learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners A LEARNER? YES, IT’S ME! Learning to Learn Training Developed with the support of the EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme Learning is easier than what you could imagine This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners At the end of this lesson you will learn… That Intelligence is simply a way of acting, not an attribute That what we are interested in is how to go about learning in an intelligent way That there are simply intelligent ways to learn and dumb ways to learn

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Question When you were a child, your parents and teachers used to appeal some children as intelligent and some as dumb... didn’t they? Intelligent or dumb?

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Solution! Well, they were making a very big mistake without being conscious! Actually, we need to debunk the idea that the limits of our mind is a matter of how much intelligence we have. Limits of our mind are not a matter of our intelligence

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept There is the idea that intelligence is a fixed attribute of a person, that a person has a fixed quota of something called intelligence! Intelligence is not a fixed attribute

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept This notion of intelligence means that learning is not an action or course of action; it is something that happens to you, something that is beyond control. It means the ability to learn is outside your control – you can’t improve your learning capacity. You can improve your learning capacity

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept It is like immune systems: some people have good immune system and some don’t; just as some are tall and some not. These things are all beyond our control. We are all helpless victims of the quota of intelligence doled out to us at birth! We are not helpless victims!

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Key Concept We are not all marked at birth with a little tick or cross on our brain saying “intelligent” or “dumb”. It means that there is not some pre-established fixed limit to your capacity to learn! No pre-established fixed limit to your capacity to learn!

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept Intelligence is an attribute of action, not of people; therefore its primary use is as an adverb – “intelligently”. You do things intelligently or stupidly. Doing things intelligently or stupidly

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Example An action or a course of actions can be done intelligently or stupidly: -you can handle your relations with your children intelligently or stupidly -you can wash a car intelligently or stupidly -you can do the shopping intelligently or stupidly -you can have an argument with someone intelligently or stupidly -you can look after your health intelligently or stupidly -you can play with your children intelligently or stupidly. Driving a car intelligently or stupidly

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Key Concept Anything can be done intelligently or stupidly. So intelligence is not confined to school learning. You can do anything intelligently or stupidly, including school learning. Intelligence is not confidential to school learning

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept And this learning can include learning anything, not just learning abstract knowledge in school. It includes learning how to tell jokes, flirt or reject advances, get to sleep at night, or talk on the telephone. Learning can include learning anything

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept What we are interested in is how to go about learning in an intelligent way. There are intelligent ways and dumb ways to learn. People who succeed are learning intelligently, while people who fail are learning stupidly. How to go about learning in an intelligent way?

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Concept By the way, to emphasize that intelligence is not a biological endowment does not mean that there may not biological factors or obstacles involved. We agree that there may be biological conditions that make it hard for instance to learn to read – such as the condition called dyslexia – but only a small portion of the population is affected. And the point we make concerns handling the biological condition intelligently. Only few have biological obstacles

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Conclusion! You have learnt the reason why some succeed and some fail. The ones who fail are not learning intelligently; they are learning stupidly. According to this, if you reframe intelligence as a quality of actions – the way you do something – you can account for past scholastic failure in a way that is not humiliating or demoralising. Those who failed were intelligently doing something other than academic learning. Their mind was on other things: they were focused on other things. Intelligence as a quality of actions – the way you act Compliments!

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Question We use an extract from an old IQ test to demonstrate in a dramatic way how IQ tests do successfully predict academic success – not, however, in terms of intelligence, but in terms of social and cultural attributes. A question used in the IQ tests is the following: Identify the picture

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Solution! Correct answers: European flag; flag pole. Wrong answers: pole, stick; post, rag; kite. This question asks the child to identify the EU flag. This is obviously a test of how assimilated a child is into the mainstream social and political life of the Europe. If a child is a recently arrived migrant or lives a self- contained ghetto life, they might not know the EU flag. What we say is that this IQ test could be accurately paraphrased as: “Are you a recent migrant to Europe?” “Are you a recent migrant to Europe?”

learning to learn network for low skilled senior learners Lesson Learnt IQ tests do not measure an innate intelligence – they measure your cultural learning. In a way the test is still an excellent predictor of school success: if you are a migrant, poor or black you will probably drop out of school before those who are European, rich and white. So, as a predictor of school stickability the test is accurate, but there is nothing in these questions that in a way tests intelligence. IQ tests do not measure an innate intelligence