be a concrete example; don't just say "I will think critically about what I read in class" or "I will discuss with classmates" or things like that, but give a specific example of a specific practice you can do that you have not done before. You also don't need to shit on yourself; you can reflect on (and even criticize) your past practices without saying you are stupid or "a bad student". I'm not looking for self-flagellation (beating yourself up) here; in fact, you will learn more if you take confident charge of your own learning, rather than assuming you are just a "bad student" and giving up. I don't like seeing any student use this exercise as a way to insult themself.
• Is there anything you strongly agree or disagree with in these articles? Explain. (Disagreeing is ok; for example, I like the Leamnson article, but there are two things in it that I very much disagree with.)
• Describe something in these articles that surprised you and challenged your previous assumptions about how learning works, or your assumptions about how students should behave.

When you have finished these activities, continue to the next section of the module: "Thinking styles".

by Stephen Politzer-Ahles. Last modified on 2021-04-17. CC-BY-4.0.