The Way We Learn

[THE RADICAL]

I was thinking in Chemistry today... the way we learn really effects the way that we interpret facts and gain knowledge (duh, right ). We all also have our own style of doing it too. Whether it be through memorization, reading, examining different points of view, scimming pages for facts, watching a video on the subject, etc... So this ones for all of you people who who want to share how they go about gaining knowledge and apply it to your everyday life. I think EVERYONE can benifit from this one... It can give us new insight on how to interpret things that we read, see, and hear... Also your ways can help others develop theirs further.

Here I go:
I like to read the pages as thoughouly as I can and examine each fact closely. When I'm waching something like a program on TV about computer security I pick out key thngs and store them away, and later I try to apply them to my computer and projects.

There's millions of ways we learn so don't be afraid to post, everyone can benefit!
Stay cool... Peace--

[SodaMoca5]

Your point is very valid and shows a weakness in our current educational system for many people.

Basic Method: Read quickly and try to apply. I find that through application I learn faster than through reading alone. Not entirely hands on but use action as a reinforcement. The times I have learned the most the quickest is when I teach and get to answer questions. If I don't know the answer I now have a goal to find it out. Also, if the students are doing hands on and mess up I have to figure out what they did wrong and fix it. Very steep and very rewarding learning curve.

I do fine in a traditional class room environment with assignments to provide the reinforcement. My reading comprehension is high so if I run into a problem then I will go back to the text and read more thoroughly the area covering that weakness.

In contrast my daughter's reading comprehension is poor. However, she learns exceedingly fast with hands on training. She wants to be a nurse but almost all schooling has gone to the lecture, read, remember method (as I call it). In this format she has had a tendency to struggle although she is improving. In my opinion if she had lived around the end of the 1800's to the turn of this century when nurses were trained by working on the job with some lectures she would have excelled and become an excellent nurse very quickly. As it is I think she will make a great nurse but will have to work harder to achieve that goal primarily due to the ossification of our educational system in choosing one method and one method only as the "best" method to teach.

I prefer the method settled on but that doesn't mean I don't recognize that someone who learns how to design and build things by working with his hands and using his experience is less knowledgeable than someone who gets a degree in engineering but can't hammer two boards together without hitting his thumb (<----- Me). Learning != Education != Intelligence they are related but independent measurements. As my father used to say, "Ignorance can be cured, stupidity is forever."

[SarinMage]

its all about how you perceve the world.. differnt perceptions require emphisis on different things, IE sight, sound, or systematicall, randomally.

[The Old Man]

Some people are (luckier?) than others and seem to learn faster or easier. Whatever the reason for differences are, SarinMadge and SodaMoca5 are both correct it seems. As for myself on techincal subjects i have to either read carefully (if there's a book about it) then actually sit down and follow the text until i can make it work, or if there is no instruction text on the subject i have to dive in, muddy the water and break everything until i find out how it works. That's for techical problems. For entertainment with a side-dish of 'learning' i just lean back, speed read wherever i can and slow down for the entertaining parts. A majority of my acquaintances think i learn easily and fast; the fact is i have to work sometimes quite dilligently for every rung in the ladder i climb. i think most other AO'ers learn faster than i do.