WHAT HELPS LEARNING?
3 Sneaky Causes of Failure at
Learning
5 Principles That Work and
That Are Worth Sharing
How to Learn Is Learnable
What 3 Students Wrote about Their Own Learning
Failure
at learning comes when people don't ask themselves these 3 questions about the
methods they use (or habits they have):
Make
sure you look at your habits--you can choose habits that match the person you
plan to be.
A
brief list quoted by Kathleen F. Gabriel highlights fundamental principles of
how to help learning. The ones I have bolded are things that this course tries
to do to help you.
1. What and how much is learned in any situation depends heavily on prior knowledge and experience.
2. Learning is generally enhanced when learners are required to
take information that is presented in one format and
"re-represent" it in an alternative
format. [bold added]
3. Varying conditions under which learning takes place makes
learning harder for learners but results in better learning.
[bold added]
4. The single most
important variable in promoting long-term retention and transfer is practice in retrieval. [bold
added]
5. Learning is influenced by both students' and our own [the
professors'] epistemologies .
(pp. 38-39)
The
author: Kathleen F. Gabriel is the author of Teaching Unprepared Students:
Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education. The
quotation is on page 67. She
places this introduction just before the quotation: "As a complement to
the investigation of learning styles and learning approaches, it is also
helpful to share with students some of the research findings on how people
learn. In their article 'Applying the Science of Learning,' Halpern and Hakel (2003) discuss 10 'basic laboratory-tested
principles drawn from what we know about human learning' (p. 38). My
favorite five to discuss with students are
." [bold
added] |
I
love history because history (and some wonderful experiences and colleagues)
taught me to think. Seeing how my professors learned and having them invest in
me made a difference for me. I am glad to help any of you as they helped me.
The
methods I use worked for me and they match research in learning as well. They
may help you.
These
students were kind enough to write to me so I'm sharing their statements about
how to learn is learnable. I've separated their statements with the ---- line.
I have added bold in their statements.
-------Student
1-------
I first wanted to thank you for all that you did for me when
I was your student. I do not know if I ever fully expressed this to you but you
really made a huge impact on me and my approach to learning. Your dedication
and willingness to go above and beyond for your students inspired me to truly
give 110% of my effort. (Up until that point I did not do that; I was able to
do well in the majority of my classes giving the bare minimum). The methods you
taught us to really understand the information we were faced with versus
rote memorization completely changed the way that I learn and I still
use that approach today....
I want you to know that had you not invested in me like you
did and given me the confidence that I can succeed in life I do not think I
would be where I am today or even be the person I have become.
-------Student
2-------
I just wanted to let you know, that the skills I
learned in your class especially essay writing, paid off in my geology
class in spades. My teacher lets us answer 3 essay questions for bonus points
for our test. He gave us a possible of 8 ?, out
of those 8 Five showed up on the test, I could pick any 3 of those. I
nailed my essays.
From a second email: - I remember last semester
being lost by all the different types of information but my meetings with you helped
me see how you presented the information and it started to click and became a great source of information tools.
But it was a change in learning styles and I had to go through that process
of adjusting to change.
-------Student
3-------
To tell you the truth, I will be
a better teacher myself having had been in your classes! I have taught my
13 year old how to read more efficiently and her grades have
improved substantially over the past year!
Copyright
C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2015 |
WCJC Department: |
History Dr. Bibus |
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu
|
Last Updated: |
2015 |
WCJC Home: |