Learning to Learn:

Why Not Be Explicit In The

Classroom?

Karl Wirth

Changing Landscape ofTeaching & Learning

• Research on the Brain• Research on Learning• New Students & Learning Styles• Technology• Globalization

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)

• Faculty are mostly Boomers and Gen Xers• Millennial Preference for Sensing Styles

Active LearningTeamworkCivic EngagementUse of Technology

New Students & Learning StylesSilent Boomer Gen X MillennialGI

1924 1942 1960 1982

Technology & Globalization• Age of Communication & Multimedia• New Definition of “Educated”• Adaptability & Lifelong Learning

Friedman (2005)Tapscott (1998)

Critical Competencies1. 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)

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)

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.

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.

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”

How will you get there…

…if you don’t know where you are going ?

Learning to Learn

Learning Co-Curriculum• Outgrowth of Faculty Teaching Seminar

• Search for “Overview of Learning” For Students

• Preparation of Learning Document

• Students & Faculty

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

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)

• Beyond Memorization

• Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956)

Levels of Understanding

Revised Taxonomy

Revised by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001)

Significant LearningLearning that will be “significant to the learner” • Foundational Knowledge• Application• Integration• Human Dimension• Caring• Learning How to Learn

Relational & Interactive Fink (2003)

Significant Learning

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

Elements of ReasoningPurpose & MotivationQuestion or ProblemAssumptionsPoint of ViewData, Information, EvidenceConcepts & IdeasInferences & ConclusionsImplications & Consequences

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)

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

Learning StylesKolb Learning Style InventorySensing, Watching, Thinking, Doing

Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorFour 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

Metacognition

• How We Think

• Strategies for Learning

• How One’s Thinking is Changing

• Assessing One’s Own Understanding

• Progress on Learning Goals

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?

Affective Domain

• Attitudes• Motivation• Willingness to Participate• Valuing What is Being Learned• Incorporating Values Into Life

Journaling - Affective DomainHow 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?

Intellectual DevelopmentPerry’s (1968) Study of Harvard StudentsNine 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

Behavioral Dimensions of Grades• Commitment

• Preparation• Curiosity• Attitude• Talent• Retention• Effort• Communication Skills• Performance

from Williams (1993)

The Learning Co-Curriculum

• Reading at Beginning of Semester

• In-Class Discussion & Activities

• Learning Styles Surveys

• Reflective Journaling

• Frequent Reference Throughout Semester

“Learning to Learn” Document

Available from:Macalester.edu/Geology/Wirth/CourseMaterials

Send Your “Top 10” Ideas to:wirth@macalester.edu

Opportunities for New Conversations About Learning . . .

Bloom's Levels of UnderstandingLevel Definition Verb Examples That Can Represent

Intellectual Activity

EvaluationAppraise, assess, or critique on basis of standards or criteria

appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, select, evaluate

SynthesisOriginate, integrate, or combine ideas into a new product or plan

arrange, assemble, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, organize, propose

AnalysisDistinguish, classify, or relate assumption, hypotheses or evidence

analyze, appraise, categorize, compare, distinguish, examine

ApplicationSelect, 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

KnowledgeRecall or recognition of information, ideas and principles

arrange, define, label, list, name, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce

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)

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)

Teaching, Learning & Communication1. Form Groups

2. Select and assemble “teachers”3. Lesson plan4. Two-minute lecture; no illustrations

Students take notes, no questions

(from Duch et al. 2001)

Stand and Deliver Exercise

Teaching, Learning & Communication1. Teacher conference

Students draw figure; no discussion 2. Groups work to refine representation3. Teachers return; distribute original4. Discussion & Reflection

Did everyone draw the same picture?Did discussion improve representation?How would learning be improved?Challenge of “teaching” mental imagesImportance of communication & feedback