Pedagogy Gold Nuggets: 5 first principles of learning for mastery

Pedagogy Gold Nuggets: 5 first principles of learning for mastery: 5 first principles of learning for mastery "All happy families are happy alike, all unhappy families are sad in their own...

5 first principles of learning for mastery

5 first principles of learning for mastery

"All happy families are happy alike, all unhappy families are sad in their own unique way”, gushed Tolstoy in his famous work- Anna Karenina in a special burst of literary exuberance. He may not have realised that this innocuous yet profound assertion is almost tailor-made for the world of pedagogy.

All learners and academic performers who reach high levels of knowledge mastery seems have a common set of approaches when it comes to processing knowledge, mechanisms of retrieval, tactics for recapitulation and revision. On the other hand, all unsuccessful learners have their very individualised narrative of what went wrong, mostly centering around factors which are essentially non-academic or not connected with the domain at hand.

The core proposition is that all successful learners follow what I like to call first principles of learning regardless of whether they are self-aware of this learning behaviour or not. The pedagogy onion, an apt metaphor in my opinion of learning and self-awareness (one peels off layer after layer getting to the core of the topic/subject and becomes progressively more and more inward-oriented and naturally self-aware) will have various dimensions/layers which are elucidated below:

The first concept is not to gag on knowledge. Ingest only cognitively manageable morsels, as it were.. Small conceptual blocks once understood provide a bedrock of useful ‘eureka’ moments which facilitate more vertical and horizontal absorption and correlation of knowledge. For sake of later referencing, let us call this incremental cognitive inputting. Many such cognitive blocks could be strung together in the form of a chain of knowledge (the blockchain being originally a more apt description, but one that has been used and abused ad infinitum in the current cryptocurrency discourse) 

Contextual anchoring of this cognised knowledge becomes extremely important as a means of quick and logical retrieval of knowledge. Jottings preferably by hand, in my opinion are important because the exact mental state and memory correlates at the time  of writing get embedded/captured or experientially relived at the time of reading these notes. Needless to say, this enhances the memory aspect.

Assessment drives learning is a dictum, which few, if at all, will disagree with. While this is commonly understood to mean that students study because exams exist, the more accurate and empowering interpretation/application is that when what is studied /mastered as knowledge is assessed, a direct feedback is received about how much of the knowledge has been mastered.This can be called the Read-Assess-Read cycle in learning. This combined with selective cognitive inputting can accelerate mastery of the relevant knowledge base.

Self-awareness is the ultimate aim, the holy grail of every participant in the pedagogy spectrum be it a preceptor/teacher of student/learner. The process of self-awareness begins with gap analysis- the gap between what I think I know and what I actually know; the gap between what knowledge I have mastered and what I have not mastered. The Read-Assess-Read cycle helps in precisely that, an objective Gap Analysis in terms of the specific knowledge to be mastered. This is like an ultra-personalised report card which delineates and highlights deficiencies which cry out for improvement, figuratively speaking. This should spur a kind of reflective thinking in the learner wherein or whereby the learner examines critically his own learning behaviour (predispositions, predilections, predictabilities) as well as deeper self-actualisation factors that may be submerged (for example inner conversations such as why study? All work and no play makes jack a dull boy) Indeed a researcher by the name of Donald Schon applied reflective thinking to medical professionals (who purportedly are life-long learners) and coined the term- reflective practitioner.

Sometimes or maybe often, like in life at large, the larger perspective in learning gets clouded by short term urgencies. It is more important to reach the destination safely in stipulated time rather than only have wonderful pleasant short stretches. The whole and the part cannot be viewed at the same time but alternating the view time and again is important, as one may lose sight of the forest when looking at the trees and vice versa. Mastery Testing is testing or assessment of the entire body of syllabus/knowledge which needs to be mastered. Mastery of the whole can be tested while studying in parts (MWSP- mastery of whole, study in parts) as can mastery of the part be tested while studying the whole (MPTW- mastery of part, study of whole). Both of these approaches judiciously applied will create Knowledge Mastery and Domain Expertise.

To recapitulate, incremental cognitive inputting, contextual anchoring through personal jottings, read-assess-read cycle, gap analysis and reflective thinking & mastery testing are the first principles of learning that every accomplished learner will use or will have used. He/she may call it something else. No sweat. “A rose by any other way smells as sweet” as the bard has said. Tally Ho.