Page 288 - Learning to Learn

READING EXPERIENCE 10: READING FOR LEARNING
288 L EARNING TO LEARN: BECOMING A SELF-GROWER
Step 11—Integrate Information
Make connections between what you are reading, and other materials you have read. Also, make
connections with other courses you have taken or are currently taking as well as connections with
personal experience in other contexts in your life (e.g., at work or at home). Strive to find ways to
apply your new knowledge and learning to your life.
Step 12—Assessment
Assess what you have read. Make modifications to your notes as needed. Summarize what you have
gained from the reading. Determine if there are errors, inconsistencies, and pieces of information
which are still unclear or missing. If needed, reread to enhance understanding, clarify and answer
questions that remain unanswered, and make sure that objectives for the reading are met. Be sure to
consider how you might improve your reading performance in future!
An Example of Using the Reading Methodology
Scenario: Jennifer wanted to learn more about Process Education, the philosophy behind
Foundations of Learning, and asked her instructor for an article about it. Her instructor
knew of an article in the International Journal of Process Education that would give
Jennifer a bit more information. What follows is an excerpt from that article as well
as Jennifer’s use of the Reading Methodology.
Article Excerpt:
Process Education also shares many components with problem-based learning, or PBL. (www.pbl.org). PBL
was introduced as a term at McMaster University and was written on extensively by Barrows and Tamblyn,
who applied it to medical education. In medical education, faculty were frustrated with the effectiveness of
traditional teaching methods. They found that graduates in their internships after medical school were often not
able to apply what they had learned to the challenges they faced in the hospital.
Through PBL, students are presented with an ill-defined problem. They work cooperatively to solve the problem
and access resources as needed. An important component of PBL is that it is student-centered with the students,
rather than the instructor, managing the problem-solving process. The faculty member in PBL serves as a
facilitator of that learning.
Central to the methods described previously is the role of the faculty member as a facilitator of the learning
process. There are many strategies for facilitative learning with the main goal of moving the teacher away from
the center and locus of control. Many have written about the use of cooperative learning in education. As Wong
and Wong stated in 1998, “Cooperative learning is not so much learning to cooperate as it is cooperating to
learn.” As they and others have indicated, cooperative learning extends far deeper than just placing students in
groups. According to proponents of cooperative learning, two elements are key: positive interdependence and
group and individual accountability.
References
Barrows, Howard S. and Tamblyn, Robyn M. (1980). Problem-based learning: an approach to medical
education. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (1998). How to be an effective teacher: the first days of school. Mountain
View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.