Learning Exercises – Thinking

Dear pupils, have you ever experienced the following scenario: You study very hard and you spend sleepless nights preparing for the exam.

The closer the day of the exam comes, the more anxious you become. Now, you are writing your exam and for some reason, you don’t understand some of the questions. This makes you panic and suddenly, you feel like you did not study at all. A glance at the clock shows that you only have little time left, so you write whatever comes to mind. You exit the hall and as soon as you are outside, the right answers come back to your mind. Too late!

Where were those answers when you needed them? Why do they come now, after you have already handed in your paper? The answer is simple. The way you have been learning is unnatural. The mind has its own laws and when we go against those laws, it cannot perform in the manner it was designed to.

Learning is something we do naturally, but for some reason, learning seems to be difficult when it comes to academic performance. Look at a child and how he or she develops.

They learn how to walk and talk and do so naturally. Look at the young lady who is learning the latest dance on YouTube. Look at the young man who is learning a soccer move he saw Ronaldo doing. They learn it with so much ease and joy and, most importantly, it all happens naturally.

What makes you think that your natural ability to learn stops when you enter the classroom? It is still there. It is only unfortunate that teachers don’t teach you how to use your natural ability to learn so that it can be used for your subjects. These exercises will help you to remain natural when you are learning.

Practice these exercises daily. They have helped many pupils and students and if you have the right will and determination, they will help you too.

Our first exercise is on thinking. It is very sad to realise that thinking is not taught in schools and I am dreaming of the day when thinking becomes a subject in school. Since we were never taught how to think, we just memorise and write exams from memory. Thinking is the only tool we have which enables us to understand the essence of a given topic. Every topic has a core message and to study means understanding that core message.

Read a paragraph in your textbook and find the essence. Up to this point your mind is used to memorising all the words in a paragraph and it was ignorant to the fact that words are used to make a point. Practice finding that point.

Shapumba ya Shapumba of Natural Learning Education Consultancy Services offers the secret to learning for pupils and students from Grade 9 to tertiary, as well as the secret to extraordinary teaching for teachers and self-mastery youth lectures. For more information, contact naturaLearningnamibia@gmail.com.

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