John Grisham

PSY 115A

Professor Lappin

December 4, 2000

" How People Learn"

Learning is a process that has existed in both man and animal since their creation.

In chapters two through five of How People Learn, Bransford, Brown, and Cocking explore the learning that takes place between various people and things by asking, "how do people learn?" Their explorations include the the transfer of learning; the differences between experts and novices; the processes by which infants and children learn; and even the ability of a blind person’s brain to reconfigure itself as well as the ability of a mouse’s brain to produce more neurons from increased exercise.

Learning is important because no one is born with the ability to function competently as an adult in society (51). The transfer of learning is affected by the degree of understanding rather than memorization and without an adequate level of initial learning the transfer cannot be expected (53). Some initial transfer comes from cultural practice. Prior knowledge is not simply the individual learning that students bring to the classroom. Some children will have attained more knowledge because they have traveled widely or because of a parental influence (71). I for one have been fortunate. Starting when I was young my parents would always take me with them on trips. I have been to another country, deep down in the south to five star resorts, out west to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and even to New York. Through these experiences I have picked up on many different insights and realized that not everyone is like my family or like the people in the south where I live. Also while growing up I can remember how I always wanted to participate in the adult conversations going on around the table during the holidays. I always set there quietly and attentively and was able to pick up on the latest town gossip or family matters. Furthermore, my greatest cultural experience has come from working at my father’s men’s clothing store during my summers and spare time. Working at the store has given me an insight to how people think and what they need and desire. I have learned that people need something and someone to believe in, someone to listen to, and someone to care for. By communicating with the customers in an understanding and compassionate manner, I am able to better serve them than if I were to just sell them a shirt and tie.

The transfer of knowledge learned in school is meant to help in everyday settings. However, previous learning can sometimes render a negative transfer. This would be the case if a skill or method were to be taught incorrectly to a classroom of students and therefore applied incorrectly by them.

In studying experts and novices, researchers have been able to better tell what separates an experts’ learning ability from a novice’s. They have shown that experts not only have acquired knowledge but also are good at retrieving knowledge relevant to a particular task (43). Another differentiating factor in experts and novices learning is that experts have fluent and automatic retrieval of knowledge. Their ability to more easily retrieve knowledge is a considerable advantage because it places less demand on their conscious attention, which is limited in its capacity. An example of automatic retrieval would be a person being able to drive a car and carry on a conversation with another person at the same time. A novice driver, however, would not be able to do so and instead would have to devote all of their time to paying attention to the road and thinking how to control the different functions of their automobile.

Experts also possess sensitivity to patterns and are able to store big chunks of information. This pattern recognition and ability to store large amounts of information are essential in that they help people to develop confidence and competence (48).

Where some novices can teach themselves knowledge, others depend on instruction from models of how experts organize and solve problems. However, when teaching oneself there is a limiting factor that states that what one can learn is dependent upon what they already know. This is part of the case for me in chemistry. Coming from high school with only one semester of chemistry, completed my junior year, I have no background on which to base any of the material I am now learning in college.

Although experts may be so fluent with knowledge, they are not always able to transfer it. This is a frequent misconception which no one can really conceive until they have had someone like my high school chemistry teacher. Therefore, another reason why I am struggling with chemistry is because it was my high school chemistry teacher who was unable to relate her knowledge to our class. It was so obvious she was brilliant, but evidently she lacked the skills to relate her knowledge. Sadly for her, she has now left teaching and pursued a job in pharmaceutical sales.

Some theorists believe that children have less mental capacity than adults and some believe that their mental capacities are equal. It was once thought that infants lacked the ability to form complex ideas and that their minds were just blank slates (79).

Children are problem solvers. They can learn practically anything through will and effort. But, they need motivation and guidance, especially from their parents and schoolteachers. Because children are such active learners who yearn to make sense of their worlds they need this motivation to jump-start their learning process.

Every night when I was little, my parents would tell me and my brother to each pick out a book and that they would read it to us. Since they had been reading to us so frequently we had come to love so many different books that we would each bring piles of our favorite books back. As I have grown up, my parents have always taken interest in my activities and have been supportive of them. They have always been there to reprimand as well as teach from their own learned wisdom. Because of these things, I look up to my parents and aspire to be as wise, respected, and learned as they are.

Chapter five of How People Learn presents the reader with some profound evidence. It reports how studies have found that increased exercise in mice increases the production of neurons. A study such as this might prove to beneficial in humans some day if the results are consistent.

Furthermore, chapter five also states how the visual cortex, which is vital in one’s sight perception, can be reconfigured to aid a blind person in reading Braille. This test had profound discoveries because we know that when we think we may not be able to use a part of our brain it reconfigures itself so that it is still used, but instead aids a new function .