Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences - iisbf@gelisim.edu.tr

Business Administration








 A Research on the Importance of Learning to Learn




According to the Harvard Business Review article compiled by Ulrich Boser; Developing strategic thinking skills in order to gain a specialization, "learning to learn" tendency is much more important than intelligence. "Learning" is a learned behavior and things can get easier when you develop it. Compiled with the work of Marcel Veenman, the article is designed for people who follow and observe their own thoughts closely and continue to improve their learning skills. And clearly they can achieve more successful results than from the people in the opposite attitude, that is, people who are not learning. The ability to learning to learn can be a more important advantage than innate intelligence.
 
At this point, let's briefly mention three practical ways to improve your learning skills based on research:
 
1) Organize Your Goals
 
For ways to develop effective learning skills, consider this doing some kind of project management job. In order to develop a specialty, we must first set achievable goals for what we want to learn. Then we must develop strategies that will help us reach these goals.
 
A targeted approach to learning helps us deal with all the uncomfortable emotions associated with gaining expertise: 'Am I good enough? Will I fail? What if I'm wrong? Isn't there anything else I prefer to do? ”(…) Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura says that such negative emotions can quickly destroy our ability to learn something new. Also, we'll be more decisive if we develop a plan with clear goals.
 
2) Think About Thinking
 
Metacognition is very important for learning ability. Psychologists define metacognition as "thinking about thinking, being aware of your own thinking  processes and being able to control these processes." When we want to specialize in something, asking ourselves questions like these can help us develop this skill: "Do I really understand this idea? Can I explain this to a friend? What are my goals? Do I need more information or practice?"
One of the biggest problems with learning is that people aren't busy enough with metacognition. They don't ask themselves if they really have a skill or concept. They don't force themselves to really think about their thoughts. Initially this can be difficult; however, it will get easy your all thinking processes and learning skills in the future.
The Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman, one of the most important physicists of the 20th century, can also be taken as an example. He is also known for his reputation for lifelong learning. The techniques that Feynman proposes on learning in depth and diligently will definitely help you learn any subject at school, at work or in life.
 
‘’If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you probably don't understand it yourself. ‘’
A. Einstein
 
3) Reflect on Your Learning
 
In the third option, which is parallel to the 2nd option, it is stated that you need to analyze your learning process in depth and there is a contradiction regarding learning is emphasized. At this point, it explains the fact that we sometimes need moments to stop learning in order to understand our learning ability. For example, when we move away from a problem, we can usually learn more about that problem. For example, on an issue you argue with a colleague, friend, relative, your best arguments often come to mind when you're doing something else. Because learning benefits with reflection. This kind of thinking also requires some calm. Some cognitive silence, a moment of silent introspection develop this way of thinking. Sleep is an important example of this idea. It is possible for us to collect our information while falling into sleep. (At this point the idea of ​​cognitive silence also helps explain why it is so difficult to acquire a skill when stressed, angry — or other situations.)
 
You also can make better progress by consciously organizing your learning goals, thinking about your thoughts and reflecting on your learning to learn.
 
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn"  
 
Alvin Toffler.