Study Tips – The Nature of Learning

A Note to the Student on the Systematic Nature of Learning

This series of articles is designed for students in reading improvement classes wherein the main emphasis is the development of effective academic skills. It may also be used, however, by those who desire a guide for independent self-improvement.

At one time or another, most college students worry about their ability to succeed academically. One or two low grades are enough to make many begin to doubt themselves.

Some who are panic-prone face likely defeat even before the battle begins.

When you begin to doubt, it will be comforting to remember that most college students do succeed. They manage somehow to meet the requirements for the degree, to win most of the battles and, finally, the war.

To an experienced observer, the most surprising element in this academic combat is the student’s adversary.

It’s not the professor who gives the examination; it’s not even his classmates who are competing with him for grades.

The student’s worst enemy is himself.

Somehow, he manages to learn an overwhelming number of self-defeating habits, ways of interfering with the smooth functioning of his learning mechanism.

The rules by which we learn are not mysterious. They need not be discovered through trial and error, through trying this recommendation and that advice until we find something that works. Many of the procedures which lead to efficient learning are known and need only to be understood and followed systematically.

Certainly, even under optimum conditions, people differ widely in the speed and thoroughness with which they learn. Nevertheless, the regularities, the rules of learning, hold for everyone. Minor variations in procedure or differences in emphasis ordinarily take care of differences in learning style.

It should not be surprising to find that there are regularities or “laws” of learning. The changes in behavior which we call learning are actually changes in the operation of the body.

As you may or may not know, physical functioning is systematic. The nervous systems and glandular system interact in predictable ways: when an examination looms up, the emotion center in the brain becomes more active, thus stimulating a series of glandular changes which, in turn, have a particular effect on thinking. The mind begins to race and over-all muscle tension increases as the body becomes ready to handle the threat.

Sometimes the body overreacts to threat, a condition which is experienced as disorganized thinking or as the blankness of examination panic.

By knowing how we operate, we can set up conditions which facilitate—or impede—learning. In the following pieces you will learn procedures which facilitate efficient use of your learning capacity, conditions necessary for creative thinking, skills which reduce time and energy expenditure during learning, theories about how concepts develop, techniques which reduce forgetting and which aid concentration.

You will learn about “styles of learning,” about relationships between personality and learning, about the effects of motivation, anxiety, and cramming on the learning product.

You will learn that some students, who have excellent imaginations, cannot organize their ideas while others, who organize very well, seem to lack imagination. You will learn that weaknesses in some skills do not mean weaknesses in all and that the people whom you envy because of their outstanding skills also envy you because of yours.

With all this talk of “weaknesses,” we must not lose sight of “strengths.” The lyric, “accentuate the positive,” contains an important truth. For the most part, you will improve most in those skills which are already strong, a simple fact of development.

On the other hand, it is necessary for you to provide conditions which will bring other skills to a level which will allow you to take advantage of your strengths. For example, A’s and B’s in math and physics may come easily, but they won’t come at all if you are asked to leave school because of E’s in English and French.

The first three parts of this series contain materials which are of general interest.

Part I (Diagnosis) will help you to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses in skills which contribute to good reading and learning.

Part II (How to Learn) presents a detailed explanation of a learning technique that works.

Part III (How to Read) explains how to increase reading rate, how to improve comprehension and vocabulary, how to read critically, and how to improve spelling. These three parts should be studied in sequence for the best results.

The remainder of the articles contains materials which are designed to help those with specific problems. If you are having trouble with a certain subject area, you will find helpful suggestions in Part IV (Mastering the Content), including materials in five subject areas for practicing the learning technique described in Part II.

Part V provides timed readings to help increase efficiency in reading. Students who have difficulty organizing and writing research papers will find some useful and time-saving ideas in Appendix 2, and additional exercises designed to help in developing your vocabulary are provided in Appendix 3.

The lessons are self-explanatory. Read the directions carefully. Read them again. Then follow the directions exactly—and you will be on your way toward becoming an efficient learner.

Understanding Directions – Before You Begin.

You may think you know how to follow directions. But try taking the following test to discover whether you really do possess this ability.

Read the following directions and follow through with the specified behavior. (Print off this page or copy and paste it to your notepad and print it from there. Then you can write on the page as needed.)
Work rapidly, but accurately.

You must finish within two minutes.

1. Cross out all the letters in this sentence.

2. If a brother is older than his sister and his sister is older than her brother, what is the least number of children in the family?

3. Write the abbreviation for the shortest month in the year at the end of this sentence.

4. Write the first letter of the last name of the oldest living president of the United States now in office.

5. Is the temperature at zero degrees Fahrenheit or freezing cold higher on a thermometer?

6. If there are 62 weeks in the year, underline the third word in this sentence.

7. If the hour hand of a clock is at 7 and the minute hand at 4, what time is it?

8. Draw a circle around the longest word in this sentence.

9. If awkward and graceful mean the same, write the figure seven after this sentence; if they are the opposite, write twice seven.

If you made any errors, you can be certain that reading directions is a problem area for you. The reasons for it will be discussed in the lesson titled “Test Taking Techniques”.

Follow this link for the answers to the questions above!