PART III

MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE

SELF
 LESSON 1

LEARNING TO BE A BETTER STUDENT

 WHAT IS LEARNING?
• Permanent changes in behavior brought about
by practice and experience
• Involves acquisition of information or mastery
of skills that brought about changes not only
in how the person thinks and feels but ore
importantly in how he behaves.
FACTORS AFFECT THE PROCESS OF LEARNING

• Characteristics
• Information
• Situation
 PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF LEARNING

• Human brain – responsible for the discovery

of everything in the world.
• Parts of the brain (LIMBIC SYSTEM) – cortex,
cerebrum, amygdala and hippocampus – in-
tune with reality and everything else that
happen in the external and internal world of
the learner
THE CEREBRUM AND ITS CORTEX
 CEREBRUM
• The biggest part of the brain (approx. 75%)
• The most highly developed part of the human brain
• Functions involve mental processes:
– Thinking
– Perceiving
– Producing
– understanding
• Most information processing happens in the higher
brain center – THE CEREBRAL CORTEX
 CEREBRAL CORTEX
• Covers the cerebrum
• Functions involve associated with learning:
– Determining intelligence
– Planning and organization
– Processing sensory information
 HIPPOCAMPUS
• Responsible for processing and storing short-
term memory
 AMYGDALA
• Responsible for emotions, survival instincts
and memory
 SENSORY APPARATUS
• Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and kinesthetic
senses
• Serves as gateways for the brain to take
notice, understand and retain significant
sensory data
 LEARNING POSSIBLE
• Specific brain areas account for specific
learning task, the brain with its brain
chemicals and its billions of neurons function
together
 TYPES OF LEARNING
• Associative learning (by association)
• Cognitive learning ( by cognition)
 ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
• Takes place by associating or connecting a
stimulus to a response or a response to a
reinforcement
• Processes involved in such learning technically
known as:
– Classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov
– Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner
• Conditioned responses/behavior can occur
unconsciously or consciously within the individual
 COGNITIVE LEARNING
• Learning through conscious mental activities
like thinking, understanding and remembering
• Two ways to occur:
– Latent learning
– Observational learning
 LATENT LEARNING (Edward Tolman)
• The acquisition of data that is then stored in
memory for later use
• Important aspect is the memory process and
the formation of cognitive maps ( Tolman’s
maze)
• Cognitive process - ability to screen and encode
data in the brain, analyze and assimilate new
and stored data and retrieve it for use in a
specific situation
TOLMAN’S MAZE
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING (Albert Bandura)

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor reproduction
• Motivation/reinforcement
• Other factors:
– Characteristics of the stimulus
– Transfer of learning or application of what had
been learned
 METACOGNITION (John Flavell, 1979)

• The process by which a person is thinking

about, monitoring or observing his own
thinking process
• Involves mental strategies like planning,
organizing and adapting
• Meta means ‘beyond’, therefore
metacognitive skills involve thought processes
that are beyond ordinary thinking.
METACOGNITIVE THINKING SKILLS
• When individual faced with a problem would
analyze the problem by breaking it down into
parts.
• Person with these skills establish goals,
observe his own progress, improvise his
techniques and make corrective changes along
the way
 SELF-REGULATION
• The awareness of one’s strengths and
weaknesses and the strategies a person would
use to overcome and handle life difficulties
 COMPONENTS OF METACOGNITION
• Metacognitive knowledge – knowing how the
person learns and his beliefs about learning in
himself and others – includes awareness of how
the person processes information and the
strategies he uses to optimize his learning
• Metacognitive experience – the effective aspect
of the learning process
• Metacognitive strategies – techniques used by
the person to monitor his learning progress
 STUDY STRATEGIES
• Known as study skills – approaches or
techniques used to maximize learning to get
high grades, be successful in school and are
useful in every aspect of life
• Individuals learn differently using as basis their
strengths, weaknesses, interests and
preferences
 LEARNING STYLES
• VISUAL – involves ease in learning that is presented with pictures,
images and colors
• PHYSICAL – involves motor movements like drawing, building and
role-playing
• AURAL – involves listening, uses sound like music, and recordings
• VERBAL – creates ease in learning through the use of spoken or
written words
• LOGICAL – involves using reasoning, arguments to explain and
understand concepts and ideas
• SOCIAL – involves ease in learning with people and preference for
study groups
• SOLITARY – is preference to learning by himself apart from any
form of social distraction
 OVERVIEW OF STUDY STRATEGIES
• Have plan as to when is the best time to study and stick to this plan
• Start reviewing the most difficult subject first
• Have a specific place for studying
• Outline and write notes
• Use mnemonics (memory aids)
• Take notes during lectures
• Study in groups
Remember:
- Be on proper state of mind to study
- Be on right attitude to make learning smart, fun and worthwhile
 MANAGING YOUR LEARNING:
SELF-REGULATED LEARNING
• A form of self-empowered learning wherein
the learner is active and self-guided in
monitoring his own study
 TECHNIQUES THAT GUIDE THE
SELF-REGULATED LEARNER
• Have a specific learning goal in mind
• Have a learning strategy
• Be your own teacher
• Monitor progress
• Reinforce yourself
• Evaluate your progress and goals
• Take corrective action
• Boost motivation