{"id":40624,"date":"2025-09-16T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=40624"},"modified":"2025-09-18T15:14:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T22:14:42","slug":"5-ways-students-can-think-about-learning-so-that-they-can-learn-more-%e2%88%92-and-how-their-teachers-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/5-ways-students-can-think-about-learning-so-that-they-can-learn-more-%e2%88%92-and-how-their-teachers-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways students can think about learning so that they can learn more \u2212 and how their teachers can help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jerrid Kruse<\/a>, Drake University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my years teaching science in middle school, high school and college<\/a>, some of my students have resisted teaching that educators call higher-order thinking<\/a>. This includes analysis, creative and critical thinking, and problem-solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when I asked them to draw conclusions from data or generate a process for testing an idea, some students replied, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell us what to do?\u201d or \u201cIsn\u2019t it the teacher\u2019s job to tell us the right answers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, my students had developed a strong preconceived notion that knowledge comes from authority. After investigating, my colleagues and I<\/a> concluded that these beliefs about learning were influencing how they approached our lessons \u2013 and thus what they were able to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All students come to class with a range of beliefs about what it means to learn. In the field of education, perhaps the most sought-after belief is what we call having a growth mindset<\/a>. Students with a growth mindset believe they can improve and continue to learn. In contrast, students with a fixed mindset struggle to believe they can become more knowledgeable about the topic they\u2019re studying. When students say, \u201cI\u2019m bad at math,\u201d they exhibit a fixed mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As teachers, we not only try to help students understand the topic at hand but also aim to instill accurate beliefs about learning so nothing interferes with their ability to take in new information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than the growth mindset, I argue that five other beliefs<\/a> are particularly important to promote in classrooms to help students become better learners and more prepared for the modern world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning is understanding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some students and teachers equate learning to memorizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While memorization has a role in learning<\/a>, deep learning is about understanding. Students will be well served recognizing that learning is about explaining and connecting concepts to make meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too much focus on memorizing can hide gaps in learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I was once working with a preschool student when they proudly demonstrated their ability to recite the numbers 1 through 20. I then asked the student to count the pencils on the desk. The student did not understand my request. They had not connected these new words to the number concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help students recognize the importance of understanding for learning, teachers and parents might engage students in questions such as, \u201cWhy is connecting a new idea to an old idea better than just trying to memorize the answer?\u201d or \u201cWhy is an explanation more useful than just an answer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Learning is hard. demaerre\/iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learning is complex and requires challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Students\u2019 belief that learning is akin to memorization may reflect a related belief that knowledge is simple and learning should be easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, educators want students to embrace complexity and its challenges. Through wrestling with nuance and complexity, students engage in the mental effort required<\/a> to form and reinforce new connections in their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When students believe knowledge is simple and learning should be easy, their engagement in higher-order thinking<\/a>, which is required to embrace complexity and nuance, suffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help students who are struggling grasp a complex idea, teachers and parents might ask questions that help students see why learning is complex and requires challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning takes time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When students believe learning is simple and easy, educators should not be surprised they think learning should be fast as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, students ought to understand that deep learning takes time. If students believe learning is quick, they are less likely to seek challenge, explore nuance or reflect and make connections among ideas. Unfortunately, many curricula pack so much intended learning into a short amount of time that beliefs in quick learning are subtly reinforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While teachers can get creative with curricular materials \u2014 and spend more time challenging students to explore complexity and make connections \u2014 just spending more time on a concept may not be enough to shift a student\u2019s beliefs about learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help students shift their thinking about the speed of learning, I ask them to discuss questions such as, \u201cWhy do you think understanding complex concepts takes so much time?\u201d or \u201cWhy would only covering this concept for one lesson not be enough?\u201d With these questions, my colleagues and I have found<\/a> students start to recognize that deep learning is slow and takes time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning is ongoing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Students should also recognize that learning doesn\u2019t end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, many students believe learning to be a destination rather than an ongoing process. Yet, because knowledge contains an inherent level of uncertainty, and increased learning often reveals increased complexity, learning must be continuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help students reflect on this belief, teachers and parents might ask their students, \u201cHow do you think your knowledge has changed over time?\u201d and \u201cHow do you think your learning will change in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Learning doesn\u2019t come only from teachers at the front of a class. Drazen Zigic\/iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learning is not only from teachers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I remember one high school student telling me that \u201cteachers are supposed to tell us the answers, so we know what to put on the test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This student had apparently figured out the \u201crules of the game\u201d and was not happy when their teacher was trying to engage them in higher-order thinking. This student was holding onto a transmission model of learning<\/a> in which learning comes from authority figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, students should recognize that learning comes from many sources, including their experiences, their peers and their own thinking, as well as from authority figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While teachers and parents may hesitate to undermine their own authority, they do students a disservice when they do not prepare them to question and go beyond authority figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help students shift their thinking, teachers might ask students to consider, \u201cWhy might learning from multiple sources help you better understand the complexity and nuance of a concept?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building better beliefs about learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Often, teachers and parents believe opportunities to engage in higher-order thinking are enough to help their students develop better beliefs about learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But such beliefs require explicit attention<\/a> and must be planned for in lessons<\/a>. This is done by asking reflective questions that target specific beliefs<\/a>, such as the questions noted in the final sentence of each of the previous sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my experience, the conversations I\u2019ve had with students using the questions noted above are highly engaging. Moreover, helping kids develop more robust beliefs about learning just might be the most important thing teachers can do to prepare students for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerrid Kruse<\/a>, Professor of Science Education, Drake University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jerrid Kruse, Drake University During my years teaching science in middle school, high school and college, some of my students have resisted teaching that educators call higher-order thinking. This includes analysis, creative and critical thinking, and problem-solving. For example, when I asked them to draw conclusions from data or generate a process for testing an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":40625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,292,10,296,36,3410],"tags":[8913,8688,1996,4727,6826,1224,885,891,886,860],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40646,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40624\/revisions\/40646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}