Keeping the Sparks Alive

Post date: Mar 26, 2018 6:32:24 AM

by Claudia M. De Guzman

(City of Balanga National High School)

Learning is like falling in love. At first, you are always excited, curious, and eager to ask questions and you love to explore on things. But just like love, passion for learning may have the chance to fade. Those colorful things may start to turn gray and just like the weather, it would start to be gloomy,

The question now is; just like falling in love, how could learners keep their sparks for learning alive? Here are the tips that I gathered to help maintain learners’ passion for learning.

1. Keep your study area clean. A report entitled 'Cleanliness and Learning in Higher Education', was conducted at Brigham Young University which showed that the level of cleanliness has a direct impact on the ability to learn (Campbell, 2008). It says that keeping a clean study area would avoid germs that cause allergies and it also helps in decreasing the level of stress hormones among the learners. In addition to this study, remember that if you have a clean study area, you are more focused on the task or on the things that you would like to learn.

2. Vary your study locations. "What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched, and this slows down forgetting," said Dr. Bjork, the senior author of the two-room experiment. As mentioned in lifehacker.com, the avoidance of standard space when studying is helpful because having varied study locations can increase the learners’ level of retention.

3. Study with friends. I remembered one time when I was too lazy of going to school and I sent a message to my study buddies saying that I couldn’t make it to school, these two buddies of mine replied angrily telling me that I would miss important lessons that day. They also told me that my failure to sign the attendance sheet would result to low grade. By those words, I suddenly got up from my bed and quickly fixed myself and rode to school. Then I thought, that push from my friends had helped me to not skip school that day. By this experience, I conclude that our study buddies or friends could help us avoid procrastinations and with their help, if you have any unclear thoughts regarding the lessons, they are there to help you clarify the doubts that you have.

4. Participate in class. “Participation can be used as a preparation” as mentioned in one of the articles in facultyfocus.com. This means that when the teacher and your classmates are used to seeing you participating in class, tendency is you will be called more often and all you have to do is to read in advance your topics and come to school prepared. With this, you will not only encourage yourself to study more, but you could also engage your classmates to advance study and with that they will continue to love learning.

5. Look for your learning style. Learning style involves learners’ preferred ways to receive, process, and recall information during instruction which is related to learners’ motivation and information-processing habits (Aragon, Johnson, & Shaik, 2002). It is important for you to know your preferred way of learning in order for you to retain the information that you need to learn. With this, you will not be forced to study in a way that you feel like being strangled. By knowing your learning style, you will find learning more enjoyable and it would add up to your eagerness to learn more.

6. Don’t expect perfection. Sometimes, we get wrapped up to the idea of being perfect. In terms of learning, we sometimes feel the need to know it all. And if we fail, we get depressed and suddenly give-up and hate learning. My advice is “Just try to make the most out of it”. If it didn’t come well, then think of the idea that second, third or more chances are still there. Always think that nobody is perfect and if you fail once, accept that as a challenge and motivation to build the better you.

7. Ask for help. Having trouble with Calculus, Physics, Trigonometry and other math related subjects? You’ve read almost all your textbooks and surfed over the internet but still you don’t get it? Then why not seek help from the people who know it better? As written in one of the articles in success.com, asking can make you more open, wiser and happier. If you learn to seek help, you will know more. And when you learn more, you’ll be able to have this feeling of eagerness to pursue your studies.

8. Give yourself break or rewards: You don’t have to force yourself to study if you are tired. Go to the coffee shop or hang-out with your friends for a while. Remember that you can retain more if you are happy and relaxed. Enjoy the moment of learning without depriving yourself of enjoyment.

9. Be resilient. As mentioned on dawnbarclay.com, resilient learning is about staying the course, staying with the learning until it moves from new to embed. That a-ha moment when you ‘get it’ and when mysteries in the lessons are solved. With resilience, difficulties and barriers will be destroyed. And when this happens, you’ll find learning as an enjoyable habit. Through resiliency you’ll be able to have that eagerness to learn more.

10. Look at the big picture. Are you dreaming of a stable job in the future? Are you planning to have your own house and lot, car and a stable business? Then here is one thing that I have to tell you. Never get tired of learning; because all the plans that you want in life will be achieved if you will put learning on top of your list.

I hope these ten tips could help you keep falling in love to learning. Just remember that when you keep those sparks for learning alive, it will serve as your partner in achieving all your goals and soon you will realize that your passion for learning will help you attain success.