Page 33 - Learning to Learn

LEARNING TO LEARN: BECOMING A SELF -GROWER 33
EXPERIENCE 2: BECOMING A MASTER LEARNER READING
How Do You Learn?
What does it mean to learn? Life is a process of learning, from learning how to ride a bike to learning
how to drive a car and everything in between. We most often think about what we want to learn, rather
than how to learn. Knowing more about learning, however, will make you a better learner. Being a better,
more confident learner will not only help you succeed in college: it will help you be a life-long learner as
well. Think about a skill you have learned. Maybe you were on the track team in high school, for example.
You learned how and why your muscles needed to be stretched and how sleep and good nutrition helped
you perform at your highest possible level. Think about how race car drivers understand how to take
their driving skills to the highest level: the driver knows how to make his or her car perform at maximum
capacity and how to use the curves on the track to his or her advantage.
What does it mean to know more about learning? First and foremost, it means knowing more about
yourself as a learner. We’ll take a close look at the most basic methodology for college students: the
Learning Process Methodology.
Ken is what many call a “non-traditional learner”—
someone who has not come directly to college
from high school. Ken has been a successful
plant manager, but his company is moving the
plant to another state. Because Ken’s children
are happy in their schools and his wife is happy
in her job, the family has decided
not to move. So Ken has decided
to pursue a new career in the
police department. As a lifelong
resident of his hometown, Ken
has always been interested
in keeping the town safe and
workingwithpeople in trouble.
The police department now
requires a college degree, so
here he is!
Levels of Learning
In the 1950s, Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist who contributed many ideas about learn-
ing that are still used today. He developed what has become known as Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives. A “taxonomy” is simply a form of classification and a way to look at the general principles of
a system. If you are taking botany or zoology, for example, you are learning to classify plants or animals.
These kinds of classification are also taxonomies. Many educators have used Bloom’s taxonomy to help
them think through how to present knowledge to learners. In the taxonomy, Bloom identified a progression
of learning through levels. In the following table, Bloom’s work has been revised by Process Education
scholars to reflect levels of learner knowledge.