What Is Holistic Learning?

Last night I was up late reading the first part of an eBook on speed reading. Apparently the underlying concepts of speed reading are really just a way in which people learn. I ended up doing a little more research into it today over my lunch hour, and ended up finding a very interesting and quick read which helps to explain it a little better.

All my life I feel like I’ve been able to pick things up and quickly master them. I feel very blessed. Little did I know the ability I possess is actually a skill which can be learned and taught. It deals with the way you create constructs and reference them to models by way of visceralization, metaphors, and exploration.

Basically the things your 3rd grade teacher taught you about how you should always relate a new idea to something you already know was spot on, but we’ve now learned to use that skill for something better than your times tables.

Think of your mind as a spider’s web. With holistic learning you are constantly linking new ideas and concepts to ones that already exist. That “ah-ha” or “I get it” moment you have when learning something new is because you’ve just connected one construct to another, and it makes sense to you now because its related to something you already understood. This is a much preferred method to use over “rote memorization,” which involves re-reading and attempting to recall something exactly while having no model to refer back to and remember what you’ve memorized. I did this several times in college with subjects I didn’t understand as well. Now I can see it was just because I was lazy and I wasn’t making the connections back to something I already understood.

 

Here is the 27 page eBook: Link

Wouldn’t you like to understand things more quickly and be able to contribute more when learning new concepts and ideas? Do you ever feel like you’re going at a slower pace than others? It’s because someone else has connected that concept back to something they already knew, so they’ve already had that “ah-ha” moment. Practicing holistic learning as opposed to rote memorization will grow your intelligence to new levels at a rate you never thought possible.

Do something to better yourself today.