Teaching Learning How to Learn

摘要

In his 2013 book, Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach, Dr. L. Dee Fink introduces what he calls the Taxonomy for Significant Learning. [1] This taxonomy states that the successful learner in the 21st century will move beyond the purely cognitive domain by achieving learning in the following categories: Fundamental Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring and Learning How to Learn. This paper will discuss the last of these categories, Learning How to Learn. More specifically, the paper will address the importance of formally integrating the teaching of how to learn into our classes. "People generally are going about learning in the wrong way" say Peter Brown, Dr. Henry Roediger. and Dr. Mark McDaniel in their bestselling book, Make It Stick. [2] This really should not surprise us; after all, when did you last take a course on how to learn? As educators, we spend considerable time studying how to teach but most of us spend almost no time on learning itself. And if we do not look in detail at what is required for learning to occur, we can be assured that most of our students don't either. Numerous books are available describing techniques that supposedly will drive student learning. Some of these techniques are well supported by science but many are not. As educators we must work hard to employ techniques from the former category. We are fortunate that we teach in a time when Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience are converging to better inform the education community regarding what does and does not effectively support learning.