An Even Better Education: Learn How to Learn, Not Just What to Learn
Winston Churchill, one of my heroes, said, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
I believe being taught how to learn is the ultimate gift.
Teaching is the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind. But what lessons are most valuable? Most of our years in classrooms consist of listening, memorizing, regurgitating -- and then repeating that cycle. So I ask -- were you taught how to learn?
My definition of ‘Teacher’ is someone who, in the midst of telling you what they know, explains how they know it. I’ve been privileged throughout my journey to have learned invaluable lessons, tools and tricks from both traditional teachers and people I’ve met along the way.
So in the spirit of spreading curiosity, I offer a few insights on my own process:
Embrace the ivory tower: Add “pdf” to your google search term, as it often reveals published papers, academic journals and polished tools that are more relevant than general search results -- plus, they are ready to be printed.
Seek information from curiosity-based search platforms: Search not only Google, but also Google Scholar, Google Books, SlideShare, Microsoft Academic, BASE, Wolfram Alpha and more. These are just a few of the interesting platforms built for curiosity rather than built for advertisers.
Read voraciously and with variety: Read as many newspapers and magazines as blogs possible. On most days, I read the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and also the local paper wherever I am. In terms of magazines, my favorites for learning are The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Forbes, The New Yorker, Wired, FastCompany, Popular Science, Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, The Atlantic, Discover and Mental Floss. If you want to consume magazines online, Texture has conveniently rolled-up the articles of most magazines with an easy-to-consume iPad interface. For blogs, Medium and Flipboard are great ways to discover interesting stories and writers.
Stick it out: Go past page one and two. The statistics are revealing of the laziness of most learners – only 6% of people even look at page two of a search result and less than 1% of people click on any search result past page two. And even on the first page of search results, less than 2% of people click on any result past the first five. My suggestion is that you distinguish yourself by demonstrating your tenacious curiosity and searching deep into the results – those hinterlands are where I’ve gained so much knowledge and perspective.
And if you have any new suggestions/ideas, please feel free to share back with me!
Thanks for the LINKS!
Instructional Designer, Philosopher, and Academic Architect
6 年I enjoyed your article immensely and I was curious if you have given any thought to developing a systematic model of deep learning approaches that could then be accessible to teachers working in the K-12 environment. I strongly belief the transmission and training of deep-learning approaches holds the many of the keys to advancing student achievement both in the US and Australia. #deeplearningapproaches
Senior Director @ NexWafe | Leading Innovation and R&D
6 年A great article to bring out a very important topic, and with some good recommendations and discouraging facts about our population. IMO the biggest concerning and alarming fact is that, in general, educational institutions do NOT teach how to learn, or inspire their pupils to learn HOW to learn. I know for myself that I've had a privileged good and expensive education, but the biggest fortune I had were the examples from home, and unfortunately not from school, where in my opinion it should be coming from. With kids of my own now I feel sad to know that, even if paying absurd amounts for high end elite schools, that inspiration is left to luck, to if there is a teacher that knows how to inspire their class... it is not a ground pillar of the educational system... Our school systems should be re-tough and re-modeled to prepare or kids for life and not just to get some good grades...
Education Catalyst Facilitator and Developer of Future Ready Education
6 年Learning has two quite different perspectives. In most education organisations the emphasis is on delivering and remembering specific content, using the information to answer questions and using that specific content as part of the next development stage. Learning how to learn is developed through competency based education using authentic contexts, team work, development of high expectations and using problem solving. As competency based learning and assessment is developed specific teaching of research strategies, prevention of direct copy and paste, and metacognition are needed. Different strategies, including Team Based Learning, and use of Rich Tasks and Wicked Problems result in greater responsibility for students and greater engagement. Teachers need to diversify their teaching strategies beyond their own preferred teaching style.