Learn How to Learn. In Just 10 Easy Steps

By W. R. Klemm

All learners, regardless of their present capabilities, can learn more with less effort by following the 10 easy steps described in this interactive ebook. The author is a neuroscientist who has over five decades of teaching college students, observing their learning limitations and the counterproductive approaches they use in studying and learning. Too many students are trapped in a mindset that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of their learning abilities. They think their capabilities and limitations are fixed. They think that to improve, they have to devote more time and work harder. No, if they worked smarter, they would do better and spend less time and effort to learn.

This short and simple 10-step program can make every learner succeed in school or workplace training programs. The book is extensively interactive, with numerous links within the document itself and to supplementary web sites. Each step has links to a distinct summary and is followed by a quiz and quiz answers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. R. Klemm
• Release date: Apr 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005192372

W. R. Klemm

W. R. (Bill) Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D.Professor of Neuroscience, Texas A&M UniversityDistinguished Alumnus, Auburn UniversityWebsites:http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/wklemmhttp://thankyoubrain.comhttp://peer.tamu.eduhttp://thankyoubrain.blogspot.com (Improve Learning and Memory blog)Biographical Listings:Who’s Who in America + 18 othersEducation:Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn U., 1958;Doctor of philosophy, U. Notre Dame, 1963Professional Activities, as a ...Scientist:Research Areas: include brainstem mechanisms of behavior, alcohol, learning/memory, chemical signals, human cognition and EEG, educational research.Discoveries: (range from model membranes to human cognition)1) radiation induces an adrenal stress response,2) at a time when scientists thought ruminants did not sleep, proved that they not only sleep but also dream,3) ethanol selectively acts on certain neurons,4) opiates selectively act on certain neurons,5) rhythmic activity in the hippocampus reflects a widespread activating influence of the brainstem reticular formation that is not necessarily associated with movement.6) ethanol displaces hydrogen bonded water on membrane lipid,7) freeze behavior ("animal hypnosis") is a brainstem-mediated reflex,8) neuronal spike trains contain sequential interval codes in certain clusters of impulses (i.e., they can act like a "byte" processor)9) acetaldehyde in body fluids is a biochemical marker for estrus and ovulation,10) sex hormones promote memory consolidation,11) multiple areas of cerebral cortex become synchronized at various frequencies during memory recall and "eureka" phenomenon.Editorial Board Member: 11 scholarly journals.Reviewer of approximately 1,000 scientific papers for over 55 journals.See list of over 450 publications, which have been formally cited over 2,000 times according to Citation Index. Also, 13 books (Bobbs-Merrill, Academic Press, Wiley, C. C Thomas, Mosby)Professor: Texas A&M University (1966-present)o College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M Univ. (1980-present): taught Introductory Neuroscience. a Drug and Substance Abuse Seminar, Science and Technology Practices and Policies, and graduate neuroscience courses.o College of Science (1966-1980): taught animal physiology, animal behavior, introductory biology, graduate neuroscience courseso College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University (1963-1966): taught pharmacology and graduate physiology courses.Writer: 13 books, including Animal Electroencephalography; Applied Electronics in Veterinary Medicine & Animal Physiology; Science, The Brain, and Our Future; Discovery Processes in Modern Biology; Brainstem Mechanisms of Behavior; Understanding Neuroscience; Global Peace Through the Global University System; Thank You, Brain, For All You Remember. What You Forgot Was My Fault ,and 'Dillos. Roadkill on Extinction Highway.Speaker: hundreds of presentations to clubs, cruise line, workshops, professional meetings.Other:o Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserves (Ret.) - Research and development planning, Human Systems Divisiono Company President - co-founder of Forum Enterprises, Inc., maker of collaboration software (FORUM)o Consultant - clients have included U.S. Air Force, A. H. Robbins Co., Dow Chemical Company, RCA, The Fielding Institute, U.S. Dept. Agriculture, Vinson & Elkins Attorneys, Int. Flavors & Fragrances Co.o Project Director for five educational outreach grants (NIH, NSF) to middle schools, community colleges, and post-graduate animal-health professionals.

Book preview

Learn How to Learn. In Just 10 Easy Steps

W. R. Klemm, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Senior Professor Neuroscience, Texas A&M University

Distributed by Smashwords.

Copyright 2021 W. R. Klemm

Discover other Smashword titles by W. R. Klemm:

Core Ideas in Neuroscience

Better Grades, Less Effort

Triune Brain, Triune Mind, Triune Worldview

Improve Your Memory for a Healthy Brain

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Step 1. Getting Motivated

Step 2. Pay Attention

Step 3. Think and Grow Smart

Step 4. Organize Learning Materials

Step 5: Use Strategic Approaches

Step 6. Mastering the Memorization Process

Step 7. Deliberate Practice

Step 8. Learn from Reading and Lectures

Step 9. Applications for Especially Difficult Memory Tasks

Step 10 Improve Lifestyle

Conclusions

The Author

Smashwords Edition, License Note

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Introduction

I have been teaching college students for 58 years and still counting. Here is some of what I have learned about many, perhaps most, students. They:

Are not as good a student as they think they are. You would be surprised to learn how often I hear: I am an A student. Why did I get a B?

Had a questionable K-12 education. Educational policy makers have been trying to improve public education for decades. They haven’t figured it out yet.

Have many poor learning habits. Most students do not understand the biology of memory processes. They don’t use mnemonic devices well, allocate study time properly, nor study in the most effective ways.

Do not realize how much better they could be at learning. Even good students could learn more in less time if they went about it in better ways.

Often fail to realize that general lifestyle affects learning success. Major contributors to learning include stress management, exercise, and sleep.

Too many students are trapped in a mindset that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of their learning abilities. They think their capabilities and limitations are fixed. They think that to improve, they have to devote more time and work harder. No, if they worked smarter, they would do better and spend less time and effort to learn.

As a result of what I have seen of student learning difficulties, I have written this short book to help them. My advice for using this book is to take one chapter at a time and spread its ideas out over an entire semester. This will only take a few minutes each day, and you can apply the ideas to other current learning tasks. In five to ten minutes on day one of each week, you can read the topic material. Then, you should make it a point to apply those ideas at every opportunity every day of that week. This itself is a basic principle: when you learn something, apply it right away and often. If you are currently a student and struggling with a particular course, like chemistry, math, biology, or whatever, you can use what you learn from each week’s topic to do better in that course.

This is a painless way to become a superior learner, a student who makes better grades with less effort. In just 10 short steps, I think I can tell you most of what you need to know and do to become a better learner, both for your short-term needs and as a lifelong learner.

I should be an expert on learning by now, after some 58 years as a college professor. I have written several hundred blog posts on learning and memory (see my web site at WRKlemm.com for details). I have published scientific research on memory. Six scholarly education journals have put me on their editorial boards. Follow my Improve Learning and Memory blog to keep up with new research on learning and memory. This blog site has a key- word search field that makes it easy to locate posts on specific topics. These posts have over four million reader views, so the information is clearly being valued.

My interest in learning and memory began with my own early childhood difficulties in school. I remember vividly my first day in a public school in Mobile, Alabama. It was a typical warm and humid Southern Fall morning as I walked by myself to school. In those days, most kids walked to a neighborhood school, leaving home alone and perhaps picking up a few classmates along the walk. I think my mom took me to pre-school orientation, so all the orientation and procedural things had already been done before opening day—I do not remember any of that. In fact, I don’t remember anything that happened in school that day. I do remember my exuberant strides on the walk to school. Along the way, I passed a beautiful row of hibiscus bushes lining the sidewalk. I paused to inspect the flowers, probed a bloom with my finger—damned bee stung me! This may have been a bad omen that hung a dark cloud over my school for the first four grades. During those first years, two in Mobile and the third and fourth grades in a public school in Memphis, Tennessee, I remember nothing from school. Nothing. I do remember being interested in learning how to read, because I wanted to know what was in those comic-strip bubbles I saw in the newspaper my folks had at home. My teachers wanted me to read boring stuff.

I remember the fourth grade, because I hated school and hated my teacher. I don’t consciously recall anything I learned that year. The only event I remember was when movie talent scouts came into class to scout for prospects for the movie they planned called The Yearling. I and all the boys sat up straight, smiled at the visitors, and tried to get their attention, all to no avail. The scouts ended up picking a kid my age, Claude Jarman Jr., from Nashville, who played the lead in the film that came out in 1946.

The only other thing I remember was my teacher. My fourth-grade eyes saw her as old and frumpy. For reasons I do not remember, I do remember challenging her a lot. Whatever she tried to teach was tainted. I did poorly in school, made many Ds on the report cards that came out every six weeks. No doubt, the Ds were deserved. Certainly, I had an attitude problem.

I don’t remember anything about the 5th and 6th grades either. The first thing I remember about the 7th grade was that I got to go to a new public middle school and swelled with budding grown-up pride as I paid the fare each day to ride a city bus to school. I don’t remember Memphis having school buses, though when I transferred to a county school in the 8th grade there were school buses for rural kids.

The second thing I remember about the 7th grade was my teacher. My hormone-glazed 7th grade eyes saw her as young and gorgeous. Miss Torti was her name. In that first week of school, she had a boyfriend come to class, all decked out in Navy uniform finery. This was my first experience with the darkness of jealousy. The second jealousy event came when I realized that there was a girl in Miss Torti’s class who was always getting Miss Torti’s attention and praise. Maybe you had kids like her in one of your classes. Remember how when a teacher asked a question, there was always a kid who pumped up and down in her seat, raising her hand, Ask me, ask me. I know!