Learning How to Learn

How Faculty can Assist Students in

Developing the Learning Skills and
Strategies needed for College
Success
 Developed by Professor Terry Doyle
 Ferris State University
 Doylet@Ferris.edu
 We don’t all Learn Alike
• Add 17 + 56 in your head!

www.dlib.org/dlib/september02/ images/head-rev.jpg
 We don’t all Learn Alike
• A--In columns like on paper
•
• B—Added 10 to 56 and 7 to 66
•
• C—Added 20 to 56 and subtracted 3
 from 76


• D—Rounded 56 to 60 added 17 and

subtracted 4



 Reason to Teach Students How to Learn

• The meaning of knowing has shifted

from being able to remember and
repeat information to being able to
find and use it. The goal of
education is better conceived as
helping students develop the
intellectual tools and learning
strategies needed to acquire the
knowledge necessary to think
productively.
• Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon 1996
 Reason to Teach Students How to
Learn
• If our students do not
understand the learning
process, the chief engine of
education—they are not going
to learn very much in our
courses no matter what we do.
 (L. Gardiner 1994 Redesigning Higher Education: Producing Dramatic
Gains in Student Learning)
 Reason to Teach Students How to
Learn
• One of the most valuable actions
we could take to improve
learning— and thus the
productivity of both our students
and our institutions— would be to
teach our students how to
learn.
 L. Gardiner 1994 Redesigning Higher Education: Producing Dramatic Gains in Student
Learning
 Definition of Learning

• Learning is
a change
in the
neuron-
patterns of
the brain
 (Ratey, 2002)

•
www.bris.ac.uk/.../2002/ images/er1.jpg
 Teacher’s Definition of
Learning
Robert Bjork, UCLA, Memory and Metamemory


• Learning is the ability to use

information after significant periods
of disuse
 AND
• the ability to use the information to
solve problems that arise in a
context different
• ( if only slightly) from the context in
which the information was originally
used.
The Brain and Learning

• The key
message
about the
brain is this:
“The neurons
that fire
together wire
together”
(Hebb, 1949,
Ratey 2002)
•
The Brain and Learning

• Meaning that the

more we repeat
the same
actions and
thoughts—the
more we
encourage the
formation of
certain
connections and
the more fixed
graphics.fansonly.com/.../ gregg03action.jpg
the neural
circuits in the
brain for that
The Brain and Learning

• “Use it or lose
it” Is the
corollary: if
you don’t
exercise brain
circuits, the
connections
will not be
adaptive and www.pge.com/.../PGE_dgz/ images/body/1-4bi.jpg

will slowly
weaken and
could be lost.
 Learning How to Learn includes all of the following
areas.

• Ways of organizing information

•
• Ways of comprehending information
•
• Ways of recalling information
•
•
 Learning How to Learn includes all of the following
areas.

• Ways of finding sources of

information
•
• Ways of thinking about
information
 Ways of Organizing
Information
• The brain is a pattern seeking device
 (J. Ratey, User Guide to the Brain, 2002)
•

• The most familiar patterns to students are:

– Similarities and Differences
–
– Comparisons and Contrasts
–
– Main ideas and details
 Ways of Organizing
Information
• Some common assumptions about the
organization of information made by students
are:
•
 1. That information exist only in a linear
form


 2. The teacher and textbooks should

start at the
 beginning move to the end


 3. There is the important stuff and there

is unimportant stuff
 Ways of Organizing
Information
• Helping students to see the patterns that
are imbedded or (sometime obvious) in
the content that you teach will greatly aid
students’ learning.
•

MTVFBINBCCBSNRAU
SA
 Ways of Organizing
Information
For Example


• Hierarchical— Biggest to Smallest

 OR
• Information Organized around a Pivot Concept
•
•
• Example--Family as the center point of a social
science course
 Ways of Organizing
Information
• Other Simple Ways
• By topic
• By concept
• By theme
• By unit
• By time
• By location
• By importance
 Tools for Organizing
Information
• Outlining—familiar pattern most important
to least important
•
• Note-taking Systems/Cornell Method
•
• Summarizing—only the main ideas and in
your own words
•
• Annotating- main ideas in our own words
 Tools for Organizing
Information
• Note Cards– can be sorted into
groups
•
• Graphic Displays/Maps—most
powerful
•
• Time lines—linear comfort
•
 Memory and Organization
• Information learned as part of a
pattern can usually be recalled by
stimulating any part of the pattern.
 Memory and Organization
Example


• Learning about Disease would be easier if it

was learned as a complete pattern
•
• Name of the disease
• Definition
• Meaning of the definition
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis
• Prescription for treatment
• Assessment of treatment effectiveness
 Ways of Comprehending
Information.
• The single most important factor in
learning is the existing networks of
neurons in the learner’s brain(their
prior knowledge). Ascertain what
they are and teach accordingly.
• (James Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain, pg93)
 Ways of Helping Students to
Comprehend Lecture Information.

 Best ways to help comprehension



• By providing a meaningful framework for the

lecture
•
• An outline that is followed
•
• A set of questions that will be answered
•
• Provide analogies, metaphors and examples
 Ways of Helping Students to
Comprehend Lecture Information.

• By use of visual images

•
 Ways of Helping Students to Comprehend
Lecture Information.

• Display information in Cognitive

Maps/Mind Maps/Concept Maps
•
 Ways of Helping Students to Comprehend
Lecture Information.

• By placing information in a familiar

context
• “ His musical skills are similar to
Hendrix”
•
 Ways of Helping Students to
Comprehend Lecture
Information
• By using predictions
•
 Ways of Helping Students to
Comprehend Lecture
Information
• By brainstorming to determine prior
knowledge
 Ways of Helping Students
Comprehend Text Material
• Don’t tell them everything in the textbook
is important—because we know it is not.
•
• Give them guide questions that focus their
reading.
•
• Establish a clear purpose for the reading.
•
 Ways of Helping Students
Comprehend Text Material
• Assign them to only read the most
important information
•
• Teach them how to use the heading
and subheading as question guides


•
 Ways of Helping Students
Comprehend Text Material
• Teach them that the main idea is
90% of the time, the first sentence
of a paragraph
•
• Teach them how to have a ongoing
conversation with the author.
•
 Ways to Remember
Information
• Students can hold information in
their working memories for up to
12 or more hours without it
forming any long term memories
(David Sousa, How the Brain Learns)
 Ways to Remember
Information
• Long term memory formation
requires the continual firing of the
neuro networks for the information
or skills being learned.
•
• Memory formation takes time and
practice in most situations
 Ways to Remember
Information
• Ways to help
• 1. Give cumulative tests– this forces
the students to relearn the
information and can increase their
interaction with the information by
3-5 times
 Ways to Remember
Information
• 2. Always have students do
something with the lecture material
or text material you want them to
learn
 Examples
• Journal about it—this causes
reflection a key to memory
• Summarize it—excellent way to find
out if they understood
 Ways to Remember
Information
• Quiz the information—this forces study
•
• Review in class the information
•
• Have students make maps showing their
understanding of the information
•
• Check orally by questioning
 Ways to Remember
Information
• Other helpful ways
•
• Mnemonic devices
• Music/songs
• Emotional significance
• Make it stand out/special/ unique
 Ways of Finding the Best
Sources of Information
• Library Skills
• Data Bases
• Online Journals
• Search Engines
• Books
• Traditional Journals
 Ways of Thinking about Information.

• Just recently neuroscientist have reported

the discovery of mirror neurons—brain
cells that work by helping humans copy
other human behaviors (Vilayanur S. Ramachandran)
• “Mirror neurons certainly have the potential
to provide a mechanism for action
understanding, imitation learning, and the
simulation of other people's behavior”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_cells#Discovery)
 Ways of Thinking about Information.

• One of the easiest ways to help students

develop their thinking skills is by modeling
the thinking process you want them to
learn.
•
• A common students question is “ How did
you do that” or “How did you get that
answer” Modeling reveals the “magic “
behind your thinking
 Ways of Thinking about Information.

• Showing students how to use critical

thinking approaches (Richard Paul’s
work is very good)


• Application--how to use it
• Synthesis--combining
• Analysis-- finding its parts
• Evaluation--judging based on
standards
•
 Ways of Thinking about Information.

• Teaching a specific problem solving

approach as a way of demonstrating how
to look at and resolve problems that do
not have a single answer
• Identify the problem.
• Define and represent the problem.
• Explore possible solution strategies.
• Act on the strategies.
• Look back and evaluate Bransford and Stein (1984)
 References
• References
1. ATHERTON J S (2004) Teaching and Learning: Deep and Surface learning [On-line]
UK: Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm
2. Brooks, J. and Martin. In search of Understanding: The Case for the Constructionist
Classroom, 1999
3. Bjork, R. A. (1994) Memory and Metamemory consideration in the training of human
beings. In J. Metcalfe & A. Shimamura (Eds) Metacognition: Knowing about Knowing
pp. 185-205. Cambridge, MA MIT Press.
4. Bloom, Benjamin S. (Ed). (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The
 classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I. Cognitive Domain (pp. 201-
 207). New York: McKay.

 References
5.

Elizabeth Campbell Teaching Strategies to Foster "Deep" Versus "Surface
Learning, Centre for University Teaching( based on the work of Christopher Knapper,
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Instructional Development Centre at
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario
6.Covington, M. V. (2000) Goal , theory motivation and school achievement: An Integrated

review in Annual Review of Psychology ( pp 171-200)

7. Caine, Renate; Caine, Geoffrey. Education on The Edge of Possibility. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997.

8. Dweck, Carol (2000) Self Theories: Their roles in motivation, personality and

development. Philadelphia, PA Psychology Press

9. Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New
York, NY, Grosset/Putnam
10. Diamond, Marion. (1988). Enriching Heredity: The Impact of the Environment on the

Brain. New York, NY: Free Press.

11. Damasio AR: Fundamental Feelings. Nature 413:781, 2001.

12. Damasio AR: The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of

13.Consciousness, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1999, 2000.

•
 References
14 .D. O. Hebb,1949 monograph, The Organization of Behaviour
15. Sylwester, R. A Celebration of Neurons An Educator’s Guide to the Human Brain,
ASCD:1995
16. Sprenger, M. Learning and Memory The Brain in Action by, ASCD, 1999

17.How People Learn by National Research Council editor John Bransford, National Research

Council, 2000
18. Goldberg, E. The Executive Brain Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind ,Oxford University

Press: 2001
19. Hagen, A. S. & Weinstein, C. E. (1995) Achievement goals, self-regulated learning and the

role of classroom context. In P.R. Pintrich ( ed.) understanding self-regulated learning( pp. 43-
55) San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass
20. Kolb, D. A. (1981) 'Learning styles and disciplinary differences'. in A. W. Chickering (ed.)

The Modern American College, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

21. Magnusson, J. L., & Perry, R. P. (1989). Stable and transient determinants of students'

perceived control: Implications for instruction in the college classroom. Journal of

Educational Psychology, 81, 362-370.
 References
22. Ratey, J. MD :A User’s Guide to the Brain, Pantheon Books: New York, 2001
23. Zull, James. The Art of Changing the Brain.2002, Stylus: Virginia
24. Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching. Jossey-Bass, 2002
25. Penny, W.G. Jr. (1981). Cognitive and ethical growth: the making of meaning. In A.
Chickering (Ed.), The modern American college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
26. Milton, O. , Pollio, H. R.,& Eison, J. ( 1986) Making sense of college grades, San
Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass
27. Perry, R. P., Magnusson, J. L. (1987). Effective instruction and students' perceptions of

control in the college classroom: Multiple lectures effects. Journal of Educational

Psychology, 79, 453-460.
28. Steinberg, L. (with Brown, B. B, & Dornbusch, S.M.)(1996) Beyond the classroom: Why

school reform has failed and what parents need to do. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
29. Stevenson, H.W., & Stigler, J. W. (1992) The learning gap: Why our schools are failing

and what we can learn from Japanese and Chinese education. New York, NY: Simon and
Schuster.
30. Tagg, John. The Learning Paradigm College. Anker Publishing , Bolton MA 2003

31. http://www.istpp.org/enews/2002_05_30.html Alarik Arenander and Fred Travis

•
•
•
32.

Teaching Problem-Solving Skills http://ctl.unc.edu/fyc20.html
33. Sousa, David, How the Brain Learns, 2nd Ed, Corwin Press,2001
35. Gardiner. Lionel. 1994 Redesigning Higher Education: Producing Dramatic Gains in Student

Learning
