15 Surprising Discoveries About Learning What are some of the most encouraging known facts about learning? From taking a walk to learning a new language, there are countless things we can do to improve the way we learn. Below we list fifteen steps toward a better brain: 1. Laughter boosts brain function. Pam Schiller and Clarissa A. 2. Recent research at Griffith University has found that personality is more important than intelligence when it comes to success in education. Dr Poropat says educational institutions need to focus less upon intelligence and instead pay more attention to each student’s personality. “With respect to learning, personality is more useful than intelligence for guiding both students and teachers,” Dr Poropat said. Dr Poropat said the best news for students is that it’s possible to develop the most important personality traits linked with academic success. Personality does change, and some educators have trained aspects of students Conscientiousness and Openness, leading to greater learning capacity. 3. 4.
Personal knowledge management Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a collection of processes that a person uses to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve, and share knowledge in his or her daily activities (Grundspenkis 2007) and the way in which these processes support work activities (Wright 2005). It is a response to the idea that knowledge workers increasingly need to be responsible for their own growth and learning. (Smedley 2009) It is a bottom-up approach to knowledge management (KM), as opposed to more traditional, top-down KM. (Pollard 2008) History and Background[edit] Although as early as 1998 Davenport wrote on the importance to worker productivity of understanding individual knowledge processes (cited in (Zhang 2009)), the term personal knowledge management appears to be relatively new. Models[edit] Dorsey (2000) identified information retrieval, assessment and evaluation, organization, analysis, presentation, security, and collaboration as essential to PKM (cited in (Zhang 2009)). Criticism[edit]
Programming Your Brain: The Art of Learning in Three Steps | BitNative From time to time, I run into people who are interested in breaking into programming. Last night at the company holiday party a guy (we’ll call him Sam) walked up and introduced himself, asking for advice on how to move from his current role over to development. Sam’s attitude impressed me – those with a genuine desire to learn go places quickly. And on many occasions I’ve hired someone very green simply because I could sense a genuine interest in the craft and a hunger for knowledge. I’ll take attitude over aptitude. Obviously, the road to becoming a better developer begins with learning. Watch someone Thus, I personally watch videos or read books and blogs. Now, be forewarned that according to National Training Laboratories, the percentages on this diagram have no known source behind them, so take my references to the absolute percentages with a grain of salt. Watch someoneTry it yourself and experiment But that’s not the end of the road. Presto. Does this ring true for you?
Brain-Friendly Teaching (1): Putting Brain-Friendly Strategies To Work How can the findings of current brain research be applied in the classroom to help students perform best on standardized tests? Marilee Sprenger details seven steps to move information from sensory memory to long-term memory. "In the United States, most schools prepare for standardized tests by spending a large amount of time a few months prior to testing on review," observes brain expert Marilee Sprenger. "Although that has been known to raise test scores in comparison to schools that do not follow that process, it does not put information into long-term memory. According to Sprenger, meaning and emotion are key to placing information into long-term memory. The Law of Supply states that at higher prices, producers are willing to offer more products for sale than they would at lower prices, and that the supply increases as prices increase, and decreases as prices decrease. "Within those two laws are four central ideas; therefore, there are four bits of information.
Learn Difficult Concepts with the ADEPT Method After a decade of writing explanations, I’ve simplified the strategy I use to get new concepts to click. Make explanations ADEPT: Use an Analogy, Diagram, Example, Plain-English description, and then a Technical description. Here’s how to teach yourself a difficult idea, or explain one to others. Analogy: What Else Is It Like? Most new concepts are variations, extensions, or combinations of what we already know. In our decades of life, we’ve encountered thousands of objects and experiences. Here’s an example: Imaginary numbers. Argh. Negative numbers were distrusted until the 1700s: How could you have less than nothing? Instead of just going East/West, we can go North/South too – or even spin around in a circle. Analogies are fuzzy, not 100% accurate, and yet astoundingly useful. Diagram: Engage That Half Of Your Brain We often think diagrams are a crutch if you aren’t macho enough to directly interpret the symbols. So, here’s a visualization: Example: Let Me Experience The Idea Nope. so Prof.
The 27 Principles to Teaching Yourself Anything (aka The Self-Guided Education Manifesto + PDF download “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain Note: This post is intentionally long. It’s meant to be our compass for learning the skills that matter in the world and throwing theory out the window. Read it. Save it. At the end of this post I’ve even provided two free PDF downloads to further guide you towards learning what matters (one is a list of over 30 of the best online resources for creating your own passion-filled curriculum). Enter the Unofficial Self-Guided Education Manifesto… Last week’s article on The Birth of Self-Guided Education caught like wildfire. When that happens, I know a topic deserves some respect. Many of last week’s comments blew my mind. Living Legends create their own education. The truth of the matter is every Living Legend (whether they dropped out of high school or got a couple PhD’s) took their education and their learning into their own hands. So without further ado… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Advice for Students: Taking Notes that Work Note-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes. I figure it’s about time to do something about that. Whether you’re a high school junior or a college senior or a grad student or a mid-level professional or the Attorney General of the United States, the ability to take effective, meaningful notes is a crucial skill. Not only do good notes help us recall facts and ideas we may have forgotten, the act of writing things down helps many of us to remember them better in the first place. What Do Notes Do? One of the reasons people have trouble taking effective notes is that they’re not really sure what notes are for. The purpose of note-taking is simple: to help you study better and more quickly. What to Write Down Second, what’s relevant?
chris argyris, double-loop learning and organizational learning @ the encyclopedia of informal education contents: introduction · life · theories of action: theory in use and espoused theory · single-loop and double-loop learning · model I and model II · organizational learning · conclusion · further reading and references · links · cite Chris Argyris has made a significant contribution to the development of our appreciation of organizational learning, and, almost in passing, deepened our understanding of experiential learning. On this page we examine the significance of the models he developed with Donald Schön of single-loop and double-loop learning, and how these translate into contrasting models of organizational learning systems. Life Chris Argyris was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 16, 1923 and grew up in Irvington, New Jersey. Chris Argyris enjoyed the outdoors – and, in particular hiking (especially in the mountains of New Hampshire and across New England). As well as writing and researching, Chris Argyris has been an influential teacher. Single-loop and double-loop learning
Learning theory Photo by Antenna on Unsplash Contents: introduction · what do people think learning is? · learning as a product · learning as a process · experience · reflective thinking · making connections · committing and acting · task-conscious or acquisition learning, and learning-conscious or formalized learning · the behaviourist orientation to learning · the cognitive orientation to learning · the humanistic orientation to learning · the social/situational orientation to learning · the constructivist/social constructivist orientation to learning · further reading · references · how to cite this article See, also, What is education? Over the last thirty years or so, ‘learning’ has become one of the most used words in the field of education. Adult education became lifelong learning; students became learners, teachers facilitators of learning; schools are now learning environments; learning outcomes are carefully monitored. There has been a similar situation in the field of education. Taxonomies
zenhabits Beating the Forgetting Curve with Distributed Practice “If you read the research on how much people forget after training, it’s depressing. Do a search for the ‘Forgetting Curve’. Once we know something like this, we need to change our approach and educate others.”- Connie Malamed (The eLearning Coach)The above quote is from our interview with Connie Malamed. After our inspiring and thought-provoking interview with Connie Malamed, we were left wondering about the interesting human nature that is revealed with the ‘forgetting curve’, and its impact on learning design. We set out on a journey to explore and learn more about this phenomenon.Below are the questions we had in mind when we embarked on our journey: What is the ‘forgetting curve’? One of the most intriguing features of the human mind is that it is volatile in nature (just like the Random Access Memory (RAM) in a computer). These findings have great significance for learning professionals while developing learning interventions. Excerpts from Experts Infographics Presentations Articles
Esej o uczeniu sie różnych przedmiotów Nauczyciele, rodzice i cała rzesza "mądrych" powtarzają uczniom w kółko jedną uniwersalną radę: "trzeba się uczyć!". Jednak pytanie "jak się uczyć?" pozostaje najczęściej bez odpowiedzi. Jeśli już ktoś, przyparty do muru zdobędzie się na jakąś sugestię, to nie wykracza ona poza banalne - "na jak to? - weź do ręki książkę i zakuwaj...". Tymczasem... ...w zasadzie każdego przedmiotu trzeba się uczyć trochę inaczej. Przedmioty humanistyczne Zacznijmy od przedmiotów humanistycznych (j. ojczysty, historia). Tu najważniejsze jest żeby dużo czytać i dużo pisać. Główną zasadą (choć oczywiście nie jedyną) nauki przedmiotów humanistycznych jest: być otwartym na wiedzę - dużo czytać, pisać i uczestniczyć w życiu kulturalnym. Języki obce Uczeniem się języków obcych rządzi jedna najważniejsza zasada - jak najwięcej kontaktu z językiem. Język poznajemy przez skojarzenia słów i zwrotów z sytuacjami w jakich one występują. Przedmioty ścisłe (matematyka, fizyka, programowanie, częściowo chemia)
Mobile Learning: 50+ Resources & Tips I believe mobile devices will transform education. This is why I created a free ebook, Effective Mobile Learning: 50+ Quick Tips & Resources with helpful tips and several resources to help support this trend. One reason is because mobile devices are designed in a way that forces the teacher to give control to the learner. When we equip a classroom with iPads, iPods, small tablets, or cellphones the learning is literally put in the hands of the students. The teacher has to facilitate and walk around the room to manage the learning. Below are a list of 50+ Mobile Learning resources & growing! Mobile Learning Free Ebooks Mobile Learning Posts/Presentations I’ve Given Mobile Learning LiveBinder of Resources Mobile Learning Mindmap of Implementation This mindmap is full of case studies, schools, teachers, free ebooks, and more to show real examples of mobile learning at its best.
Beyond the Comfort Zone: 6 Ways to Build Independent Thinking Image credit: iStockphoto The shift toward applying more executive function (EF) within learning and assessment will cause some discomfort in teachers and students. The transition will not eliminate the need for memorization, as automatic use of foundational knowledge is the toolkit for the executive functions. One way you can help your students shift from blindly following instructions and memorizing single right answers is to help them recognize their successful use of executive functions throughout their learning experiences. The end result will be a greater awareness by the students, not only for how their brains work, but also for how they can push themselves to connect what they can recall with real-world problems and opportunities they encounter. Low-Risk Experiences Using EFs in Common Core Topics Using your grade- and subject-appropriate topics, the following examples can be modified or serve as suggestions for building knowledge and understanding using executive functions. 1. 2.