1. Learning About Learning
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© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

2. You’re About to Discover…
How learning changes your brain
How people are intelligent in different ways
How you learn through your senses
How your personality affects your learning style
How to become a more efficient and effective learner
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

3. Tammy Ko p

4. Create the Best Conditions for Learning
You’re intrinsically motivated to learn material that is appropriately challenging.
You’re appropriately stressed, but generally relaxed.
You enter into a state researchers call “flow” and are totally absorbed in what you’re doing. “
Learning is not so much an additive process, with new learning simply
piling up on top of existing knowledge, as it is an active, dynamic process
in which the connections are constantly changing and the structure reformatted.”
K. Patricia Cross, Professor Emerita of Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley

5. Create the Best Conditions for Learning
You’re curious about what you’re learning and you look forward to it.
You’re slightly confused, but only for a short time.
6. You search for personal meaning and patterns.
Your emotions are involved, not just your mind. “
It is what we think we know already
know that often prevents us from learning.”
Claude Bernard, French physiologist

6. Create the Best Conditions for Learning
You realize that as a learner you use what you already
know in constructing new knowledge.
You understand that learning is both conscious and
unconscious.
10. You are given a degree of choice in what you learn, how
you do it, and feedback on how you’re doing. “
Personal participation is the
universal principal of knowing.”
Michael Polanyi, Hungarian-British scholar
Exercise 2.1:
Views on Learning

7. Control: Your Top Ten List
Control Your Learning
Control: Your Top Ten List
p. 43

8. Multiple Intelligences
How are You Smart?
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Spatial
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic
Exercise 2.2:
Multiple Intelligences

9. Studying Intelligently
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

10. VARK and Learning
Visual: (depicted) symbols, charts, diagrams, color, layout, flow charts, mindmaps, spatial arrangements, headings
Aural: (spoken, heard) lectures, Podcasts, discussions, study groups, , chats, oral presentations, oral feedback
Read/Write: (read, written) textbooks, papers, notetaking
Kinesthetic: (reality-based, uses all the senses) analogies, case studies, application, simulations, field trips, role plays, experiments, games, problem-based learning,
learning by doing, film, animated websites
Exercise 2.3:
VARK Assessment

11. VISUAL Everyday Study Strategies Exam Preparation Strategies
Convert your lecture notes to a visual
format.
Study the placement of items, colors,
and shapes in your textbook.
Put complex concepts into flowcharts
or graphs.
Redraw ideas you create from memory.
Practice turning your visuals back
into words.
Practice writing out exam answers.
Recall the pictures you made of
the pages you studied.
Use diagrams to answer exam
questions, if your instructor will
allow it.

12. AURAL Everyday Study Strategies Exam Preparation Strategies
Read your notes aloud.
Explain your notes to another auditory
learner.
Ask others to “hear” your understanding
of the material.
Record your notes onto tapes or CDs or
listen to your instructors’ podcasts.
Realize that your lecture notes may be
incomplete. You may have become so
involved in listening that you stopped
writing. Fill your notes in later by
talking with other students or getting
material from the textbook.
Practice by speaking your answers
aloud.
Listen to your own voice as you
answer questions.
Opt for an oral exam if allowed.
Imagine you are talking with the
teacher as you answer
questions.

13. READ/WRITE Everyday Study Strategies Exam Preparation Strategies
Write out your lecture notes again
and again.
Read your notes (silently) again and
again.
Put ideas and principles into different
words.
Translate diagrams, graphs, etc. into
text.
Rearrange words and “play” with
wording.
Turn diagrams and charts into words.
Write out potential exam
answers.
Practice creating and taking
exams.
Type out your answers to
potential test questions.
Organize your notes into lists
or bullets.
Write practice paragraphs:
particularly beginnings and
endings.

14. KINESTHETIC Everyday Study Strategies Exam Preparation Strategies
Recall experiments, field trips, etc.
Remember the real things that happened.
Talk over your notes with another
“K” person.
Use photos and pictures that make ideas
come to life.
Go back to the lab, your lab manual, or
your notes that include real examples.
Remember that your lecture notes will
have gaps if topics weren’t concrete
or relevant for you.
Use case studies to help you learn
abstract principles.
Role-play the exam situation
in your room (or the actual
classroom).
Put plenty of examples into
your answers.
Write practice answers and
sample paragraphs.
Give yourself practice tests.

15. Customize Your Learning
Color
Image U2
Coldplay
Alicia Keys
Ringtone
Exercise 2.4:
Style Type Indicator

16. Using Your Sensory Preferences
Remember that VARK preferences are not necessarily strengths.
If you have a strong preference for a particular modality,
practice multiple suggestions listed for that modality.
An estimated 60 percent of people are multimodal.
If you are multimodal, you may have to use all your
modalities to be confident you’ve learned something.
You may want to save experimenting with modalities you
don’t prefer until after college.
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

17. Does Personality Affect Learning?
What energizes you?
Introvert
Extrovert
How do you process information?
Sensor
iNtuition
How do you make decisions?
Thinker
Feeler
How do you relate to the world?
Judger
Perceiver

18. Using Your Personality
Translate for Maximum Comfort.
Your instructor may have a
different learning style
Adapt course material to what
works best for you
Make Strategic Choices.
Don’t use your style as an
excuse
Become more versatile
Take Full Advantage.
Make the most of your time
in college
Pursue new learning
opportunities
Using Your Personality “
Each person is an
exception to the rule.”
Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (1875–1961)
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

19. VARK It! V
Visual: Put together a collage of photos that represents how you learn. Post it on the course blog or website, assemble it on a posterboard, or make a PowerPoint show. A
Aural: Discuss your 1) multiple intelligences, 2) VARK preferences,
or 3) personality factors that affect learning with your friends or family. See if they can predict their own scores (generally). Also, go to to listen to the mp3 podcast summary of this chapter. R
Read/Write: Write a one-page summary of what you have learned
about yourself as a result of reading this chapter. K
Kinesthetic: Use a variety of kinesthetic learning techniques to prepare for an upcoming quiz or exam in this class or another one. Did the techniques help you master the material? Report your results.
p. 65

20. Chapter 2: Exercises Your Views on Learning
Chapter Activity
p. 36
Your Views on Learning
Chapter Activity
p. 44
Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment
Chapter Exercise
p. 52
VARK Learning Styles Assessment
Chapter Exercise
p. 60
Learning Style Type Indicator
Audio
Chapter Summary
Audio Summary of Chapter 2
Insight Action
Back to Menu
© 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

21. Your Views on Learning
Exercise 2.1, p. 36

22. Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment
Exercise 2.2, p. 44

23. VARK Learning Styles Assessment
Exercise 2.3, p. 52

24. Learning Style Type Indicator
Exercise 2.4, p. 60

25. Insight  Action
*insight
! action
p. 65

26. Insight  Action
*insight
! action
p. 66

27. Chapter 2 Audio Summary

28. FOCUS on College Success
F CUSPoints
An Interactive Teaching Tool
FOCUS on COLLEGE SUCCESS
Second Edition
Chapter 2
Constance Staley and Aren Moore