User:SpecOp Macavity/Peak Learning

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 What is "peak learning"?
2 The themes of peak learning
3 References

[edit] What is "peak learning"?

Peak learning is a system developed by Ronald Gross that is used by many people to help themselves learn useful information and skills in the manner that best fits their learning style.

It is detailed in the book Peak Learning.

[edit] The themes of peak learning

Peak learning is based on seven themes. These themes are as follows:

[edit] Learning to learn

It is a commonly held belief that as people grow older, their capacity to learn diminishes.

This is generally the case, as most people learn what they feel comfortable learning and disregard anything that feels uncomfortable to them. However, according to Ronald Gross, it is possible to continue learning "as long as the brain is stimulated by new ideas".

So, someone familiar with cooking might not be interested in yet another type of sandwich, but might be intrigued by a recipe for duck a l'orange.

[edit] "Flow" learning

How you feel about a subject has an impact on how well you learn that subject. Information on subject in which you have significant interest is much easier to absorb than that of a subject you find boring; likewise, emotions such as happiness or fear have an impact on how well you learn.

According to Gross's research, common obstacles to learning include the technique of rote memorization (according to him, the framework is the same no matter what subject is taught using this method, thus rendering an otherwise interesting subject boring) and the fear of being unable to remember information.

He describes an alternate technique called "flow" learning, in which the state of mind known as flow (described by Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book The Evolving Self) is merged with a learning experience, and offers several exercises and strategies for building confidence in your learning abilities.

[edit] Learn it your way

Mr. Gross also studied adult learning theory and learning styles, and believes that learning programs should be adaptable and flexible so that they can be altered to suit an individual's needs and preferences.

He also provides resources to assist people in determining what their needs and preferences are, and how best to address them - for example, a "group" learner would prefer to get a general overview of a subject before delving into the details, wheras a "string" learner would prefer to learn the details first and assemble the overview based on the details.

[edit] Mental activity affects how you learn

It is also believed by many that uniform settings (such as school classrooms or workshops) are more conducive to learning due to their uniformity and general lack of distractions.

Mr. Gross's research, however, indicates that the opposite may be the case - that uniformity slows mental activity, thus making it harder to learn, and that deciding for yourself how, when, where, and what to learn help to increase mental ability (and thus your ability to learn).

He also provides various methods for optimizing one’s learning efforts, such as pro-active reading and mind-mapping:

Pro-active reading involves matching the order and degree of reading a book on a particular subject to one’s needs and interests, instead of utilizing the traditional cover-to-cover approach.

Mind-mapping is a note-taking technique where, instead of filling a page from top to bottom with notes in the common heading-subheading-detail format, one starts with the main idea in the center of the page and branches out according to themes.