INTRODUCTIONMany students would likely cite a desire to learn as the primary reason for committing four years to a college education. But what do we really mean when we use the word “learn”? It is something we all do from the moment of birth, so most of us likely take this very complex process for granted. How many of you have spent time trying to understand the meaning of learning, or how it occurs? Although many of us have a general sense of what it means to learn, there are often many assumptions involved. Teachers often assume that, because they are “teaching,” students must be learning. Students assume that, because they have read their text and memorized facts, they have learned something. What should we expect to learn from a college education? What are the roles of students and teachers in the learning process? Are certain kinds of learning and thinking more valuable than others? What does sophisticated thinking look like and what are the developmental stages for getting there? What kinds of skills and knowledge do employers desire in their perspective employees? How do grades reflect a student’s thinking and learning? What role does higher education play in modern society? These are but a few questions to consider while reflecting on the purpose of a college education.The past few decades have seen considerable advances in understanding the brain and learning. These new findings have significant implications for what instructors teach and how students learn, and I have changed the way I approach teaching. As I began to revise my courses to include new instructional methods, I realized the need to add some readings and classroom discussions to help students understand their vital role in the learning process. I initially sought to find an existing document that would provide a concise summary about learning. After not finding a suitable overview, I decided to write one myself. So, the purpose of this document is to provide a brief overview of learning, how people learn, and the importance of learning as a lifelong objective. This summary is distilled from a number of books, papers, and web pages related to learning, thinking, and educational practices. Although intended for students, thedocument might also be useful to instructors as they consider what they teach and how to teachAvailable from: http://www.macalester.edu/geology/wirth/CourseMaterials.html (version 16 September 2008) Bud Blakeit. Feedback, both positive and negative, is welcomed to help guide future revisions of this “work in progress.” A review by J. Serie greatly improved this document. However, any errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.THE CURRENT SITUATIONThe American education system is considered among the best in the world. More than 50% of our nation’s high school graduates continue on to college and each year our universities and colleges enroll thousands of students from other countries. Despite these statistics, several recent studies have shown that many college seniors have neither good general knowledge nor the necessary skills for reasoning in today’s society (Fink 2003). As an example, Saunders (1980) compared U.S. students who had completed a yearlong economics course with those who had never taken a course in economics. At the end of the course, the test scores of those students who had completed the economics course were only 20% better than those who had not taken the course, and this difference dropped to less than 10% seven years after completion of the course. Equally shocking are the results of a study of critical thinking and college faculty in California. Although most of the faculty (75%) claimed to value critical thinking and to promote it in the classroom, less than 19% were able to provide a clear explanation of critical thinking, and less than 10% were able to identify criteria for evaluating the quality of students’ thinking (Paul et al.1997). The results of these studies, and many others, strongly suggest that our current instructional practices are not working and that many students are not learning, or retaining what they do learn (Fink 2003).NEED FOR NEW KINDS OF LEARNINGThere have been calls for new kinds of learning from many different parts of society (Fink2003). College teachers have expressed frustration about attendance in class, uncompleted reading assignments, and student focus on grades rather than learning. Student surveys indicate that courses are not interesting, that students fail to recognize the value of what they are learning, and that many faculty rely too heavily on lectures for transmitting information. Recognizing the need for greater accountability by our public schools systems, asignificant number of state legislatures have Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.Ralph Waldo Emerson begun to link
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