A few basic learning strategies can help you in your carreer or business.
They also can make you the person who always has something interesting to
say. You CAN learn more efficiently. Just use a few of the following
techniques until they become habit.
Create Anticipation and Curiosity
You learn more effectively with curiosity and anticipation working for you,
but how do you create this state of mind? One way is to end each learning
session with a question or two clearly in your mind. This creates the sense
of anticipation and curiosity that will help you next time you study. It's
like a TV show going to a commercial at an interesting moment in the
program. You want to stay tuned, to see what happens next.
Prepare To Learn
When you want to learn new material, expose your mind to it as soon as
possible, before you even feel "ready," or have time to study. The first
stage of learning is the part where you look at new ideas and say, "huh?" Do
this quickly, however, reviewing everything for a few minutes, and your
unconscious mind will start "incubating" the new concepts, and finding some
way to organize them.
Relate What You Know To The New Knowledge
When you sit down to study new material, relate it to what you already know.
Compare and contrast things, saying to yourself, "That's like...," or "How
is that different from..." Autoresponders were new to me when I started my
newsletters, but the concept sunk in and motivated me when I thought, "It's
like someone doing all my addressing and mailing for pennies a day." This
prompted the important questions, and I was ready to learn.
Use Your Imagination
Changing your perspective is one of the great learning strategies. For
example, study with the idea in mind that you will be teaching what you're
learning. As you study something, imagine how you'll teach it. This is a
powerful way to get a good grasp on new information.
Also imagine how you'll use what you are learning. There's so much
information, and so little of it is the truly "important stuff." But by
imagining how you'll use the new information, you tend to automatically
focus on the things you really need to know.
Take Breaks
You can learn more by working less. The research shows that we remember best
what we study first and last in a given session. So, by taking breaks, you
create more "sessions," and increase the number of firsts and lasts. Move
around during your breaks, as this can also keep your mind fresh.
Finding Time
What if it took no extra time to learn a new language, take a negotiating
course, or study something new and interesting? Start using the dead-time in
your day, the time sitting in your car, or on the bus, or in a waiting room.
Almost any public library has hundreds of books on tape, and you can even
instantly download books on the internet.
This is one of the most under-utilised and easiest learning strategies. If
your job is 25 minutes away you spend 200 hours per year sitting in your car
going to or from work. Could you learn something useful if you had four
hours per week of audio instruction for a year? The only extra time it takes
is a few minutes to stop by the library.
Of course, almost nothing works just by reading it. Why not scan the list
above and start using one or two of these learning startegies ?
About The Author
Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem
solving, and related topics for years. Subscribe to his free Creative
Problem Solving Course, and get a free gift at:
http://www.ProblemSolving101.com
As an adjunct education professor I am often asked, "How do I motivate
students to learn?"
Motivating students to learn is a struggle that all teachers face.
Since I also teach middle school social studies it is the challenge I
personally face everyday.
The truth is motivating students to learn is one of the key components of
effective teaching AND classroom management.
If students are not motivated to learn then they are most likely not
involved in the lesson and if they are not involved in the lesson they are
much more likely to cause classroom management problems.
Therefore, it is critical for teachers to increase student motivation to
learn and the best way to do this is for teachers to spark student interest
at the beginning of every lesson.
Here are six effective strategies for motivating students to learn I do at
the beginning of lessons:
1. Use critical thinking questions ~ The great thing about using these types
of questions is that they don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer so
students are allowed to express their own opinions as opposed to simply
being told to memorize facts.
Here's a quick example. Let's take a social studies lesson on the use of the
atomic bomb to end World War II. To spark interest at the beginning of the
lesson the teacher can ask students to all write down an answer to the
following question... "Do you think President Truman was justified in
dropping the atomic bomb to end WWII? Why?"
Teachers can then let students share their answers for a quick class
discussion and then take a class poll. Now that the students are interested
in the topic it is much easier for the teacher to start the lesson.
Then, at the end of the lesson, the teacher can take another poll to see if
the student's opinions have changed.
2. Use music to teach ~ Music is one of the most underrated learning tools
and is a great way to spark student interest. For example, when teaching a
lesson on the slave trade and the Middle Passage I introduce the topic by
playing the Bob Marley songs "Buffalo Soldier" and "Catch a Fire".
3. Use video ~ Video is one of the most misunderstood teaching tools and is
often abused. However, if used correctly video can be a great tool increase
student motivation to learn. The key is to use short clips from movies and
documentaries at beginning of lessons rather than the end. Hollywood movies
are great for this, but you can also use unitedstreaming.com to download
short clips from documentaries on any subject for any grade level.
4. Relate what students are learning to what is going on in the "real
world". This is obviously easier done with some subjects than others, but it
can be done. Students need to know "why" they are learning something.
5. Relate what students are learning to what is important to them. The trick
here is to get to know your students and learn about their own interests.
6. Use technology...or rather, have the student use technology to learn.
Have them create podcasts, videos, web sites, brochures etc.
Increasing student motivation to learn can be challenging, but it is an
essential element in being an effective teacher. The added bonus is you will
also find yourself enjoying teaching much more when it doesn't feel like you
are pulling teeth trying to get your students involved.
About The Author
Adam Waxler
Want to learn more strategies to motivate students to learn? Sign up for the
FREE Teaching Tips Machine Newsletter @
http://www.Teaching-Tips-Machine.com
Santosh Prem, a teacher at Malet Lambert School, claims that “the difference
between a genius and a "normal" person is that the former "accidentally"
acquired the critical combination of the appropriate environment, motivation
and learning technique to excel in his particular field.” Literally it means
that every student has the same potential to excel and succeed in studying
without having any exceptional inborn gift.
One of the most vital components in this “genius formula”, which
significance is underestimated both by teachers and students is acquiring
and harnessing of ‘Learning How to Learn’ skill. “This is probably the one
skill that was never explicitly mentioned in all the years that you've spent
in school. But it's the one where there's the most reward for the smallest
investment.”
Indeed, knowing how to learn is a universal skill which every learner can
make good use of for self-education in future life. Learning how to learn is
a critical starting point in studying, which promotes students’ success in
the whole course of education. This drastic know-how forms not only the
basis of successful learning, but develops a peculiar learning style of the
person.
Some learners choose more methodical approach to learning and try to dive
into the essence of processing data, breaking it into logical units in order
to memorize large blocks of information in parts. Meanwhile, other approach
to learning less structurally, relying heavily on loci memory improvement
technique, which involves making associations between facts and visualizing
things.
Thus, every learning style is unique and it is impossible to elaborate a set
of standard learning strategies and methods which can be utilized by every
learner. Hence, I offer you to get acquainted with the following learning
techniques and experiment with some of them to see if they work for you.
Seven Principles of ‘Learning How to Learn’ Formula
Connect everything you learn to a specific goal. Remember that you can learn
anything if you have a clear cut goal, which will motivate your advance in
studying. Trying to learn something reluctantly or under compulsion, is
always difficult and usually doesn’t bring any fruitful results. You should
create a desire and speculate over the reasons of your learning very
carefully. Bear in mind that learning more implies earning more;
consequently everything you learn can be transformed into your career
success.
You will learn faster if you structure and logically organize all
information in hand. It’ll increase the effectiveness of memorizing and help
you immensely in your studying. You can break the data into small chunks or
make a general outline of what you are learning.
Single out the most important points of new material. Use a ‘highlight
strategy’, which implies processing of information, underlining its major
points and brief summarizing.
Learn how to make drafts and set out in writing all your thoughts. The main
idea of drafting is stating and organizing of key information meaningfully
and coherently on a sheet of paper.
Take regular breaks. Always combine work with rest. Try to make a change of
scene and look aside. Have some food or turn to some physical training. If
you don’t want to interrupt your work, but still feels that learning in the
same surrounding is unbearable, try to accompany your studying with
background music or make some visual images that involve moving, interaction
or color.
Learn to budget your time wisely, to accomplish all your work in time and
make use of every minute of your studying. Distribute your work rationally
and establish priority of each task in hand. Plan your time in accordance
with quantity of work you have. Never yield a temptation to postpone tasks
of secondary importance. Remember if you violate your deadline once there is
a great likelihood that you’ll do it again.
Learning works more efficiently if you are relaxed and your mind is calm.
Concentrate your attention solely on studying during your learning periods.
Have an organized working place to avoid any distractions and don’t forget
to give yourself rewards when you have completed some tasks efficiently.
Take risks and don’t be afraid to experiment with different techniques.
Always remember that those who learn and do it constantly over their
lifetime do much better in their career and have more advantageous position
than those who stop on attained results and rest on laurels.
About The Author
Linda Correli is a staff writer of
http://www.Customresearchpapers.us She helps students write
college research papers, term books, admission essays, book report and many
other types of writing assignments: from personal statements to professional
case studies. Article sponsored by
http://www.go2essay.com .
-
--
--
When you signup for PayPal, you can start
accepting credit card payments instantly. As the world's number one online
payment service, PayPal is the fastest way to open your doors to over 150
million member accounts worldwide.
Best of all, it's completely free to sign up! To
sign up or learn more, click here:
