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What is learning?
1. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge. What is learning? You spend much of your day trying to do it, but have you ever given any thought to what learning is and how it happens? Learning is a complex concept. There’s a large body of psychology devoted to learning and how it happens. There are many ways people learn. Some learning is automatic. For example, when you were a small child you may have learned not to touch a hot stove by touching it once. (Ouch!) That’s learning by conditioning . Other learning, like memorizing the names and atomic numbers of all of the elements on the periodic table or how to find the area of a trapezoidal prism is not automatic. It takes time and often a great deal of effort. The end result of learning is the acquisition of knowledge. Good study skills improve your ability to acquire knowledge.
Learning = the acquisition of knowledge + retention of knowledge + ability to demonstrate knowledge
2. Learning is the retention of knowledge. Have you ever spent hours studying, were sure you knew the material, but couldn’t remember it when you needed to? Did you not learn it as well as you thought? Why did the knowledge slip away? Lots of things we learn are not meant to be remembered for a long time, so our brains quickly let go of the information. Other information, like the kind you learn in school, is meant to be remembered for a long time. If you forget information too soon after you learned it, you did not learn it successfully. Good study skills include practices and strategies for retaining information for a longer period of time. Good study skills improve your ability to retain knowledge. 3. Learning is the ability to demonstrate knowledge. Learning is measurable, so part of learning is being able to successfully demonstrate what you’ve learned so it can be accurately measured (graded) by your teacher. As a student, you are frequently being asked to demonstrate your knowledge. Tests and quizzes, class participation, reports, essays, verbal reports, group presentations—even just answering questions in class are all ways that your knowledge is demonstrated. You must be able to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of formats: essay and short answer, multiple choice, true or false, fill-in-the-blanks, oral response, etc. For college readiness in particular, you must also be able to demonstrate your ability to apply and adapt the knowledge in a variety of ways – from simple recall, to analysis, critique, evaluation, synthesis, etc. Good study skills improve your ability to successfully demonstrate knowledge. PRODUCT PREVIEW
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THE 21st CENTURY STUDENT’S GUIDE TO STUDY SKILLS
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