Pagan Journeys > Beginner's Chat
How do you learn?
Crystal Dragon:
Wow. Interesting. I'm not exactly sure how to answer though.
I have to be interested in something to learn it. I need motivation. I hate math, but did well in it ... but I probably drove my professors nuts. :rolleye: In junior college, I had the same fellow for 5 semesters in a row. He was the veritable mathematician ... complete with the wild hair. He'd lecture for 3 hours straight without a break. But he was trainable ... whenever a new concept was discussed I'd always ask what I might use it for in "the real world". I don't do well with having to learn or memorize something just for the sake of knowing it ... I need to be able to use it. After me constantly asking him to give examples, about the 3rd semester he started planning them into his lectures. :rotflmao: I only use manuals (either for equipment or software) to selectively look up things I can't figure out myself.
As far as spirituality, as much as my brain wants to "logic it out" I don't really "get it" unless I experience it. I'm not sure one actually "learns" spirituality as much as we connect with what we already know deep down inside. I figure it out much more quickly if I just "feel" my way through it. For me it's very much a "just do it" sort of thing. Though I should qualify that and say that being able to connect something from a logical sense with things that I've felt or experienced helps me to progress some concepts past the point where I just feel it ... in a sense it helps me to "know" it as well.
I'm not sure how much sense any of that makes ... it's been a long week and I've not gotten nearly enough sleep. :whistle:
VenusInFurs:
It's hard to say. I learn VERY quickly and I have an excellent memory. I can remember almost everything I read (though, the skill went away for a while from lack of use, but I'm bringing it back now.) I can also remember things people say if I'm in the right 'zone' for it, and when I was in university I never took notes because my notes are always poor and it distracted me from actually listening anyway. If I needed a point of reference the text would always do it.
Some things I'm more hands on as well. Music, sewing and spell work I all found a LOT easier to do just by doing. I never took sewing classes...anything I didn't figure out by trial and error or my mom telling me when I was younger, I read in a couple of my texts and just applied it. I also taught myself patternmaking using a text book. It wasn't really a lengthly process though...sort of just 'ok measure this here, draw here' and then voila I had a pattern. I even skipped a lot of the parts about how to use a basic block pattern to make anything because I figured it out on my own. I majored in music but practice is what really gives you the skill and even all my teachers were telling us that. it was a azz program and most of them never studied music...just played for YEARS. Spell crafting didn't make a lot of sense in books....it was a good point of reference but I think it's something you really have to 'feel'.
I don't learn well from people showing me things. If someone shows me how to do something, I tend to forget. I have to read it, hear it or do it, not see it done. The only exception for this for me was knitting.
I don't have to always have a practical reference for things either. I'm good at math and theory.
earthmuffin:
I've always been a bookworm so when I want to learn I read copious amounts. However, I don't retain very well. I'm not a walking encyclopedia type with the facts (frustrating as my husband is and has a photographic memory)... I tend to look to the big picture to find overarching principles or draw conclusions. I think in order to really retain I have to be extremely interested in the topic. I've been reading up on herbal medicines but I don't take a lot of notes. Same with the witchy stuff. What sticks in my mind is the stuff that I use or think will be useful for me. Hands-on experience with the subject matter does help especially if I have to teach someone about something by demonstration. I think that is the case for many folks. It would be interesting to find a quiz that would tell the answer to this question, Fox, because I'm guessing there's are nuances to how I learn that I don't realize and if I knew about them, I could use them to my advantage.
bluefire:
--- Quote from: earthmuffin on September 12, 2009, 10:25:46 AM ---It would be interesting to find a quiz that would tell the answer to this question, Fox, because I'm guessing there's are nuances to how I learn that I don't realize and if I knew about them, I could use them to my advantage.
--- End quote ---
Here you go, EM. This quiz is pretty accurate. It's the kind of quiz we use in adult learning principles. It breaks things down into Auditory, Visual and Tactile. Basically auditory learners like to hear the information. Visual learners like to read the information and tactile learners are the most hands on. In these tests I always come out as auditory and yet my preference is tactile. To really absorb complex content, I have to work with it. But my natural learning style is to be taught. And that makes sense -- that's my starting point. There's quite a few of these tests out there on the Internet. This one gives good tips.
http://www.petersons.com/education_planner/discovering_article.asp?sponsor=2859&articleName=Learning_styles_quiz
VenusInFurs:
I turned out 40% Auditory, 20% Visual and 40% Tactile.
But I KNOW that I'm also a visual learner, it's just that the questions had no 'all of the above' and since I live music I always picked the music stuff or the active stuff over the art stuff even though I also love art. But given a choice between the two I'd pick music. Now if it were fashion design......that would be a tough one...
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