Learning how I learn
Jessica Abear
Psychology 100
Topic Paper “How I learn”
May 6, 2015 Learning How I Learn
Right when we think we know everything possible to know about learning, we learn something new. I propose that “re-learning” how we learn, will not only surprise us, as well as teach us a lot, but it will make us far more efficient learners.
Beginning the first day of school it is drilled into our heads that distraction, ignorance and restlessness are Failure’s allies. We are taught that sacrifice, self-discipline and restraint is essential to the learning process. I’ve always been advised that when you study you must be confined to a silent allocated area alone with nothing distracting you. In our craze to systemize learning and the learning process, we have ignored and disregarded invaluable, naturally gratifying learning tools like: forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Recent educational research and landmark studies now indicate that distractions can aid learning, napping does too, quitting before a project is done is not all bad, as an almost done project lingers in memory far longer than one that is completed. Taking a test on a subject before you know anything about it improves subsequent learning. What follows is my journey in self-reflection, and my pursuit to answer the looming question of “How I learn”.
Learning is something we experience every day as students, but learning is not exclusive to the classroom. Learning happens in both formal and informal ways, and ranges from the relative confines of the local community college classroom to the freedom of a Hip Hop dance class. Learning could even happen at a quaint Olympia coffee shop where a chance conversation births a deeper understanding or a different way of seeing some topic or another. Learning begins way before school starts, and continues until…we discontinue.
Learning is the act of obtaining new, or updating and enriching the knowledge, behaviors, abilities, morals or preferences one already
Psychology 100
Topic Paper “How I learn”
May 6, 2015 Learning How I Learn
Right when we think we know everything possible to know about learning, we learn something new. I propose that “re-learning” how we learn, will not only surprise us, as well as teach us a lot, but it will make us far more efficient learners.
Beginning the first day of school it is drilled into our heads that distraction, ignorance and restlessness are Failure’s allies. We are taught that sacrifice, self-discipline and restraint is essential to the learning process. I’ve always been advised that when you study you must be confined to a silent allocated area alone with nothing distracting you. In our craze to systemize learning and the learning process, we have ignored and disregarded invaluable, naturally gratifying learning tools like: forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Recent educational research and landmark studies now indicate that distractions can aid learning, napping does too, quitting before a project is done is not all bad, as an almost done project lingers in memory far longer than one that is completed. Taking a test on a subject before you know anything about it improves subsequent learning. What follows is my journey in self-reflection, and my pursuit to answer the looming question of “How I learn”.
Learning is something we experience every day as students, but learning is not exclusive to the classroom. Learning happens in both formal and informal ways, and ranges from the relative confines of the local community college classroom to the freedom of a Hip Hop dance class. Learning could even happen at a quaint Olympia coffee shop where a chance conversation births a deeper understanding or a different way of seeing some topic or another. Learning begins way before school starts, and continues until…we discontinue.
Learning is the act of obtaining new, or updating and enriching the knowledge, behaviors, abilities, morals or preferences one already
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