Accelerated Learning Themes And Concepts
January 30, 2008
Recent research has generated new conceptions of learning in five distinct areas. New information about human learning has being investigated by psychologists and views of how effective learning proceeds have shifted to focus on students’ understanding and application of knowledge and away from the benefits of diligent drill and practice. Accelerated Learning has adopted these practices to change the way in which learning occurs for the better.
The five areas involve memory, analysis, early learning foundations, metacognitive processes and cultural experiences and each can play and important role the whole learning experience and its successful outcome.
Memory Processes and the Structure of knowledge. Accelerated Learning requires an understanding of the nature of organized knowledge and Knowing how learners develop coherent structures of information has been particularly useful in understanding effective thinking and creativity.. Memory has come to be understood as more than simple associations; encompassing many different aspects including, episodic memory and procedural memory. As well as understanding the function of short term memory,
Problem solving and Analysis. One of the most important influences on contemporary Accelerated Learning theory has been research on how expert learners approach a subject. Learning theory can now account for how learners acquire new skills and then use these general strategies in other problem-solving situations. There is a clear distinction between specialized expertise of individuals who have proficiency in particular subjects and the learned problem-solving skills in novices.
Early learning foundation. Accelerated Learning scientific studies of how young children learn and acquire new skills have revealed the relationships between children’s learning predispositions and their emergent abilities to discover strategies for organize and coordinate information, make inferences about the learning environment, problem solving, and bring these skills to subsequent learning situations.
As a result, educators are rethinking the role of the skills and abilities children bring with them to school. The development of Accelerated Learning and creative methodologies for assessing infants’ responses in controlled research settings has done much to illuminate early learning.
Self-regulation and Metacognitive processes. Accelerated Learning also requires individuals be taught to regulate their behaviors. Self motivation and self regulation are important skills that need to be brought to any learning environment. These regulatory activities enable control of one’s performance via self-monitoring. The activities include such strategies as planning and time management, predicting outcomes for the learning task, noting failures in understanding or comprehension, and using existing knowledge to enhance the learning procedure.
Cultural experience and community participation. Participation in social practice is a fundamental form of learning. Accelerated Learning involves becoming attuned to the limits and possibilities and the constraints and resources that are involved in the practices of the community and the learning environment. Learning is promoted if the social norms value the search for understanding.
The family environment is essential in shaping early learning experiences. A supportive context of the family supports effective and rapid learning processes. The way in which adults engage with children is essential to this process. Encouraging children to find their own solutions to problems will develop skills necessary for future learning success. These processes occur long before children enter school. Activities have the effect of providing to toddlers with the structure for interpretation of the culture’s norms and rules.
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