Internalizing, Not Memorizing

As I reflect on the past couple of weeks of content, I definitely see how everything connects. As students, I believe we have been taught to take in information and then reproduce it. After reading chapter 8 and hearing about learning theories, I would argue that we aren’t necessarily taught how to properly learn. That creates a lot of difficulty when you get to college because you really do have to internalize and understand concepts, not just be able to regurgitate information. Learning is about the want and need for knowledge, it’s about skills development and time management.

I really believe that the most important and effective information from the past two weeks is motivation. Motivation is the root of learning, and it is important to be aware of your own motivation so that you understand your performance. As we have learned, external motivation leads to someone performing as a passive learner, as opposed to internal motivation leading to active learning. If we start by adjusting our motivation, we start to adjust how we learn, and eventually how we feel fulfilled.