Introduction to How People Learn

Preexisting knowledge is important to learning because without it, the learner has little to compare the incoming knowledge to. It can either help or hinder the learning process. It influences the incoming knowledge and adapts it to fit with the old knowledge. An example of this can be seen in Fish is Fish (Leo Lionni), where a fish imagines everything it is told about (cows, people, birds) to be variations of fish because fish is all the fish knows about. Without a basis of other things to compare the incoming information to, the fish can only suspect that it must be like something it already knows. If the fish had experienced other things and gained first-hand information on them, it would have a better basis on which to build and compare the new information with.

Active learning is when the learner is engaged in learning and is aware of the strategies that work best for them to learn. Active learning is important because it enables the learner to know how they learn best, and thus they can learn as effectively as possible. It allows the learner to know what they need in order to understand incoming information, and to know when they don’t fully understand it so that they can further investigate the new information and find meaning that makes sense to them.

The key findings indicate that preexisting knowledge can help or hinder the learning process, and if the preexisting knowledge is false and strongly believed, it can be very hard to correct the knowledge permanently. Also, learners must have a good understanding of facts as well as how to use the facts in a conceptual framework, and an efficient way of organizing information in order to develop a competency in a field of study. The finding also indicate that metacognitive approaches to teaching help students learnt to teach themselves and understand things better.

Metacognition is the knowledge a person has about their own learning and how they learn. It should be taught across disciplines and specifically adjusted to each discipline so that students can get a better understanding of the material as well as an understanding of how to explain things to themselves so that they can understand difficult material.

Assessments are vital to teaching and learning environments because they allow the teacher as well as the student to monitor their progress. They teacher is able to see how the students understand the concepts and adjust their teaching accordingly and address any problems that need to be fixed. They also enable the student to track their own progress and understand their own weak points so that they can improve their thinking. Without assessments, teachers may not be able to identify gaps or misconceptions in the student’s thinking, and the students may not be able to tell how well they understood the information or how they have progressed.