Learning About Learning Menu Options: Lecture/ Discussion Chapter Exercises Audio Chapter Summary Other © 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

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

Tammy Ko p. 34-35

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

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

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

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

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

Studying Intelligently © 2010 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

VARK and Learning Visual: (depicted) symbols, charts, diagrams, color, layout, flow charts, mindmaps, spatial arrangements, headings Aural: (spoken, heard) lectures, Podcasts, discussions, study groups, email, 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 www.cengage.com/success/staley/focus2e 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

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

Your Views on Learning Exercise 2.1, p. 36

Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment Exercise 2.2, p. 44

VARK Learning Styles Assessment Exercise 2.3, p. 52

Learning Style Type Indicator Exercise 2.4, p. 60

Insight  Action *insight ! action p. 65

Insight  Action *insight ! action p. 66

Chapter 2 Audio Summary

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