How do I learn? And how did I learn to learn?
The first thing I remember hearing about how I learn was a test I took in elementary school that tells whether the student is an auditory, visual or kinetic learner. Generally students learn by all three, but one method is stronger than the other two. The student's strength in one particular learning method also told about what kinds of strengths in school they would have later on. For example, visual learners were generally male and were better with spacial relations and distances; skills used in mathematics and science. Auditory learners (myself included in this category) were better with language skills and communication. This could by where the assumptions that men are better at math and science and women are better at english came from. The kinetic learners interested me the most. These people learn by touching and experiencing rather than just having the image built by pictures or descriptions. I remember that the kids in the class who were found out to be kinetic learners were the ones that the teacher said they had "behavior issues". This goes to show that the entire school structure is based upon the needs for auditory and visual learners and kinetic learners may not be as successful.
I do not know how I learned to learn. Hard scientists would say that learning is just the ability of the human brain to retain information amongst the folds of the cerebrum and recall it when needed. However, I think that it is part of basic human nature to have questions and want to know the answers to them. It is possible that there is a combination of Freud's ideas and behaviorism in the answer to this question. A person has basic things they will strive to obtain such as food, comfort, procreation, and affection. Once they find a way that they get these results, they will remember that this one way works and use it over and over.
An example of this is how babies get their parents to deliver what they want. First, the baby feels hungry. It knows it wants food, but has no way to communicate this desire to it's parents. Possibly out of frustration or instinct, the baby begins to cry. At the sound of distress, the parent will come with ways to get the baby to stop crying...including food. Now the baby knows that if he cries, his parents will bring food. In this case, the baby is conditioning the parent to bring food, which is the desired response. The sound of crying becomes the neutral stimulus.
I don't know if this really answers the question, but I thought it was interesting.
I do not know how I learned to learn. Hard scientists would say that learning is just the ability of the human brain to retain information amongst the folds of the cerebrum and recall it when needed. However, I think that it is part of basic human nature to have questions and want to know the answers to them. It is possible that there is a combination of Freud's ideas and behaviorism in the answer to this question. A person has basic things they will strive to obtain such as food, comfort, procreation, and affection. Once they find a way that they get these results, they will remember that this one way works and use it over and over.
An example of this is how babies get their parents to deliver what they want. First, the baby feels hungry. It knows it wants food, but has no way to communicate this desire to it's parents. Possibly out of frustration or instinct, the baby begins to cry. At the sound of distress, the parent will come with ways to get the baby to stop crying...including food. Now the baby knows that if he cries, his parents will bring food. In this case, the baby is conditioning the parent to bring food, which is the desired response. The sound of crying becomes the neutral stimulus.
I don't know if this really answers the question, but I thought it was interesting.