Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
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Date of Graduation
Spring 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
School of Accounting
Advisor(s)
Luis Betancourt
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and create a discussion regarding the human science of learning. For the last two semesters, I have been involved in tutoring students in the principles of accounting. The key difference between these two semesters was my mindset towards learning. My first semester tutoring I taught “firing from the hip.” Simply answering questions or working problems myself and explaining them as I went along. And yes, I do believe this style of tutoring helped these students. Looking back however, I can’t help but think of myself as someone living in the 17th century who was more than content with riding their horse. That is to say, I was missing out on massive potential (the automobile) because I believed what I was doing was enough. Relaying back to my tutoring, this massive potential I was missing out on was the understanding of some of the science and techniques behind learning. To kickstart my second semester of tutoring, I read the book Make it Stick; The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. Mcdaniel. This book explores the science of learning through a myriad of stories, real life accounts, and personal findings by the authors. The book, much like learning itself, is not confided simply to the classroom. Instead, it covers topics ranging from sports, neurosurgery, to even jumping out of an airplane. By reading and examining this book, it gave me an entirely new outlook with which to view my tutoring. Coming in the next semester, I was armed with a brand new arsenal of “weapons” I couldn’t wait to try out. Just as guns sometimes jam, some of these new teaching techniques fell flat. However, many more proved to be very successful in helping students learn materials faster and for longer. This paper will be going into detail on a few of those techniques and the experiences I had when trying them out. Lastly, I think it would be amiss for me to solely discuss how the science of learning effected those whom I was teaching. For this new knowledge has had a very considerable and lasting impact on me as well. As such, I will also be including some personal anecdotes I have experienced in my own life following my research into the science of learning.
Recommended Citation
Duffie, Kyle, "Learning how to learn" (2019). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 665.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/665
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