Do you know how Learning Happens ?
Do you know how Learning Happens, because many don’t fully appreciate the processes that go into learning, nor the events that actually constitute learning.
Learning is the process of acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences.
The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines, and there is also evidence for some kind of learning in some plants.
Some learning is immediate, induced by a single event (e.g. being burned by something hot), but much skill and knowledge accumulates from repeated experiences. The changes induced by learning often last a lifetime, and it is hard to distinguish learned material that seems to be “lost” from that which cannot be retrieved.
Human learning begins before birth and continues until death as a consequence of ongoing interactions between person and environment.
Active learning occurs when a person takes control of his/her learning experience, since understanding information is the key aspect of learning, it is important for learners to recognise what they understand and what they do not.
By doing so, they can monitor their own mastery of subjects. Active learning encourages learners to have an internal dialogue in which they verbalize understandings.
This and other meta-cognitive strategies can be taught to a child over time. Studies within metacognition have proven the value in active learning, claiming that the learning is usually at a stronger level as a result.
In addition, learners have more incentive to learn when they have control over not only how they learn but also what they learn.
Active learning is a key characteristic of student-centered learning, conversely, passive learning and direct instruction are characteristics of teacher-centered learning (or traditional education).
Informal, or accidental learning has massive potential to give meaning, relevance and context to the ideas that more formal learning offers.
Many of us confuse learning with an accumulation of knowledge. This video explains in an unconventional way how learning ‘really’ happens.
