how do we encourage independent learning?

Answer 1

~hand the kid a book.

Answer 2

Oxford Brookes University (link below) has a lot of information on this topic.
The second link may also have a few useful tips.
The third link is mainly about using the Internet to encourage independent learning.
The last link is from a really good Education faculty.
Finally, just type "Independent learning method" into your browser and you will get over 5 million pages.

Answer 3

Model it. Talk about what you're reading, what's in the news, and what's quirky about the world. You don't need to give a monologue, just work it into what you're teaching.

Connect what students are learning to what they already know or enjoy, and stretch them to find out more. If students ask questions you don't know answers to, ask them to work on the answer themselves - not as punishment, but as a matter of course. You'll still have to follow up yourself to discuss it with the student. Let them teach YOU. They want to impress adults and be valued for contributions.

You could use the beginning-of-the-year student survey to develop questions for students to answer about their areas of curiousity. Those areas could be worked into the curriculum so they can take ownership. Some teachers even let students decide the curriculum with the democratic classroom method, which gives students real ownership in their learning and involves more critical thinking.

Good luck!

Answer 4

It depends on the age and personality of each learner as to the best way to do this. Ultimately, I'd say one general motivator is to make the learning tangible and purposeful. Facilitate the understanding that learning supports living - don't just study for the sake of it, but try to make connections with application outside the classroom. I think learning is a lifeskill, not just something for inside a school.

Answer 5

I have found that by offeing byond the rudiments of reading and such, to inquire of the child, this: "What would you do in this situation and why?" also...."Are you happy with your answers?" and "If you do not agree, then tell me, for I am very interested."
Creating Dialogue inspires creative thinking where there is no fear of admonishment or behavoural regrounding. Independent learning is inspired by those around us, often in a life it can be but one person to make this difference.
I began a reading programme for the children in my complex and had book drives and we were inundated with an outpouring of books, one of the main drop offs the local newspaper and even the public library assisted here. It was amazing! I hadn't been well but wanted to do something that was not all about me.
So, I began this programme and the theme was "There are no stupid questions and no wrong answers" ~ you would have been amazed at the response we had begining with 8 children and I think our final tally was at one point 14 children from the ages of 3 to 14...I was so surprised when the boys responded to simple poetry...and not being in school..they wern't called names about it.....then one day...out of the blue in the 3rd year....a little girl 9 years old, showed up at my door, shykly smiling and a bit nervous, saying..."Now I am ready to read to you..." ~ I felt quite ill...but I had promised and would NOT break it...She struggled though three chapter of her book...and in a kittens breath i helped her,.....when she was through reading she jumped up and smiled and announced that she had to go and find her friend to play.
Yes, I made a difference..but I am not looking for accolades here....I am doing what I was taught. Walking back inside my home, I leaned against the door and wept......I was so happy....and you never know when your garden will go from seed to bloom...here was a garden of fowers so fragrant iI say metaphorically...that I will never forget this. When I left I passed out the remainder of the books, giving my own books to the children as well....and to the young lady who read to me, my own copy from whenI was nine years old of Hans Christian Anderson's fairytales...each with ...my initial questions of "What do YOU think of this?" and so forth.....Independent thinking I believe is brought on by Listening and replying gently, however it is that Listening is the better part of conversation. Now I am begininng to learn all over again and cannot wait to have another book drive to see this magic unfold....and i will.
This makes me so happy that while still ill...I have this dream of encouraging youth to think for themselves and was stunned to see this question....Thank You...

Answer 6

Start early teaching the child how to use a dictionary to correctly understand the meanings of words.

Next - give the child a free rein to learn as much as they want about any subject they become interested in, at their own speed. Don't force them to study anything they really aren't interested in right now. If you wait, they will eventually get around to studying nearly anything they will need to know later on.

Answer 7

By finding what really interests the student and giving them independent projects. Hopefully, their curiosity will expand and they will gain a thirst for knowledge. It happened to me at about 35, but then I went to a school with overcrowded classes and disinterested teachers.

Answer 8

looking at teaching for the student's point of view, make it interesting...Find something that will keep your students' attention while still teach them at the sametime. I am dislexic so it was alittle diffacult for me, but i graduated from college with a 3.5 gpa. If i can do it anyone can..

Answer 9

Promote competition, and not team competition. Put up tables of grades, rank the students. If the worse students complain that they are embarassed, tell them that if they worked harder they would do better. Children work best on their own. If you force them to do their own research they will carry it on when they aren't forced.

Answer 10

Get off of every computer