learning to learn

1. Learning to
Learn:
Why Not Be Explicit In
The Classroom?
Karl Wirth

2. Changing Landscape of
Teaching & Learning
• Research on the Brain
• Research on Learning
• New Students & Learning Styles
• Technology
• Globalization

3. Research on Learning
• Active & Learner-Centered
• Teamwork & Collaborative
• Roles of Transfer & Metacognition
• Importance of Community & Civic Engagement
• Multi-dimensional
How People Learn (NRC, 2000)
Significant Learning (Fink, 2003)

4. • Faculty are mostly Boomers and Gen Xers
• Millennial Preference for Sensing Styles
Active Learning
Teamwork
Civic Engagement
Use of Technology
New Students & Learning Styles
Silent Boomer Gen X Millennial
GI
1924 1942 1960 1982

5. Technology & Globalization
• Age of Communication & Multimedia
• New Definition of “Educated”
• Adaptability & Lifelong Learning
Friedman (2005)
Tapscott (1998)

6. Critical Competencies
1. Personal responsibility,
2. Ability to act in principled, ethical fashion,
3. Skill in oral and written communication,
4. Interpersonal and team skills,
5. Skills in critical thinking and problem-solving,
6. Respect for people different from oneself,
7. Ability to change,
8. Ability and desire for lifelong learning.
(from Gardiner, 1994)

7. Educating “Intentional Learners”
“to help college students become Intentional
Learners who can adapt to new environments,
integrate knowledge from different sources, and
continue learning throughout their lives.”
Intentional Learners Are:
• Empowered
• Informed
• Responsible
Greater Expectations
(2002 AACU Report)

8. Intentional Learners
Greater Expectations
(2002 AACU Report)
Becoming an intentional learner means:
developing self-awareness about the
reason for study, the learning process
itself, and how education is used
Intentional learners are integrative thinkers
who see connections in seemingly
disparate information to inform their
decisions.

9. Self-Directed Learners
Greater Expectations
(2002 AACU Report)
Self-directed learners are highly motivated,
independent, and strive toward self-
direction and autonomy. They take the
initiative to diagnose their learning needs,
formulate learning goals, identify
resources for learning, select an
implement learning strategies, and
evaluate learning outcomes.

10. 2006 Panel Report Commission on
Further of Higher Education
“we are disturbed by evidence that the quality of
student learning at U.S. colleges and universities
is inadequate and, in some cases, declining”
“employers report repeatedly that many new
graduates they hire are not prepared to work,
lacking the critical thinking, writing and problem-
solving skills needed in today’s workplaces”
“business and government leaders have
repeatedly and urgently called for workers at all
stages of life to continually upgrade their academic
and practical skills”

11. How will you get there…
…if you don’t know where you are going
?
Learning to Learn

12. Learning Co-Curriculum
• Outgrowth of Faculty Teaching Seminar
• Search for “Overview of Learning” For Students
• Preparation of Learning Document
• Students & Faculty

13. The “Language” of Learning
• Definition of Learning
• Levels of Understanding
• Significant Learning
• Critical Thinking
• Research on The Brain
• Learning Styles
• Metacognition
• Affective Domain
• Intellectual Development
• Behavioral Dimensions of Grades

14. An OED Definition of Learning
• To acquire knowledge of a subject or a
skill through education or experience,
• To gain information about somebody or
something, or
• To memorize something, for example
facts, a poem, or music.
Shift from “recall” to “use”
Simon (1996)

15. • Beyond Memorization
• Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956)
Levels of Understanding

16. Revised Taxonomy
Revised by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001)

17. Significant Learning
Learning that will be “significant to the learner”
• Foundational Knowledge
• Application
• Integration
• Human Dimension
• Caring
• Learning How to Learn
Relational & Interactive
Fink (2003)

18. Significant Learning

19. Critical Thinking
“… is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully
conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated
by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication, as a guide
to belief and action”
National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking

20. Elements of Reasoning
Purpose & Motivation
Question or Problem
Assumptions
Point of View
Data, Information, Evidence
Concepts & Ideas
Inferences & Conclusions
Implications & Consequences

21. The Brain as a Dynamic Organ
• Learning Changes Physical Structure of the Brain
• Synapse Addition, Experience, and Environment
• Structural Changes Alter Functional Organization
• Learning Literally Involves “Re-Wiring the Brain”
• “Novices” and “Experts”
How People Learn: Brain,
Mind, Experience and
School
NRC (2000)

22. Learning Styles
• Focus on different types of information
• Operate on that information differently
• Achieve understanding at different rates
• No learning style is “better”
• Instructors tend to teach to their learning style

23. Learning Styles
Kolb Learning Style Inventory
Sensing, Watching, Thinking, Doing
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Four Dichotomous Dimensions: Extroversion
versus Introversion, Sensing versus Intuition,
Thinking versus Feeling, Judging versus
Perspective
VARK (Visual, Aural, Reading, Kinesthetic)
• Preferences for input and output of
information
• Strategies for enhancing learning

24. Metacognition
• How We Think
• Strategies for Learning
• How One’s Thinking is Changing
• Assessing One’s Own Understanding
• Progress on Learning Goals

25. Journaling on Metacognition
Describe the learning strategies that
you are currently using in this
course? How successful are they?
How might they be modified for more
effective learning?
Describe the methods you are using
to monitor your understanding? How
well are these working?

26. Affective
Domain
• Attitudes
• Motivation
• Willingness to Participate
• Valuing What is Being Learned
• Incorporating Values Into Life

27. Journaling - Affective Domain
How have your attitudes about the
significance and relevance of the
course materials changed?
Describe how the content and skills
you have learned in this course might
be relevant to other courses you are
currently taking. How about in your
future education? In your career?

28. Intellectual Development
Perry’s (1968) Study of Harvard Students
Nine Positions of Intellectual Development; Four Sub-
Categories
Stage I - Dualism (Positions 1 & 2)
Either-Or thinking; Authorities have all the answers
Stage II - Multiplicity (Positions 3 & 4)
Recognition of uncertainty; Everyone’s opinions equally
legitimate
Stage III - Relativism (Positions 5 & 6)
Critical thinking; Knowledge is contextual and relativistic
Stage IV - Commitment to Knowing (Positions 7, 8 & 9)
Developing commitment and sense of being; Knowledge is the
resolution between uncertainty and the need to act

29. Behavioral Dimensions of
Grades
• Commitment
• Preparation
• Curiosity
• Attitude
• Talent
• Retention
• Effort
• Communication Skills
• Performance
from Williams (1993)

30. The Learning Co-Curriculum
• Reading at Beginning of Semester
• In-Class Discussion & Activities
• Learning Styles Surveys
• Reflective Journaling
• Frequent Reference Throughout Semester

31. “Learning to Learn” Document
Available from:
Macalester.edu/Geology/Wirth/CourseMaterials
Send Your “Top 10” Ideas to:
wirth@macalester.edu

32. Opportunities for New
Conversations
About Learning . . .

33. Bloom's Levels of
Understanding
Level Definition
Verb Examples That Can Represent Intellectual
Activity
Evaluation
Appraise, assess, or
critique on basis of
standards or criteria
appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, defend,
estimate, judge, predict, rate, select, evaluate
Synthesis
Originate, integrate, or
combine ideas into a
new product or plan
arrange, assemble, compose, construct, create,
design, develop, formulate, organize, propose
Analysis
Distinguish, classify, or
relate assumption,
hypotheses or evidence
analyze, appraise, categorize, compare,
distinguish, examine
Application
Select, transfer, and use
data or principles to
complete new task
apply, choose, demonstrate, employ, illustrate,
interpret, solve, use
Comprehension
Translate, comprehend,
or interpret information
classify, describe, discuss, explain, indicate,
restate, translate
Knowledge
Recall or recognition of
information, ideas and
principles
arrange, define, label, list, name, relate, recall,
repeat, reproduce

34. Importance of Neural Networks
The procedure is actually quite simple. First
you arrange things into different groups. Of
course, one pile may be sufficient depending on
how much there is to do. If you have to go
somewhere else, due to lack of facilities, that is
the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set.
It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is
better to do a few things at once than too many.
(from Bruer, 1993)

35. Importance of Neural Networks
“Washing Clothes”
The procedure is actually quite simple. First
you arrange things into different groups. Of
course, one pile may be sufficient depending on
how much there is to do. If you have to go
somewhere else, due to lack of facilities, that is
the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set.
It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is
better to do a few things at once than too many.
(from Bruer, 1993)

36. Teaching, Learning & Communication
1. Form Groups
2. Select and assemble “teachers”
3. Lesson plan
4. Two-minute lecture; no illustrations
Students take notes, no questions
(from Duch et al. 2001)

37. Stand and Deliver Exercise

38. Teaching, Learning & Communication
1. Teacher conference
Students draw figure; no discussion
2. Groups work to refine representation
3. Teachers return; distribute original
4. Discussion & Reflection
Did everyone draw the same picture?
Did discussion improve representation?
How would learning be improved?
Challenge of “teaching” mental images
Importance of communication & feedback