Learning to Learn

The primary objective for differentiation becomes self-determination to define the emphasis for learning and subsequently, to develop the attributes aligned with becoming a scholar.”

The term “differentiation” has many and varied definitions and interpretations regarding why and how advanced and gifted learners can be provided with educational experiences that meet academic, societal, and personal needs, interests, and abilities. Adjustments to curriculum, instruction, and environments or what, how, and where related to differentiation have been defined. In many of these definitions, the concepts of differentiation are related to the attainment of scholarship rather than the development of scholarliness or to the emphasis on what and how learning takes place rather than WHY differing modes of learning occur and are essential. The concept of “learning to learn” focuses on differentiation as a means of developing the rationale for learning and not just an emphasis on what and how learning occurs. Learning to learn introduces and answers the question as to WHY we study content, develop a skill, use a particular reference, and produce a product to acknowledge or represent what has been learned.

Learning to learn facilitates the abilities of advanced and gifted students to both select and define why they will study, investigate, pursue, and subsequently, initiates their abilities and interests to pursue an answer, study a subject, complete a project, and/or articulate their findings, Most significantly, as a consequence of learning to learn, advanced and gifted students will develop the understanding and reasons to value scholarliness and become a scholar.

Application of the Learning to Learn outline aligns differentiation with self-development and direction (see Table 1). The presentation and explanation of the learning to learn outline is to facilitate advanced and gifted students across grade levels to become self-directed and autonomous in their pursuits of learning ABOUT, FROM, and TO a defined standard, subject area, or self-selected topic of study. The primary objective for differentiation becomes self-determination to define the emphasis for learning and subsequently, to develop the attributes aligned with becoming a scholar.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Table 1.

Learning to Learn Outline.

Learning to Learn
Learning ABOUT	Learning FROM	Learning TO
Origin of	Connections to other areas	Develop an interest
Rationale for	Extension to world events	Set future academic goals
Contributions to	Expansion of abilities	Establish academic identity

Presented with the task to engage in an independent study related to the social studies “Westward Movement” standard, a gifted student states that learning will be ABOUT the rationale for the movement west, FROM will emphasize the concept of westward expansion related to contemporary world events, and TO will culminate in the exploration of personal academic identity as a historian. This student’s example of Learning to Learn strategies illustrates the emphasis of differentiation on the development of scholarliness: the attributes of becoming a scholar.