Nahrep Collierlee

• Learning is an all-encompassing phenomenon. We learn all the time in all kinds of situations.
• A serviceable definition of learning is: A more or less permanent change in behavior, or a behavioral tendency, as a result of experience.
• The principal laws of association are (1) contiguity, (2) repetition, (3) attention, (4) pleasure-pain, and (5) similarity
• Classical conditioning involves the learning of involuntary responses.
• Use the classical-conditioning process to your advantage by arranging that the cues, or conditioned stimuli, for your study behavior be
familiar, convenient ones.
• Operant conditioning primarily involves the learning of actions that have an effect on the external world.
• Use the operant-conditioning process to your advantage by recognizing that behavior is shaped by its own consequences. In practical terms this means that you want to arrange positive reinforces for your self-defined learning tasks.
• An insight exists when a mind can bring together formerly disconnected parts into an organized, meaningful whole.
• The process of insight learning implies that you should actively look for insights when you are learning concepts.
• The principle known as learning to learn indicates that whenever you learn you also learn, subconsciously, certain nonspecific aspects
of the material.
• Slow learning often results in better long-term retention of information than does fast learning.

It is very common for a student to get discouraged because a part of his or her self-concept is, “I am a slow learner” hi fact, however, very few college students are slow learners in all subjects. They will usually be fast learners in some subjects and slow learners in others. You will have a knack for, and a natural interest in, some subjects. I assure you that in these subjects you will probably be a fast learner. You will have no knack for, and no natural interest in, other subjects. it is almost certain that in these subjects you will be a slow learner.

Let us say that you are taking a required subject, and you are a slow learner in that subject. What should you do? The answer is straightforward. Stick with the subject, persist, don’t give up, use repetition—and you will learn the subject. Is it worth it? Of course it is, if passing the subject is important in terms of your long-term goals.

When I took introductory statistics at UCLA in my third year of college, I could barely move a decimal point. I didn’t realize that when you multiply a minus times a minus it equals a-plus. Statistical concepts didn’t come easily to me. I was overwhelmed by a concept known as the standard deviation, a measure of the dispersion of scores in a population or a sample. But I stayed with the subject, often having to read the same page five, six, or seven times before key insights emerged. But I passed the course with a C, and I was proud of that C.

Now here’s an odd thing. I have forgotten a lot of terms and concepts I learned other courses in college, but I never forgot the statistical concepts. I eventually took graduate courses in statistics, and I have taught introductory statistics. In spite of some modest successes with statistics, I have no natural flair for the subject. Another odd thing is that I think I make a passable statistics teacher. I can anticipate the student’s problems, and I am sympathetic because I suffered with the subject myself.

There is research in learning theory suggesting that slow learning often results in better long-term retention of subject matter. I compare the process to driving a first nail into a block of soft wood and a second nail into a block of hard wood. The first nail goes in easily; the second nail requires much pounding (i.e., repetition). If you wish to pry out the nails later, the first nail comes out easily. The second one is pried out with great effort. And that is the positive side of slow learning. Information that is acquired with effort and by a slow process is generally retained for a long time. It becomes apart of your long-term memory.