Home Free Tools & Resources Resources for Teaching Students HOW TO LEARN

Resources for Teaching Students HOW TO LEARN

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Kelly Walsh
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Why do Schools Rarely Teach Students How to Learn?

Schools are so caught up in teaching fundamentals like reading, writing, and good old “‘rithmatic”, as and knowledge required to pass standardized tests, but how often are they actually teaching students how to learn?

Out of curiosity, I Googled, “schools should teach students how to learn” and was surprised at what I found, or rather, didn't find. There were links to articles about why we should teach entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and a host of skills not commonly incorporated in school curriculum, but almost nothing in the top results that emphasized the importance of teaching students how to learn (an exception was this good article from Katrina Schwartz via Mind/Shift, inspired by the work of Alan November).

Really? Are we so convinced this is a natural outcome of what we do that we don't need to make a point of ensuring that we're doing it?

I asked my 11 year old daughter if she thought she was being taught how to learn and she quickly replied, “they teach us what to learn, not how to learn”.

Fortunately, once I changed up my search to “learning how to learn”, Google provided a few good results. Like these:

That's all I found (that wasn't redundant)) in the top 20 search results. So then I tried the phrase “teaching students how to learn”. It's really something how a slightly different phrase can provide very different results. Here are some more good resources on this subject:

Also, since studying is an important element of learning, here's another resources I cam across that I think is worth including here: Study Tips & Study Skills: How to Study Effectively.

When schools do teach students how to learn, most likely it is individual teachers who chose to do so. Do you have resources, tips, or techniques you like to use to help your students better understand how to effectively go about learning?

Creative Commons Licensed Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/7170098685/

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13 COMMENTS

  2. […] Resources for Teaching Students HOW TO LEARN — Emerging Education Technologies. Why do Schools Rarely Teach Students How to Learn? Schools are so caught up in teaching fundamentals like reading, writing, and good old “‘rithmatic”, as and knowledge required to pass standardized tests, but how often are they actually teaching students how to learn? Out of curiosity, I Googled, “schools should teach students how to learn” and was surprised at what I found, or rather, didn’t find. There were links to articles about why we should teach entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and a host of skills not commonly incorporated in school curriculum, but almost nothing in the top results that emphasized the importance of teaching students how to learn (an exception was this good article from Katrina Schwartz via Mind/Shift, inspired by the work of Alan November). […]

  3. […] What do you think? Makerbook Is a Huge Collection of Free Resources for Creative Projects. Resources for Teaching Students HOW TO LEARN. Why do Schools Rarely Teach Students How to Learn? Schools are so caught up in teaching […]

  4. […] Resources for Teaching Students HOW TO LEARN — Emerging Education Technologies “Schools are so caught up in teaching fundamentals like reading, writing, and good old “‘rithmatic”, as and knowledge required to pass standardized tests, but how often are they actually teaching students how to learn?” Includes links to resources that explain more about how to learn rather than what to learn. […]

  8. Thanks Pam, for your impassioned feedback! I’m glad I struck a chord with you and others. I also agree wholeheartedly about the value of failure – students need to learn that if they’re not pushing themselves and occasionally failing, they aren’t really trying very hard. Keep the faith and keep sharing the message!

  9. As a assistant lecturer in Business here at the PNG – Institute of Business Studies. I find this website very useful to me.
    I’m not a trained teacher, but going this website helps me to refine my teaching style which I believe helps me delivery the best and the students got the best.

  11. Kelly, I’m so happy to see your post and to know that this issue concerns other educators! I have a bumper sticker that says “Teach children HOW to learn, not what to learn” and you’d be amazed how many people stop me in parking lots to talk about it. Two of the most blatant missteps in education today are learning to learn and tolerating failure. It’s not always easy for teachers to give children the opportunity to “fail” so they learn what it takes to succeed. But it is so urgently important that we do! Our parent population wants success at all costs, but doesn’t realize that you can’t learn to learn – or be successful – without a few mistakes. We’re failing our students by eliminating failure. I’ve seen well-meaning teacher/parents (who should know better) doing homework FOR (not with) their children just to get the A. How meaningless. We need to carefully reconsider how we’re shortchanging our children.

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