Learning to Learn: What You Didn't Learn in School and Why

From taking our first steps and saying our first words, through kindergarten, grade school, and college, we are praised, rewarded, and judged on our ability to learn. When we finish formal education and enter the workplace, we discover that we have to start learning all over again. Outside of work, we learn and practice skills in our leisure time-maybe a sport or something artistic, a musical instrument, or beating the monster at the end of level 17. Given the amount of time we spend learning, it is surprising how little we invest in understanding how it’s done. From Dreyfus to De Bono by way of Japanese martial arts, Dan suggests that some of our modern organizational challenges may be due to teachers telling us that copying is cheating and that challenging authority gets you detention. Take away several models of learning and skills acquisition that will help you learn to learn more effectively.