Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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38 CHAPTER 2

greater understanding than me. I know the techniques and strategies

for how to read, but I don’t know much about the topics discussed

in Car Audio & Electronics.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROTE AND MEANINGFUL LEARNING?

The process of acquiring knowledge can be viewed on a continuum

from basic to complex. Basic learning involves such things as recall-

ing names and dates, associating a word in English to its equivalent

in Spanish, and chronologically listing the events leading up to the

Civil War. More complex learning involves understanding the main

ideas in a story, solving verbal problems in algebra, or comparing and

contrasting the poems of two different authors.

Many students do not realize that some of the strategies effective

for learning basic knowledge may not be useful for learning more

complex knowledge. Learning experts often make the distinction

between rote and meaningful learning. In rote learning, the student

learns through repetition without trying to make any sense of the

material. In meaningful learning, the student attempts to make sense

of the information so that it will be stored in LTM and retrieved when

it is needed. One of the major problems in cramming for examina-

tions is that students do not learn the material in a way that makes

sense to them by relating the information to what they already know.

The end result is that 24 hours after the exams, nothing, or very little

information, is retained.

OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

sented college students with the following passage to read. Read it

for yourself and then see how much you can remember:

EXERCISE 2.2: UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE

Directions: Two learning experts (Bransford & Johnson, 1972) pre-

The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange

things into different groups depending on their makeup. Of

course, one pile may be sufficient, depending on how much

there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to

lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are

pretty well set. It is important not to overdo any particular

endeavor. That is, it is better to do too few things at once

than too many. In the short run this may not seem impor-

tant, but complications from doing too many can easily arise.

A mistake can be expensive as well. The manipulation of the

appropriate mechanisms should be self-explanatory, and we