Learning about Learning

http://www.forbes.com

"Why do I have to go to school today?"

"To Learn"

"What I am going to learn?"

"What the teacher teaches you"

"Why do I need to learn that?"

"To get a better job"

I wonder how many mornings start off this way with a question and answer session over a bowl of cereal. The purpose of school is learning, right?  We learn what teachers teach, right?  How many of us remember the exact lesson we learned in 3rd grade or 7th grade or 11th grade?  I am sure that we all remember PEMDAS or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to solve order of operations in math or MVEMJSUNP "My Very Excellent Mother Just Showed Us Nine Pizzas to remember the order of the planets in the solar system.  We now know that the Pluto has been dropped and is no longer classified as a planet and the acronym changes to "My Very Excellent Mother Just Showed Us Nothing".

Schools are changing or at least they should be.  The teacher is no longer the keeper of the information.  They are not the giver of knowledge and students do not have to be at school to learn.  Learning happens everywhere and all the time.  School districts are shifting to the Common Core, shifting to higher levels of questioning, shifting to cyber and hybrid education.  What is lost in all the "shifts" is the core of what school should be doing.

"Students should learn how to learn"

I am not suggesting that we go away from any standards or curriculum.  We do not need to radically change the structure of school.  Public schools, private schools, home schools or cyber schools should continue to teach students.  Students still need to understand how to solve problems, identify planets or states and capitals and become a good citizen.  But, how they learn should be the focus.
  
How do students learn?  They learn in their own individual ways.  How do you learn?  Information is available to everyone instantaneously.  The flood of information from a basic Google search is astounding and I do not believe that it will slow down in the future.

A simple Google search for learning gives me definitions, games, online schools, and newspaper articles.  You can also limit you search to images, blogs, shopping (learning tools and books) and more, videos, books, flights and recipes (Like this one for chicken kiev).  With all of this information available I better be able to understand how I "learn"best and where I need to go to find what I need.  The visual learner should find videos.  The auditory learner should find text-to-speech apps to help.  Those who are easily distracted should install apps that focus the attention on the page by removing all the other stuff like Evernote clearly.  If someone needs to hear and see an explanation there is probably a student or teacher out there who created a podcast or screen-cast that will show you step by step.  You can search for scholarly articles with higher reading levels or more simple site with reasonable vocabulary.  The possibilities are endless.

What needs to change in schools?  I believe it is not the "what" but the how.  How do students learn?  How many ways can we model different learning techniques throughout the year, across all classes?  Teaching is, was and will always be difficult.  Learning does not have to be.  The sooner students learn how they learn the easier their life will be and more choices they will have in the future.

"Why do I have to go to school today?"

"To Learn"

"What I am going to learn?"

"How to learn"

"Why do I need to learn that?"

"To choose whatever job you want"