“We all learn in different ways, many times on the fly, without even knowing that we’re learning because learning is the essence of life.”
Over the past decades, several attempts have been made by psychologist, neuroscientists and philosophers to explain how people learn. To me, learning is a complex process that involves skills, knowledge, attitude, value system, habits and insights, directly related to natural aptitude, prior knowledge and experience that includes perception of the world and self. People learn and retain information received from people, things and environment/context.
How to learn rather than what to learn. So, helping people organize and plan their own learning, giving them an opportunity to transfer/apply what has been learnt, positive reinforcement to achieve standard results and opportunity to share their skills/knowledge with others, consolidate what they have already learnt from time to time
Additionally, I believe that we can learn or get better at almost anything as long as we have the right tools, energy and willingness to invest the necessary time. All we need is the space where they can make mistakes,take risks, experiment and get opportunities to improve.
I always got the air filters of my car replaced at Jiffy Lubes during regular servicing. One of my friends suggested replacing air filters myself I may save a couple of dollars every time. I have seen technicians at Jiffy Lube replacing air filter 2-3 times so I felt confident that I can do it. I went to Auto Zone to get the right air filter for my car and I got overwhelmed by the types of various filters for different make/model/year. It took almost 30 minutes for me to find out the right one for my car. After that I came home and with lots of excitement I tried to opened the car hood to locate the filter box. I tried to open the clamps of the filter box, which seemed pretty obvious at first sight, but it didn’t open after several trials. So, I had to youtube how to open it. It had to be pressed down hard to move the clamp in the opposite direction. After replacing the first filter, I was convinced that I can change the filter underneath the glove box. I found that opening that was a little tricky but with trial and error, I figured it out. After that day, it’s been 6 years that I have been replacing air filters myself. I’ve taught my sister to do it as well and she found it economical and easy. Over these years I’ve experimented with different air filter brands(online forums/talking to friends) and found the best one and sticking to it.
What did is the idea behind this story- Learning is a complex process(just by looking at air filter by someone else doesn’t mean you can do it),none of us have an exclusive learning style(visual/experiential/social interaction), motivation to learn(in this case, saving money), spaced out learning opportunities, metacognition and reinforcement improved the learning process, testing the concepts or ideas in new situations help transfer skills and develop problem solving skills(changing air filter under the glove box), learners must be a participant/directly involved to learn effectively.
