What is Learning?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 470.

Read the text and choose the extract (A-H) which best fits the gap (1-6).

Express your opinion on the following questions.

READING

Discuss the following.

Read the text and complete the gaps with suitable words. There is an example at the beginning (0).

1. What are the advantages of CLIL in teaching and learning foreign languages?
2. What subjects can CLIL be best applied to?
3. Which of the trends in education do you consider the most progressive and significant? Why?

1. Do you like learning?
2. How do people learn? What is learning?

A lot of our learning occurs randomly throughout life, from new experiences, gaining information and from our perceptions, for example: reading a newspaper or watching a news broadcast, talking with a friend or colleague, chance meetings and unexpected experiences.

This type of experiential learning is in contrast to more formal approaches to learning such as training, mentoring, coaching and teaching, all of which have some type of structure in that they are planned learning involving a facilitator.

Teaching, training and other structured learning opportunities are activities that one person does to another, while learning is something we can only do for ourselves.

If we do not have the will to learn, we will not learn and if we have learned, we are actually changed in some way. If the learning makes no difference it can have very little significance beyond being random ideas that float through our consciousness.

The diagram below represents a generic learning cycle and uses the acronym PACT. The cycle is relevant to all types of learning.

The PACT learning cycle stages are:

• Procure. New knowledge (theory) or ability (skill) is acquired.
• Apply. The new knowledge or skill is then practiced in some way.
• Consider. The results of the practice are evaluated and/or assessed.
• Transform. The original knowledge or ability is modified accordingly.

The cycle then continues and repeats.

There are many examples of these processes in action - usually we learn the basics of a subject or skill before progressing to intermediate, advanced and ultimately expert levels. At each stage we build on the knowledge and experience we have already acquired, gaining further knowledge, experience or techniques and repeating the learning cycle.

Working on an awareness of your own learning processes means 'learning how to learn'. For example, in university settings students are usually taught some study skills, which include learning how to seek information when needed and how to use it appropriately.

Learning is not something that can be directly observed in others. We can, however, observe the results of learning in ourselves and others – this is why, in formal learning situations, assessment is such a crucial part of the teaching process.

The results of academic assessment, essays, exams etc. are simply attempts to measure how much an individual has learnt but they cannot measure the actual process of learning.

Learning brings about changes in the way we act, think and/or feel about ourselves, other people and the world around us. Such changes may be permanent or temporary depending on our own perceptions of the importance and relevance of the gained knowledge.

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/learning.html#ixzz3Y2mV9Ulk

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A. Many attempts have been made by academics and others to map and explain the learning processes. It is generally recognised that learning takes place in a repetitive cycle, an ongoing series of processes.

B.In summary, learning is an internal activity and a key personal development skill.

1. Many experiences in life provide us with learning opportunities from which we can choose whether or not to learn.
2. The PACT cycle should help to demonstrate that learning is an iterativeprocess: our learning evolves as we develop and we utilise early knowledge for later understanding.
3. Learning involves far more than thinking: it involves the whole personality - senses, feelings, intuition, beliefs, values and will.

F.Almost every action we take is the result of past learning yet, for some people, learning still remains an activity undertaken in, or associated with, an educational context.

G.Our individual learning capacity varies considerably and will depend not only on ability but also on motivation, personality, learning style and an awareness of our own learning processes.

H.As babies we learn to eat, to gain attention, to crawl, to walk, etc. and as we develop into children, and our bodies become more functional, we learn an inordinate range of skills.

3 Organize information according to the categories of the analytical chart: