Learning strategies

What is learning?

“Learning is change in behavioral process” – Psychology

“Learning is acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, or by being taught” – Wikipedia dictionary

Everyone processes and learns new information in different ways. There are three main cognitive learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The common characteristic of each learning style is listed below –

Visual:

• Uses visual objects such as graphs, charts, pictures and seeing information
• Can read body language well and has  a good perception of aesthetics
• Able to memorize and recall various information
• Tends to remember things that are written down
• Learns better in lecture by watching them

Auditory:

• Retains information through hearing and speaking
• Often prefers to be told how  to do things and then summarizes the main points out loud to help with memorization
• Notices different aspects of speaking
• Often has talents in music and may concentrate better with soft music playing in the background

Kinesthetic:

• Likes to use  the hands-on use in learning new material
• Is generally good in math and science
• Would rather demonstrate how to do something rather than verbally explain it
• Usually prefers group work more than others

Source: http://blc.uc.iupui.edu/AcademicEnrichment/StudySkills/LearningStyles/3LearningStyles.aspx

General Learning strategies menu:

Attention and learning	Encoding and retrieval	Group and cooperative learning	Memory
Monitoring	Motivation	Note taking	Organization
Problem solving and critical thinking	Questioning	Reading comprehension	Test anxiety
Test preparation	Test taking	Time management	Writing and proofreading

Sources: http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/

Task based strategies: USE WHAT YOU KNOW

Strategy	Description
Use background knowledge	I know	àthink about and use what you already know to help you do the task àmake associations
Make inferences	Use clues	àUse context and what you know to figure out meaning. àRead and listen between the lines
Make predictions	Crystal ball	àAnticipate information to come àMake logical guesses about what will happen
Personalize	Me	àRelate new concepts to your own life, that is, to your experiences, knowledge, beliefs and feelings
Transfer / use cognates	Telephone/ Telepfono/ Telefon Telefon	àapply your linguistic knowledge of other languages (including your native language) to the target knowledge àRecognize cognates
Substitute paraphrase	Spare tire	àThink of a similar word or descriptive phrase of words you do not know in the target language

Source: http://www.nclrc.org/sailing/chapter2.html