Teaching students how to learn

Scientists who study the brain say that schools need to spend more time teaching kids how to learn. “The more you teach students how to learn, the less time you have to spend teaching curriculum because they can [understand] it on their own,” says William Klemm, senior professor of neuroscience at Texas A&M University.

“I think the real problem is that students have not learned how to be competent learners,” he said. “They haven’t learned this because we haven’t taught them.”

In KQED's Mind/Shift education blog, Klemm explains how educators can use what neuroscience has discovered about learning and the brain. While many of these concepts aren’t new, they come up again and again in research and bear repeating. Read Klemm's suggestions.