Learning to Learn: Empower Youth

Content

Welcome to this engaging activity for youth workers and educators!
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We’re about to explore the fascinating world of "learning to learn." Think of it as helping young people unlock their brain’s full potential—like discovering a hidden superpower! Our goal is to support you in guiding young learners to understand how they can learn best and make learning not just useful, but fun and engaging.
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In this activity, we’ll focus on practical strategies for supporting young people to reflect on their learning experiences, identify what methods work best for them, and develop a love for learning that extends beyond formal education. This is an opportunity to deepen your understanding of self-directed learning and empower young learners to take control of their educational journey.
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By the end of the activity, you’ll feel more confident in your ability to support young people in their learning process, helping them gain essential skills and competencies that are often missing in traditional educational settings. This activity will also give you tools to encourage them to regularly assess their progress and adjust their strategies as needed.
With this activity, we aim to:
Deepen your understanding of self-directed learning and how it can benefit young people.
Help you develop practical skills to support young people in learning how to learn.
Guide young people in exploring which learning methods work best for them and why.
Build the habit of regularly reviewing progress and making necessary adjustments to improve learning outcomes.
Support young people in acquiring important competencies that may be missing in traditional education, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability.
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Ready to start? Let’s jump into our first exercise: “The best and the worst learning experience!”
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EXERCISE 1: The best and the worst learning experience. 
Write down two pluses and two minuses of the best and worst learning experience you ever had. Share your answer by completing task 2 to earn the badge.  
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There are different ways people learn and why they do it.
Surface learning is focused on copying or remembering, often driven by fear of failing. It leads to knowledge that is broken into pieces and not fully understood.
Deep learning happens when someone is curious and wants to truly understand. This leads to meaningful and well-understood knowledge.
Strategic learning aims to perform well and get high grades, often to succeed or do better than others. This may or may not include real understanding. 
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Learning is a big part of life—it starts even before we’re born! It’s not a straight path but full of twists, turns, and surprises, influenced by people, experiences, and emotions. In our activity, we are exploring different ways learning happens, especially in non-formal education, where people choose to participate, focus on their own needs, and grow together in exciting and unexpected ways. Have a look at the poster below and see what you think:
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Competence "learning to learn" is focusing on equipping learners with the skills needed for successful independent learning.
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This video below is good because it shows a simple way to quickly learn new skills by focusing on what matters most and practicing for just 20 hours. It connects to "learning to learn" by teaching how to break big tasks into smaller steps and stay motivated to improve.
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Find more about learning to learn: 
Why Learning to Learn is Important: Learning to learn is very important in education. It helps students gain skills to learn on their own, effectively, and in a way that matters. It goes beyond just memorizing facts and helps develop understanding and critical thinking.
Key Competence and Its Transferability: Learning to learn is meant to be useful in many areas and subjects. It helps prepare students for different situations they might face. Finding and developing these skills can be complicated and needs a careful plan. It is so called state of mind.
Learning Approaches and Outcomes: (a) Surface Approach: This way of learning is about just remembering information because of fear of failing. It leads to incomplete knowledge.  (b) Strategic Approach: This approach aims for good grades, often because of competition. It can lead to high scores, but students may not really understand the material.  (c) Deep Approach: This method focuses on understanding and finding meaning, driven by curiosity. It results in a strong knowledge of the subject.
Challenges in Promoting Deep Learning: Learning in a shallow way is easier, which makes deep learning harder to achieve. It's tough to help surface learners move to deeper learning methods. However, using good tasks and discussions during learning can help overcome these challenges.
Educator and Learners Roles: Teaching and learning go hand in hand. Good teaching helps students manage themselves, think about their learning, and get involved. Teachers need to find a balance between guiding students and giving them freedom, so students can slowly take charge of their own learning.
Strategies for Developing Learning Skills: Both direct and indirect methods of teaching are useful. However, indirect methods usually work better when used regularly in different subjects that students need to learn and understand.
﻿Models and Frameworks: (a) Vermunt's Model: This model shows how teacher-led learning and self-directed learning work together. (b) Finnish Framework: This framework includes thinking skills, motivation, and social factors to evaluate and improve learning-to-learn skills.
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Self-directed learning allows learners to lead their own LEARNING. They set their own goals, choose resources, and decide how to learn. The teacher acts more as a guide, helping when needed, and this approach can be used in all learning environments, from kindergarten to adult education.
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IN LEARNING, THE "MARTIAL ARTS - SKILLS OF THE LEARNER" REPRESENT A LEARNER'S ABILITY TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES. THIS INCLUDES:
Mental focus and discipline: Learners need concentration, perseverance, and emotional management for success.
Flexibility and strategy: Learners must adapt to different tasks and teaching styles while using effective strategies.
Self-control and self-regulation: Learners develop skills to plan, monitor, and adjust their learning.
Managing internal and external "opponents": Internal challenges include fear and self-doubt, while external challenges come from the learning environment and assessments.
Preparation for the "fight": This means equipping learners with knowledge and skills for various situations, like understanding concepts and solving problems.
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EXERCISE 2: The aim of The River of Learning is to look at and reflect on how and what you learnt till now. Look back over your lives and think about times or events where you really felt you learnt something. The result of this reflection should end up on the paper using themetaphor of a river. 
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Take your time and reflect: 
How was it to use the metaphor for your learning?
What was challenging in finding your most important learning moments?
Was there anything surprising in your personal reflection?
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PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS:
Promote collaboration among learning providers and match teaching strategies to learners' needs.
Encourage metacognitive reflection and help learners adapt their strategies.
Foster emotional and social skills like self-confidence and resilience.
Design assessments and tasks that reward deeper understanding and critical thinking.
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EXERCISE 3: Using Learning to learn.
What are the three most important topics/experiences that you can use daily for yourself to be a better (self-directed) learner?
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CHALLENGES WE YOUTH WORKERS FACE
Emerging technologies like e-learning and AI, along with changes in society, can impact how we learn.Learning providers need to work on connecting specialized knowledge with the need for creative and ethical thinking.
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﻿Ljubljana city of learning, or other Cities of of Learning platforms is a great opportunity to use to address the technological challenges.  
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LEARNING IS FUN, but many young people do not know it yet! Your role is to show them that.  
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Lets us summarise our findings: 
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For additional tools and methods you are invited to use HANDBOOK for facilitators: Learning to learn in practice.﻿
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The competence of learning to learn is essential for embracing the concept of lifelong learning and understanding that learning is neither simple nor it is just one thing.

Resources

HANDBOOK for facilitators: Learning to learn in practice.https://noored.ee/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/L2L_handbook.pdf) Change

Get activity badge

Learning to Learn: Empower Youth Get this badge

This badge is earned by youth workers, educators, trainers, or individuals who have explored and reflected on their own learning experiences to better support young people in developing essential competencies. It focuses on self-reflection, effective learning methods, and personal growth. The "Learning to Learn" badge shows that the earner has gained a deeper understanding of how learning works and has developed strategies to improve their own learning process, while also empowering young learners to acquire critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability skills often missing in traditional education.
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Achievements:
The “Learning to Learn” badge is all about reflecting on the learning journey, discovering new learning methods, and strengthening your ability to learn independently. This badge encourages youth workers, educators, and trainers to look back on their experiences, understand what helps them learn best, and take action to improve their own learning, additionally being equipped to support young people in their educational growth.
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By earning this badge, learners have:
Reflected on their past learning experiences using creative metaphors, like "The River of Learning."
Analyzed their best and worst learning moments to identify strengths and challenges.
Used learning strategies to enhance their skills.Practiced self-reflection and shared their thoughts on learning with others.
Explored practical approaches to guide young people in acquiring essential skills like learning to learn, critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability.
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To earn this badge, the learner completed the following:
Reflected on key learning experiences using creative methods.
Analyzed and shared insights from their best and worst learning moments.
Demonstrated how they can support young people in developing learning to learn competences missing in traditional education.
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Assessment Procedures:
The learner’s tasks were reviewed based on completion and reflection. Successful completion of all tasks resulted in the awarding of the badge, recognizing the learner’s ability to understand and improve their learning process while supporting others in doing the same.

You have to finish 1 task to get the badge

Tasks

Task no.1

Evidence verified by: one activity organiser

TASK 1: The best and the worst learning experience. 
Write down two pluses and two minuses of the best and worst learning experience you ever had. 
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Share your answer. 

Task no.2

Evidence verified by: one activity organiser

TASK 2: RIVER OF LEARNING 
Look back over your lives and think about times or events where you really felt you learnt something. The result of this reflection should end up on the paper using the metaphor of a river. Share your liver of learning with us (attach the picture) and your reflections: 
How was it to use the metaphor for your learning?
What was challenging in finding your most important learning moments?
Was there anything surprising in your personal reflection?

Task no.3

Evidence verified by: one activity organiser

TASK 3: Using Learning to learn.
Write down what are the three most important topics/experiences that you can use daily for yourself to be a better (self-directed) learner?

Task no.4

Evidence verified by: one activity organiser

TASK 4: Reflection 
Write down what gift did you receive going through this learning to learn activity? (A word/or a sentence)  

Skills

ESCO

#able to use learning strategies

Personal development

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Time to complete: 1 hour 30 minutes

Organisers

TiPovej!

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