Meta Learning
Meta Learning
I’ve recently completed my reading challenge for 2018, twelve book, in four months and a week.
Realised that i’ve set too low a bar for myself. Walked right over it. Will be doubling the number of books to read for the rest of the year.
Reading and learning are intricately linked, but reading doesn’t automatically mean that you are learning. This shocked a new student when i meet him earlier this month.
I asked him, “How do you learn?” He replied, “I look through my notes, but after that i cannot remember the reactions”
*Sigh*
“You read and you forget. You write and you remember. You teach and you understand.”
Shared with him the analogy of learning how to ride a bicycle. “When you want to learn how to ride a bicycle, how do you do it?”
“I get on the bicycle and try to ride it…”
*Raised eyebrows*
“Oh….so i do, then i will remember”
“Yes, practise makes progress. Then when you have practised, try teaching it to someone who might be struggling with it. Then you hear it for the second time and learn better.”
“Oh….”
This brings me to a point about what i’ve learned from a webinar conducted by Jim Kwik on meta learning, science of learning HOW to learn.
Schools mostly teach us what to learn, some may teach why we learn and the history of the theory. But not many actually teaches us HOW to learn, which arguably is THE skill to have in this day and age. Most of the information we are learning can simply be obtained from google online, so it makes little sense to memorise such big chunks of information…in so short a time…which stresses out many students, parents and teachers!
The way we teach the next generation is the same way that we learn from the previous, unless WE change as educators and parents. We need to teach them HOW to learn. Because formal education can make them a living but continuing self education will fulfill their highest potential.
It is easy to do well in school because everything is tried and tested. You just have to observe the past papers and do them well, chances are you will do pretty well too. However, in the real world, things are changing rapidly. How do we best prepare our students to thrive in this rapidly evolving world?
The solution lies in teaching them how to learn and then letting them do the learning. But the bottleneck is time. Either we teach them how to learn, then they go home to do their learning/studying OR we do the learning/studying on their behalf and THEN tell them what to learn. No prizes for guessing which route we are taking.