I read up on learning behaviors and came across a lot of theories and myths on how to learn efficiently. I wanted to quickly summarize what I have learned so far to remember everything later.
- Learning success isn’t greater under pressure, especially time pressure.
- Learning is not like filling a jar in which the acquired knowledge accumulates. Connections between previous knowledge and new knowledge needs to be established to fully comprehend everything.
- Learning cannot be planned. The learning environment (location, breaks, repetition phase, etc.) can be planned and thought through, but there is no guarantee that you will actually learn something.
- There aren’t gifted and ungifted students. By the time children enter school, they have gone through years of socialization and learning, have developed certain interests, which in turn lead to individual and very different potentials. Not all children are lucky enough to receive adequate support from their family to further develop that potential.
- Teachers aren’t among the most impactful influences in learning. Factors created by the teacher, which promote or hinder learning are of greater importance.
- The theory that the ability to learn needs to be learned stems from our output orientated education system.
Some of these things took me by surprise and I’m interested in learning more about them. Especially the idea of the gifted and ungifted student or lack thereof is something I never looked at from that perspective. This is important to keep in mind when thinking about possible gamification of nature solutions.
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