How We Learn

         Since the beginning of formal education, the way students have been taught has been guided by religious or political motivation.  In the early days of education during Puritan times, when only basic literacy was the main focus of education, the students were expected to know how to read the bible.  Later, during the Revolutionary War, in the United States, the main focus of education was to set the new country apart from Great Britain by creating a unified identity with, for example, the creation of American English. Then, when Sputnik came along we changed the focus to math and science, since we were evidently lacking in this area compared to the Russians.  Eventually education got “back to basics” with the teaching of the 3 Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now we are in the era of No Child Left behind with standardized tests to measure progress. Do these tests measure depth of knowledge and understanding of the content, or do they measure shallow application of the facts and a student’s ability to take the test itself?  (For more information on the U.S. history of my content area, English, please see the Power Point presentation by Dr. Janna Jackson Kellinger.)

Through these eras and changes in education, it does not seem as if anyone really focused on the learning and depth of understanding, as talked about in Chapter 1 of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School.  Today we are looking at studies of the mind and on processes of thinking and learning. Scientific research is showing how learning theories play out in the classroom for tangible evidence of how these theories can be applied to improve student learning.  In schools, the focus needs to shift from rote memorization and regurgitated facts to a way of learning that promotes depth of understanding.

We now think of learning more of a process over time. To experience true learning, teachers need to first address the student’s pre-conceptions and prior knowledge and use the prior knowledge as a leverage to help the student acquire new, accurate knowledge and understanding of a subject area and maintain that knowledge after the test and course are over.  Students should secondly gain a strong foundation of factual knowledge about a subject so they can use this knowledge to become experts on a subject matter.  Students should be able to apply the facts in different ways and in different contexts. Lastly, teachers must emphasize the development of meta-cognition skills so that students can define learning goals and self-assess to monitor their own progress.  When a student has acquired good meta-cognition skills he or she can understand their process of learning and be able to predict how they will perform.

As an aspiring teacher, I do not have experience in the classroom with these methods, and they seem overwhelming when trying to imagine how I will implement them into my classroom, but I know and understand that it is so important to use these methods to help students reach their full potential.  The research shows that students learn better when prior knowledge is addressed, facts are put into context and applied to activities, and when the students are able to use meta-cognition skills to create goals and self-assess. I think it is also important to create a classroom environment that is safe and comfortable for the students to participate in. I want my student to feel good about what they are learning and know they can set goals they will accomplish and be proud to do well.  I want my students to know it’s okay to make mistakes as that is part of the learning process.  I want them to be able to correct their own mistakes.  I hope to be able to create a learning environment for my students that ignites inquiry and promotes self-efficacy so my students have the desire and confidence to succeed.

Lastly, I thought it was interesting that at the end of the chapter the authors addressed how these methods can also be applied to adult learning. Even career development for teachers seems to have become just another process to get through, or just another requirement a school district has to meet.  For example, a teacher friend of mine mentioned that at a school she taught at their whole career development time was spent pouring over MCAS results to see where they fell short.  She felt it was a waste of time and the teachers got nothing out if it.  If teacher development is not meaningful, connected to prior knowledge, and not applied in the classroom for self-assessment, how can teachers improve their teaching skills to help their students learn better?