Discussing Learning
The chapter on learning is actually called knowledge acquisition. Learning is a really big topic and it is treated with some importance in the book. The main topic is the learning which people do. However, learning in other things is also discussed, particularly learning in machines or computers. This inclusion also reflects my own personal take on learning.
The chapter, like several others, starts out by attempting to see how learning is used as a term in society. It then considers relationships between what people seem to think about learning and what science says about memory and learning. It also considers how people can learn effectively and how machines can learn.
The chapter seems to naturally progress towards the idea that some are more successful learners than others and then also seemingly naturally, towards the concept of motivation in learning. Motivation becomes a significant topic within the structure of knowledge, learning and wisdom.
The sort of things that people actually learn and the sort of things which they want to learn are also discussed. The idea of having educational courses to help people to learn a set of things is also discussed.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the benefits of learning and asks the question 'what changes after learning'. Hopefully, the things that change after learning are the things that the learner wanted to change when the learning task was undertaken.
There is a separate chapter on expertise which is really an extra chapter on learning. This is because the chapter is really about how expertise is acquired. Why is it that some people become experts in something and others do not?