Learning as a Life Skill

1a)  The curriculum defines learning as the process of becoming better at doing something useful through engagement.  I feel pretty strongly that learning is more basic than doing something useful, because all behavior is learned.  Some action being useful is completely a matter of perspective and is generally situational.  I might add to the definition that learning is a cumulative effort to alleviate pain either for oneself or and outside entity.

1b)  Competency in one’s field requires sound knowledge of the basics of that field.  Learning to learn is a continued process of growth the likes of which are necessary for professionals to stay current in their fields and maintain flexibility.

2) The ABET Engineering Competencies Goal asserts that the goal of higher education (for engineering students) is to develop students who excel at the 12 competencies of an educated Engineer.

I’ve included all of the competencies of an educated Engineer, but have mashed a few of them together because they seemed to work together.

• ·         Having an education according to ABET means that you know the information necessary to do your job, and can use it to make models capable of describing real world situations. 
• ·         You should be able to design valid experiments to get data and be able to interpret it. 
• ·         You should design great products that can succeed in the real world.
• ·         Play a positive role in your teams, and maintain ethics and professionalism (I added this here because peer pressure and stressful team environments can be some of the most difficult times to maintain these traits).
• ·         Break up problems into small pieces to divide and conquer, state real goals. 
• ·         Communicate effectively and connect solutions to the real world.
• ·         Learn and grow as an individual, and remain flexible and aware of current societal issues.
• ·         Use modern engineering tools and techniques.

The goals of becoming a competent engineer add up to look like being good at learning to learn.

3)  Getting an education is, in my opinion, the ability to recall and successfully apply relevant knowledge to basic problems about real world problems in real world situations.  For engineering this involves making math models, designing experiments to collect relevant data, communicating well, and working effectively in team environments.  All of these key traits, to name just a few, must be met in order to consider what you have gained an education.  I could measure if I am getting an education by asking myself simple leading questions relevant to my education.

I.E.  Could I explain to a sixth grader the basics of Statics, Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Physics?  Can I draw a free body diagram to break down complex problems?  Am I a good group worker?  Do I employ critical thinking and reflective thinking frequently?

Personally, I want the skills to lead a wholesome life and support a healthy beneficial career.  I want to be helpful, seem competent, to the people around me and the world.  This means that I require the basic skills to solve problems and flexibility to learn new skills and know how to educate and motivate myself daily. 

4)  Neuroplasticity has replaced the belief that the brain is a physiologically static organ and explores the way the brain changes throughout life.  It occurs on a variety of levels ranging from minute cellular changes due to learning to complete remapping due to heavy trauma.

An excellent example of neuroplasticity would be habitual behavior, which can be hard to overcome.  I am a big time procrastinator, and this behavior continues to plague me even though I wish it weren’t so.  My mother has always procrastinated, so this could easily be learned behavior which has been reinforced as I continue to procrastinate.

5)  I might start explaining Dweck’s MindSet theory by saying that our actions are driven by our beliefs or factors which we believe are most important.  We know that Steve Jobs didn’t really have much care for personal appearance, and even didn’t bathe, but he did care about success, problem solving, and was always at the top of his game because he knew critical information in his field.  Successful professionals obviously follow some variation of the growth mindset.  They do this because it gives them the tools and critical information necessary.

6)  The belief to results chain is a series interpretation of how we process information and turn that information into results.  It begins with topic specific beliefs, our thoughts and emotional response to the topic, our actions to those thoughts and emotion responses, and then our analysis or reflection on the topic.

We know that we can control specifically two factors.  We can change our beliefs at any time we feel they are no longer appropriate or need adjustment.  We can control whether or not we choose to act, and how we choose to act.  The emotional response and thoughts are based upon our beliefs and the results will differ based on both our beliefs and actions.

Professionals need only keep the BRC in mind when thinking and reflecting to make important changes or receive positive personal reinforcement.

7)  I would describe deliberate practice as taking time to practice fundamentals really well.  Practice literally refers to going through the motions of doing a particular task over and over until you are extremely competent at it.  Competent professionals would simply do this process over and over again without fear to their personal advantage.  They would give group members the knowledge through explanation in the hopes that their group would pick up and utilize the skill as well.