Learning to Learn: Drawing Students’ Attention to Ideas about Learning

Abstract

Students often have misconceptions about learning gleaned from their experiences, the media, or even their parents and teachers. Unfortunately, students’ misconceptions about learning are reinforced by traditional classroom instruction. Sometimes when students encounter more robust learning experiences in research-based classrooms, their misconceptions hinder their engagement and persistence in learning tasks. To combat these views, and prepare students for a lifetime of learning, we discuss some of the common problematic beliefs about learning we have observed in students. Then we share strategies to more strongly confront misconceptions and help students develop more useful beliefs about learning.