Binalonan, Pangasinan

FINAL PERIOD
MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF
When someone who is close to us is about to leave, we normally say “Ingat ka”. This statement
expresses love and concern for other people’s well-being and safety. It is not intended only to remind the
person to stay healthy but also to keep himself/herself safe against any harm or danger. Connotatively, it can
be interpreted as “I want to see you again alive and healthy”.
Taking care of ourselves is an obligation by which we should practice as such actions is a reflection of
self-love which is vital in our overall self-development.

MODULE 12: Becoming a Better Student

Course Title: Understanding the Self

Course Code: GE 1

Name: __________________________________________________________
Course and Year: _________________________________________________
Contact Number/E -mail Address: _____________________________________
Date and Time Allotment: ___________________________________________

Introduction
If a teacher asks his or her students about what they have learned in class today, some might talk
about new concepts, and terms they memorized, or the articles and other materials they read. But how does
one assess learning? Learning from the behavioral perspective is a noticeable, visible, permanent change in
behavior. Does it mean that if there is no change in behavior, no learning occurs?

I. Objectives
At the end of the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Define learning, and explain the characteristics of learning.
2. Identify the changes that happen during learning; and
3. Develop ways to become and effective learner

II. Lectures

Learning
Learning by definition is the permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. Learning
involves change. Change in one’s behavior mostly occur through experience. Once you learned to sing nursery
rhymes as a kid, singing becomes a natural activity. Once you learned how to play guitar, you do not go
through the same process of fretting and strumming at a later time. When learning martial arts, you may be
injured along the process, but at some point, you will learn the ways to avoid injury. Generally, learning
involves, acquiring changes in the present knowledge, skills, habits, behaviors, or tendencies through
experience, practice, or formal education.

Characteristics of Learning

1.) Learning is Purposeful

Every human action is motivated or inspired by one’s aims, goals, or intentions. Goals can be short-
term or long-term. Reviewing lessons in order to receive high grades and avoid reprimand from parents is an
example of short-term goal. On the other hand, enrolling in graduate studies and spending ten more years in
formal education in order to upgrade professional credential is an example of a long-term goal. Learning
occurs because it is planned, desired, or even forced. But no matter what the case, there is always purpose
why a person seeks more knowledge. Research shows that students who set goals tend to be more persistent
and are more likely to achieve their goals.

2.) Learning is a Result of Experience

Learning is often associated with change in behavior as a result of experience. This entails that learning
comes with one’s interaction with the environment.
 Learners may be able to define particular terms, explain specific concepts, state general principles, or
recite certain provision of law. However, they can make them meaningful only if they understand them well
enough and be able to use and apply them in real-life situations.

3.) Learning is Multifaceted

The famous quotation “a sound mind in a sound body” exemplifies the connection between the physical
and mental well-being of a person. In order to produce well-rounded graduates, education institutions must
hone not only the intellectual but also the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual potentials of learners. This is
the reason why every curriculum, the learning outcomes are not purely confined to the development of the
cognitive domain. In teaching Social Sciences, for instance, the affective domain is also developed through the
inculcation of nationalism and patriotism (e.g., teaching concepts of nation-building, etc.). Another example, in
Physical Education, the objectives are not solely focused on the psychomotor domain; the affective domain is
also developed in instilling teamwork and sportsmanship. The focus of learning is not on the course alone.
Incidental knowledge, skills, and attitudes are also taught and developed.

4.) Learning is an Active Process

Learners should not be mere passive receivers of information. Teachers should not assume that
learners can remember all the terms, concepts, theories, laws, principles, etc. that they, their students.
Learning is not rote memorization. Teachers are also advised to involve the students in the learning process.
The principle of teaching states that the students should be the center of the learning process. Their active
participation in class activities must be solicited for them to fully grasp certain concepts.

Since part of the process is evaluation of learning, teachers should have effective assessment tools or
instruments to measure whether the learners are meeting the learning objectives.

What Happens during Learning?

Brain Changes

When a person takes in food, he or she acquires the nutrition necessary for his or her growth,
particularly of the body. As for the brain, it takes a set of knowledge and skills for its development.

When the person learns something new, the brain undergoes changes. The changes in brain during
learning are:
(1) New nerve cells (neurons) may grow and new neural networks will then be formed;
(2) The strength of existing synaptic connection changes, thus functionally changing the connectivity (and the
activity) within the existing neural networks in response to a sensory stimulus; and
(3) New synapses are formed between neurons that were not connected before, thus effectively creating new
networks of neurons that, when active, represent a new memory.

Synaptic Transmission (Neurotransmission)

 Neural Network (Neural Connection)

Behavioral Changes

A toddler who was scalded when touching a hot pan will definitely not repeat the same act. A child will
not attempt to put his finger in the chicken cage again if he was pecked before. A driver will not drove too fast
on a slippery highway if he had an accident before. Similarly, a student who ignored his or her minor subjects
and got a failing grade will take the minor subjects seriously the next time he or she enrolls in these subjects.
One professor tells his students, “At the time you begin to dislike me and even hate me, that is the time you
start to learn. It is because you are forced to go out of your comfort zones. You are doing something that is not
convenient for you, something that was not done to you by your previous teachers.”

Certainly, a student who was required to memorize and recite a poem in front of the class will have a
negative reaction at first. But by doing this frequently, the student will be able to find ease and master the art of
spoken poetry. What behavior was changed? It is stage fright. At the start, a student of an Argumentation and
Debate class will have so many flaws in his or her first participation in a debate activity, but he or she will
eventually master the art of debate. What behavior was changed? It is false reasoning. A student who receive
a zero grade and counseling from his or her Technical Writing teacher after submitting a plagiarized paper will
more likely not plagiarize again. What behavior was changed? It is dishonesty.

Learning has been defined as a permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. Thus, if a
student still applies some fallacies on argumentation ir plagiarizes an article taken from the internet again,
then, based on the definition, there is no learning because the change is not permanent. Learning requires
continuity of behavior change.

Becoming a Self-regulated Learner

Self-regulated learning refers to the learner’s ability to regulate or control one’s own learning and
behavior. This entails that one’s acquisition of knowledge and skills does not require external intervention.
Barry Zimmerman, one of the researchers on the topic, emphasized that self-regulation is not a mental ability
or skill but a self-directive process whereby learners transform their mental abilities into skills.

An effective learner regulates one’s own learning by (1) planning and setting goals, (2) using strategies
and monitoring performances, and (3) reflecting on one’s own performance and adapting strategies to achieve
the goals (Sage, 2018). Students must first analyze the learning task so they can strategize or develop the best
approach. Then, students apply the chosen strategy and monitor their own performance as they carry out the
task. Finally, students must reflect on the effectiveness of their strategies and use these reflections to plan on
the next learning task.

Once a learner becomes a good self-regulator, he or she develops a set of skills and habits to be an
effective learner. Teachers must train learners to regulate their own learning by self-regulated strategies that
will help them for life-long learning (Shuy, 2010).
Learning to be a Better Students

Pat Riley, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, once said “If you are nit getting better, you
are getting worse”. This mantra or perspective can be applied to any context, whether in the field of medicine,
industry, or academe. In medicine for instance, what does not cure you actually makes you sicker. More often
than not, complications transpire, sickness and disease mutate, making the patient worse than the initial
diagnosis of his or her ailment. And for academe, traditionally in order to be a better student, one should read
more books. No aspiring achiever can be labeled as such if one is not a reader. If he or she wants higher
education, he or she must read, analyze, and learn ideas relevant to his or her profession since not all the
existing ideas are practical and applicable to his or her chosen field.

Good Study Habits

To be a successful student, you must establish good study habits to learn effectively. Study habits refer
to the attitudes and behaviors of students when preparing for tests or any learning assessment. Below are
some of the ways to develop good habits.

1.) Get organized. Plan ahead of time. Allot time to read everyday in order not to cram days before the exam.
Make a study plan. (Prioritize those subjects where you have difficulty). Make an outline to organize thoughts
and ideas. Fix your study area and eliminate all distractions such as cellphones and other gadgets and keep
away from the television.

2.) Prepare your review materials. Make review notes. Create flashcards. Make mind maps and mnemonic
patterns to easily recall terms and concepts. Read and record important terms and concepts.

3.) Ask help. If you do not understand a particular lesson or topic, seek help from your teachers, your
classmates, your parents, or your older brother or sister.

4.) Test yourself or ask someone to test you. This can be done by simply recalling your lesson and writing
them on a piece of paper or by asking someone to throw questions and answering as many questions as
possible.

5.) Allot time to take a break and eliminate stress. Allot break time. During breaktime, short physical
activities can be done such as stretching, listening to music, or drinking coffee.

6.) Create or join a study group. This enables you to take notes, discuss thoughts, brainstorm ideas, and
tutor concepts. This helps you to calibrate your understanding of certain concepts, rules, principles, and
theories.

7.) Teach what you have learned. This can be done by sharing what you have learned to your friends. As
they say practice makes perfect.

8.) Study to understand, not to remember. Memorizing what you read is not a very effective habit because
the brain cannot make sense of information quickly and thus will not form strong connections. Understand the
ideas, concepts or principles; do not just memorize them verbatim.

Meaningful Learning

In traditional or teacher-centered approach, the students are passive and are expected to be receptive
as the teacher gives instructions. The teacher is sole speaker throughout the class period although he or she
may solicit short-answer responses. When the teacher asks questions, he or she does not allot ample time for
the students to express their ideas and opinions. Before the bell rings, he or she will verify learning by asking,
“Did you understand the lesson?”, students are expected to say “yes Ma’am/Sir”. That basically signals class
dismissal. The learning process should not end with students perceiving that they are prisoners who are
serving their sentence for a term (semester) on a certain duration of time (class schedule) in a specific place
(classroom), and that after listening passively for almost five months, they are free men – free from
confinement in the classroom and to teachers but not from ignorance. If that is the student’s perception on the
end of the result of learning, then something has to be done to improve it.

What is then expected after staying inside the classroom for an hour or more? As discussed previously,
learning is a process of acquiring changes in the present knowledge, skills, habits, behaviors, or tendencies
through experience, practice, skills, habits, behaviors, or tendencies through experience, practice, or formal
education. Although there is no one-size-fits-all effective teaching methodology, there are ways to ensure
meaningful learning after the lesson such as (1) asking the students about practical application of their
learning, particularly what they can do for their family, school, and community; (2) allowing students to
demonstrate a new skill acquired from the lesson; (3) requiring students to write an essay or a reflective journal
of what they have learned; (4) asking students to relate the lesson to other science or field of knowledge; or (5)
helping students to find the relevance of the lesson to their lives. Through these ways, the students can
reinforce their learning, empower themselves, express their thoughts, and make sense of those lessons to their
lives and to their world- and these exemplify meaningful learning.

III. Activity

Activity 12.1

On the space provided below explain the meaning of the poem Learning 2.0

Learning 2.0
By Cheryl Capozzoli

The more I search, the more I find,

The more I find, the more I read,
The more I read, the more I think,
The more I think, the more I learn,
The more I learn, the more I do,
The more I do, the more I create,
The more I create, the more I share,
The more I share, the more I collaborate,
The more I collaborate, the more I communicate,
The more I communicate, the more I connect,
The more I connect, the more I learn, the more I know.
And more intelligent,
I grow.

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IV. Assessment

Enumerate 10 ways to become an “effective learner”

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10.)
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Prepared by:

REZZIE P. MENSALVAS, CHRA

Instructor

Submitted to:

RAYMOND N. CLARO, PhD.

Asst. Dean, College of Teacher Education