Learning About Learning
Menu Options:
Lecture/
Discussion
Chapter
Exercises
Audio
Chapter Summary
Other
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
You’re About to
Discover…
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Tammy Ko
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
p. 34-35
Create the Best Conditions for Learning
1. You’re intrinsically motivated to learn
material that is appropriately
challenging.
2. You’re appropriately stressed, but
generally relaxed.
“
3. You enter into a state researchers
call “flow” and are totally absorbed in
what you’re doing.
Learning is not so much an additive process, with new learning simply
piling up on top of existing knowledge, as it is an active, dynamic process
in which the connections are constantly changing and the structure reformatted.”
K. Patricia Cross, Professor Emerita of Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Create the Best Conditions for Learning
4. You’re curious about what you’re learning and you look
forward to it.
5. You’re slightly confused, but only for a short time.
6. You search for personal meaning and patterns.
7. Your emotions are involved, not just your mind.
“
It is what we think we know already
know that often prevents us from learning.”
Claude Bernard, French physiologist
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Create the Best Conditions for Learning
8. You realize that as a learner you use what you already
know in constructing new knowledge.
9. You understand that learning is both conscious and
unconscious.
10. You are given a degree of choice in what you learn, how
you do it, and feedback on how you’re doing.
“
Personal participation is the
universal principal of knowing.”
Michael Polanyi, Hungarian-British scholar
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exercise 2.1:
Views on Learning
Control: Your Top Ten List
Control Your Learning
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
p. 43
How are You Smart?
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Spatial
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic
Exercise 2.2:
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Multiple Intelligences
Studying Intelligently
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
VARK and Learning
Visual: (depicted) symbols, charts, diagrams, color, layout,
flow charts, mindmaps, spatial arrangements, headings
Aural: (spoken, heard) lectures, Podcasts, discussions,
study groups, email, chats, oral presentations, oral
feedback
Read/Write: (read, written) textbooks, papers, notetaking
Kinesthetic: (reality-based, uses all the senses) analogies,
case studies, application, simulations, field trips, role plays,
experiments, games, problem-based learning,
learning by doing, film, animated websites
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exercise 2.3:
VARK Assessment
VISUAL
Everyday Study
Strategies
Convert your lecture notes to a visual
format.
Study the placement of items, colors,
and shapes in your textbook.
Put complex concepts into flowcharts
or graphs.
Redraw ideas you create from
memory.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exam Preparation
Strategies
Practice turning your visuals back
into words.
Practice writing out exam answers.
Recall the pictures you made of
the pages you studied.
Use diagrams to answer exam
questions, if your instructor will
allow it.
AURAL
Everyday Study
Strategies
Exam Preparation
Strategies
Read your notes aloud.
Explain your notes to another auditory
learner.
Ask others to “hear” your understanding
of the material.
Record your notes onto tapes or CDs or
listen to your instructors’ podcasts.
Realize that your lecture notes may be
incomplete. You may have become so
involved in listening that you stopped
writing. Fill your notes in later by
talking with other students or getting
material from the textbook.
Practice by speaking your answers
aloud.
Listen to your own voice as you
answer questions.
Opt for an oral exam if allowed.
Imagine you are talking with the
teacher as you answer
questions.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
READ/WRITE
Everyday Study
Strategies
Exam Preparation
Strategies
Write out your lecture notes again
and again.
Read your notes (silently) again and
again.
Put ideas and principles into different
words.
Translate diagrams, graphs, etc. into
text.
Rearrange words and “play” with
wording.
Turn diagrams and charts into words.
Write out potential exam
answers.
Practice creating and taking
exams.
Type out your answers to
potential test questions.
Organize your notes into lists
or bullets.
Write practice paragraphs:
particularly beginnings and
endings.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
KINESTHETIC
Everyday Study
Strategies
Exam Preparation
Strategies
Recall experiments, field trips, etc.
Remember the real things that happened.
Talk over your notes with another
“K” person.
Use photos and pictures that make ideas
come to life.
Go back to the lab, your lab manual, or
your notes that include real examples.
Remember that your lecture notes will
have gaps if topics weren’t concrete
or relevant for you.
Use case studies to help you learn
abstract principles.
Role-play the exam situation
in your room (or the actual
classroom).
Put plenty of examples into
your answers.
Write practice answers and
sample paragraphs.
Give yourself practice tests.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Customize Your Learning
Color
Image
Ringtone
U2
Coldplay
Alicia Keys
Exercise 2.4:
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Style Type Indicator
Using Your Sensory Preferences
1. Remember that VARK preferences are not necessarily
strengths.
2. If you have a strong preference for a particular modality,
practice multiple suggestions listed for that modality.
3. An estimated 60 percent of people are multimodal.
4. If you are multimodal, you may have to use all your
modalities to be confident you’ve learned something.
5. You may want to save experimenting with modalities you
don’t prefer until after college.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Does Personality Affect Learning?
What energizes you?
Introvert
Extrovert
How do you process information?
Sensor
iNtuition
How do you make decisions?
Thinker
Feeler
How do you relate to the world?
Judger
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Perceiver
• Translate for Maximum Comfort.
• Your instructor may have a
•
different learning style
Adapt course material to what
works best for you
• Make Strategic Choices.
• Don’t use your style as an
•
excuse
Become more versatile
• Take Full Advantage.
• Make the most of your time
•
in college
Pursue new learning
opportunities
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Using
Your
Personality
“
Each person is an
exception to the rule.”
Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (1875–1961)
VARK It!
V
Visual: Put together a collage of photos that represents how you
learn. Post it on the course blog or website, assemble it on a
posterboard, or make a PowerPoint show.
A
Aural: Discuss your 1) multiple intelligences, 2) VARK preferences,
or 3) personality factors that affect learning with your friends or
family. See if they can predict their own scores (generally). Also,
go to www.cengage.com/success/staley/focus2e to listen to the
mp3 podcast summary of this chapter.
R
K
Read/Write: Write a one-page summary of what you have learned
about yourself as a result of reading this chapter.
Kinesthetic: Use a variety of kinesthetic learning techniques to
prepare for an upcoming quiz or exam in this class or another one.
Did the techniques help you master the material? Report your
results.
p. 65
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Chapter 2: Exercises
Chapter Activity
p. 36
Your Views on Learning
Chapter Activity
p. 44
Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment
Chapter Exercise
p. 52
VARK Learning Styles Assessment
Chapter Exercise
p. 60
Learning Style Type Indicator
Audio
Audio Summary of Chapter 2
Chapter Summary
Insight Action
Back to Menu
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Your Views on Learning
Exercise 2.1, p. 36
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment
Exercise 2.2, p. 44
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
VARK Learning Styles Assessment
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exercise 2.3, p. 52
Learning Style Type Indicator
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exercise 2.4, p. 60
Insight  Action
*insight
p. 65
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
! action
Insight  Action
*insight
p. 66
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
! action
Chapter 2 Audio Summary
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
FOCUS on College Success
F CUSPoints
An Interactive Teaching Tool
FOCUS on COLLEGE SUCCESS
Second Edition
Chapter 2
Constance Staley and Aren Moore
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning