Cognitive psychologists and others have diagnostic assessment models that provide information about each learner s understanding, and based on the way learners respond to questions designed to probe their understanding, teachers can redirect learning activities that correct these errors. Academic motivation is related to beliefs about learning. Many students believe that they cannot do math, or understand science, or write poetry, or succeed in some other academic discipline. When you ask them about this belief, you find that what they really are saying is that they believe that learning should be easy, but when they learn in these disciplines, it is effortful. What they don t know is that learning and remembering involve multiple, interdependent processes.
Some types of learning occur implicitly, that is without conscious awareness.
Other types of learning are very easy, and other types of learning are effortful, perhaps even painful and aversive, such as learning the names of the facial nerves or how to do long division. It is only after they invest in the hard work of learning that additional learning in these fields becomes easy and more automatic. There is no single set of learning principles that will always work. The best way to learn and recall something will depend, in part, on what it is you want to learn and recall as well as what you already know. Experience alone is a poor teacher.