Lisa Prach

12-4-00

Integrative Essay- How People Learn

A Cycle of Learning

There are several basic things that every human being has in common. These include life, emotions, heritage, desires, and most importantly the ability to learn. Since learning is common to everyone, it is an especially interesting area of research. If we can understand this innate premise of human life, it could possibly help to unite us in more ways. Discovering how people learn has fascinated psychologists for decades, but some of the largest discoveries have occurred in the past forty years. The book, How People Learn: brain, mind, experience, and school, written by the committee on developments in the science of learning, discusses some of the most recent findings in learning research.

A major point discussed is that learning begins at a much younger age than most people realize. It was previously believed that "a newborn’s mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) on which the record of experience is gradually impressed" (p. 79). However, this belief has been disregarded due to emerging evidence. Research into how and what babies learn has been limited due to the fact that they do not communicate in the way adults do. That is, they cannot speak or even use sign language. Therefore, researchers had to develop experiments based upon what infants can do. "Three such methods are non-nutritive sucking, habituation, and visual expectation" (p. 83).

In one experiment a pacifier was directly connected to a projector lens. An infant was then showed a silent film and given the pacifier. The results showed that the infants learned to bring the movie into focus and preferred a clear image to a blurry one. Other studies have shown that infants habituate, "stop responding to repeated presentations of the same event" (p. 83). Again, using the amount of sucking to show interest, an infant is presented with a sound or picture repeatedly. After some time they lost interest and stop sucking until presented with a new situation. Visual expectation can also be used to determine whether a young child comprehends a pattern of events. Once a pattern has been established the baby’s gaze can be studied to determine if they expect the same pattern over and over. In this way babies have shown that the concept of numbers are understood at a very early age, as young as five months. Through these, and other, sets of experiments, it has been shown that infants are capable of and do learn quickly.

Evidence suggests that infants and young children learn quickly, but they do not learn as quickly as older children. Several theories as to why this is so have been presented. At an early age, children develop multiple ways of solving the same problem. For example, for the addition of two single digit numbers, a child could add up from one, add up from the largest number, or rely on memory. Some psychologists believe that younger children do not know which method is best, and so they do not always choose the most efficient way of doing something. In this way, younger children do not learn an answer as quickly, but they may learn the process of deciding on a method. Another view is that children have "less memory capacity than adults" (p. 96). "A complementary view is that the mental operations of older children are more rapid, enabling then to make use of their limited capacity more effectively" (p. 96). It is also believed by some that "younger children employ categorization strategies less often than older ones" (p. 97). It is unknown which theory is correct, or if all of them are, but all of the findings indicate that there is a learning curve that seems to increase with age.

Learning at different rates and in different ways goes along with another theme discussed in the book: how experts and novices differ. "Understanding expertise is important because it provides insights into the nature of thinking and problem solving" (p. 31). How People Learn sights six key ways experts and novices differ. "1. Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices. 2. Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter. 3. Experts’ knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is "conditionalized" on a set of circumstances. 4. Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort. 5. Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others. 6. Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations" (p. 31). The most important thing to realize is that all experts start out as novices and build on their knowledge in the same way as everyone does. Being an expert in a field does not mean that one is smarter than another, merely that certain information is better known and is more easily connected to other information.

Anyone can become an expert on any subject. The main ingredients necessary are time, patience, and the will to become one. However, being an expert is more than just knowing facts. One must be able to retrieve, and apply known information to a new situation. This involves transfer, or "the ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts" (p. 51). There are four main points about learning and transfer discussed. "1. Initial learning is necessary for transfer, and a considerable amount is known about the kinds of learning experiences that support transfer. 2. Knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer; abstract representations of knowledge can help promote transfer. 3. Transfer is best viewed as an active, dynamic process rather than a passive end-product of a particular set of learning experiences. 4. All new learning involves transfer based on previous learning, and this fact has important implications for the design of instruction that helps students learn" (p. 53). Knowing these characteristics can be very helpful to all learners and can assist them to become experts.

Another important aspect of learning is metacognition, or "the ability to monitor one’s current level of understanding and decide when it is not adequate" (p. 47). It is important to realize what and how well information is understood; so it is not conveyed to someone else incorrectly, so the wrong assumptions are not made, and so it can be correctly applied to a different situation. For example, learning equations for a physics test are important, but in order for them to be useful, they have to be understood well enough to apply them to a different set of problems. Learning something purely in context, such as that of a physics chapter, will not lead to knowledge that is transferable. If this fact is realized, other things can be done to learn the material in a way so it can be transferred to other cases.

The information and theories presented in the first five chapters of How People Learn have several implications. As new research findings prove old theories wrong, we are learning more and more how little we really know about the way our minds work. This just further emphasizes the fact that learning and discovering new information is an on-going process. If anything is learned from how old beliefs can be proven false, it is that we should always question things. It was once thought that the world was flat and that the earth was the center of the universe. Imagine how much we can discover in another century.

As researchers discover how we learn, better ways to learn can also be developed. This could possibly lead to a reform in the way school systems are devised and the way subjects are taught. This could allow more people to become experts in different fields, which could lead to new discoveries and an improved society. A reform in teaching style could also ensure a more equal education for all children, thus eliminating some of the existing inequalities in the world. The end result of learning research is almost infinite. In fact, the only true limiting factor is being human in itself.

The book How People Learn presents some of the most recent findings in learning research. Infant learning and development, expert and novice differences, and transfer theory are all discussed in depth with examples and evidence. Some of the implications of the findings are also presented but they go much further than what one book can hold. The ultimate application to understand learning would be to teach everyone in the way that is best for him or her. This would result in experts in every imaginable field, who work together for the benefit of everyone. In this way, our individual link with each and every person in the world could be strengthened.