1) What is meant by ‘learning skills’ ‘Learning Skills’ are simply the skills that the best learners have that differentiate them from poor...
1) What is meant by ‘learning skills’ ‘Learning Skills’ are simply the skills that the best learners have that differentiate them from poor learners. When a child is seen at school to be a good learner that ability to learn well is often attributed to a higher natural intelligence than another child who has more difficulty learning, and whilst that may actually be true, the way in which the higher intelligence manifests itself is in the application of specific skills. These skills, once isolated, are skills that can be taught to every child.
Once any child has learned the specific ‘learning skills’ needed to process, understand, remember and apply the knowledge, skills and information given to them at school their learning ability improves. They then gain more confidence in their own abilities, their success in all school subjects improves, they achieve higher results in tests and exams and their manifested intelligence increases. Just think for a moment, what are some of the simple things that good students do that differentiates them most from poor students? Do they: - concentrate better in class? - take better notes? -
review those notes regularly? - find areas they do not yet understand and ask questions of teachers or parents or find other resources to help them understand? - know where the best resources are for each subject? - do all their homework and keep up to date with all assignments? For tests and exams do they: - create a good study timetable well in advance and stick to it? - manage their time well? - make effective study notes? - try different learning strategies for different subjects? - practice working through old exam questions? - get extra help when they need it? - have good exam room techniques At a higher cognitive level, do they: - know how to develop self-motivation and persistence? - understand how to develop resilience to overcome difficulties? - know how to organise information to suit their own individual processing style? - monitor the effectiveness of their own learning strategies and make changes where necessary? - know how to handle pressure and stress? These are some of the skills that you might call ‘learning skills’, and there are many more. They can all be taught, they can all be learned. Having all these skills is a huge advantage for any student. 2) How does teaching ‘learning skills’ differ from teaching specific subjects?
Learning skills are not subject specific , they are generic. They are the skills that underlie all learning but the application of specific strategies may be particular to specific subjects. For example mathematical competence, in most people, relies on visual/ spatial thinking and the recognition of pattern while language competence usually relies on linguistic memory and the ability to make auditory distinctions. These are all skill sets that can be trained and could be taught either within related subjects or in a generic learning skills training programme.
To teach learning skills within a particular subject requires a subject teacher to identify the key skills needed for the processing, understanding and retention of the coursework s/he is teaching and to focus on teaching those skills through the content of the subject. For example a Modern History teacher whose task is to help students understand the causes and effects of terrorism for example might: - first teach internet research skills and then get the students to find, cross reference and verify the 10 most significant acts of terrorism in the last 20 years, then - teach a memory technique to enable students to remember the dates and locations of those 10 events, then - teach an information mapping technique and then get them to map out all the links,
causes and effects of those 10 incidences of terrorism, and then - teach a summarising technique and get them to decide on the 5 main causes and effects of terrorism. The advantage of this technique is that it develops within the student a dual focus on the subject matter and the methods they are using to process it thus improves both their process skills and their content knowledge. The other way to teach learning skills is through specific ‘learning skills’ lessons which may be included in the timetable every week to help students to process the information received in every subject or may be developed around particular tasks in the school calendar. For example two months before a major exam, all students might be taught an “Exam Skills’ unit which might include a curriculum of skills like: - developing purpose and self-motivation - creating a study timetable - organising their home study environment - understanding their learning style strengths and weaknesses - finding subject specific internet resources - memory techniques - information summarising techniques - overcoming exam nerves - exam room techniques All students can then practise applying these skills to the up-coming exam preparation task. 3) Are learning skills and meta-cognitive skills the same thing and if not what is the difference? The words ‘learning skills’ are chosen to encompass all the process skills involved in effective learning. Learning skills can be subdivided into three sub-categories of skills: - cognitive – information research, processing, storage, retrieval, analysis,
synthesis and communication skills - affective – the skills of self-motivation, regulation, resilience, collaboration, perseverance - meta cognitive – planning, organisation and implementation of specific cognitive and affective skills, monitoring effectiveness and making changes where necessary. Metacognition refers to the learners’ awareness and knowledge of their own learning processes, as well as their abilities and tendencies to control those processes during learning.
Metacognitive activities for regulating and overseeing learning include planning (goal setting, choosing strategies, scheduling time and resources ), monitoring (checking progress, reviewing, rescheduling), and evaluating outcomes (both process and content). Metacognitive skills are the umbrella skills which drive the whole learning improvement process and through which the greatest improvements in academic performance can be achieved. Metacognition simply means the executive function of thinking. That is, that part of our thinking that is always reflecting on the success or otherwise of our strategy use, looking to make changes and try out new ideas where necessary, implementing changes and reflecting on results. The implementation of metacognitive skills training helps build self regulated learning. Once a student has built up a ‘library’ of specific cognitive and affective learning strategies and skills they can then learn the skills necessary to employ, monitor, check and evaluate the success of the strategies they employ.
Cognitive skills have the purpose of teaching learner-initiated use and practice of active information processing and retrieval strategies as well as study habits and learning skills. Some of the specific cognitive skills which have been shown in the literature to bring about significant improvements in learning are: Making effective notes – in class and for studying Organising ,transforming and summarising information – mind mapping, spider diagrams, graphic organisers Using structural writing planners – for different types of essays, scientific reports, academic papers, research reports - organizing, writing, editing, and revising Timetabling – general task mapping and specific use for assignments, assessment preparation, goal setting Memory techniques – mnemonics, multi-sensory techniques, visualisation, review Questioning Calibrating own learning preferences – mental representation, environmental and experiential preferences Self assessment Research shows that possessing a good repertoire of cognitive learning strategies and applying metacognitive awareness to the selection and use of those strategies correlates well with higher academic achievement. Affective skills -
in addition to the cognitive skills mentioned above it is also advantageous for students to learn the skills that enable them to gain some control over mood, motivation and what we tend to call attitude. These are the skills needed for students to build resilience in learning, to learn to deal effectively with any setbacks and difficulties, to learn how to bounce back, make changes and persevere – the skills of the self-regulated learner. The self-regulated learner is the one who is using the metacognitive process, as described above, to not only monitor effective cognitive strategies for learning but also to regulate their emotional or affective responses in learning situations. These students, whether through training or natural ability have learned how to monitor their own emotional state and its effect on their learning and how to cope well with the emotional highs and lows of academic endeavour. Students who employ self-regulated, self-determined approaches to learning not only achieve higher levels of academic achievement than those that don’t, they also experience a sense of personal satisfaction in their work and are more inclined to make adaptive changes to enhance future performance. Affective skills are teachable and they can make a huge difference to a child’s motivation and resilience. Affective skills training has within it the potential to address some of the most critical influences on a student’s learning which lie at the heart of helping students to achieve the characteristics of the learner profile.
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