Page 31 - Learning to Learn

LEARNING TO LEARN: BECOMING A SELF -GROWER 31
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast
of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
—Peter F. Drucker
REFLECTION
In this experience, you will use a Learning Journal worksheet to document (capture and present) and
reflect upon discrete learning experiences, including your use of the Learning Process Methodology.
P URPOSE
Most people in our society have a very difficult time when it comes to constructing knowledge. The
majority of us have been trained to see knowledge as information such as a phone number, address, or road
sign. This informational-type knowledge can be written or memorized. This goal of this activity is to help
you appreciate that there are higher levels of knowledge beyond informational (memorized) knowledge.
These other levels include teachable knowledge where you know something so well that you can teach
others how to comprehend, understand, and produce meaning with it. Additional value of knowledge is
realized as it is contextualized (used in specific contexts), generalized (used in general outside of a single
context) and finally transferred to important parts of your life (applied across different contexts). The next
level of knowledge is where strong performers differentiate themselves from others because of their level
of working expertise and problem solving abilities.
During the process of learning how to learn and becoming a master learner, it is important that you are
able to build the metacognition of how you learn—that is, understand your learning as a process in itself
over which you have control and about which you can think and talk. This experience will help you tap
into the extensive educational research focused on how people learn and what practices can help improve
learning. In pursuit of this goal, this experience offers you a model of the learning process called the
Learning Process Methodology (LPM), the Levels of Learner Knowledge (which will help you measure
your level of learning), and a Learning Journal tool to document learning. The Classification of Learning
Skills, introduced in Experience 1, continues to be a critical resource that you should call upon as needed.
O BJECTIVES
1. Learn to differentiate levels of learning based on the Levels of Learner Knowledge.
2. Learn how to elevate learning to higher Levels of Learner Knowledge.
3. Make the connections between specific learning skills and the learning process.
4. Strengthen the use of prior knowledge in learning by strengthening the skill of generalizing.
D ISCOVERY E XERCISE
What means do you currently use to produce new knowledge that you can either teach others to understand
or to apply to effectively solve problems? Think about it this way: