Learning Techniques: Before, During, and After

I liked chapter 6 quite a bit.

Gross discusses two pre-learning techniques: pro-active reading and the vee-heuristic technique.

1. Pro-active reading is probably taught in Reading and Critical Thinking Skills classes, but most of our students do not take such classes. Do we ever mention the idea of pro-active reading to the majority of our students?

The point of the technique is to encourage readers to be "active, self-directed, and creative." And the way to do that is to approach the book with a specific goal in mind.

I know I'm old fashioned. I like to read the entire book, but Gross's point about developing focus questions and then just reading the specific sections of the book that deal with those questions makes a lot of sense.

2. Vee-heuristic helps you focus on what you already know, and then helps you transfer than knowledge into what you're interested in learning: http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/cocoa_demo/content/tools/improved_vee_heuristic.htm

The objective of this technique is the same as above -- take the time to think about what you want to learn from your experiences, your research, your reading. In other words, develop a plan, a focus question, and some key specifics.