Love of Learning: Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether on one’s own or formally; obviously related to the strength of curiosity but goes beyond it to describe the tendency to add systematically to what one knows (Source: VIA Institute) Love of learning describes the way in which a person engages new information and skills. Love of learning is a strength that teachers would like to see in their students, parents want to encourage in their children, therapists support in their clients, and employers try to foster in their employees. It has important motivational consequences because it helps people persist through challenges, setbacks and negative feedback. Learn more at Via Institute on Character The Noel Strengths Academy defines it this way: •  Love of Learning is indicated by the frequent mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge •  Learning on one’s own or through a formal process of instruction •  Related to the strength of curiosity, but goes further to describe the tendency to systematically add to what one knows •  In touch with one’s best time, place, and way of learning •  Eager to share what is being learned with others

Yes, strengths can be overused…or underused

• Underuse: Complacency
• Overuse: Know-it-all-ism

Key Research:

• Rank order of Love of Learning in populations from:
  • US : 12;
  • European: 7
  • Asia: 12
  • Latin America: 13
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: 16
  • Middle east: 17
• The character strengths least related to life satisfaction (weak association) are modesty/humility, creativity, appreciation of beauty & excellence, judgment, and love of learning (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004).
• A study of strengths under the virtue of wisdom (creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective) found them to be related to higher performance on a creative task and negatively related to stress (Avey et al., 2012).
• Top 10 (rank order) strengths expressed at work: honesty, judgment, perspective, fairness, perseverance, love of learning, leadership, zest, curiosity, social intelligence.

Essay on the Love of Learning from  David McCullough.

Put into action the recommendations from  the Authentic Happiness Coaching Newsletter on Love of Learning

• Take a class just for fun (cooking, yoga, auto mechanics, astronomy, etc.)
• Go to an online search engine like Ask Jeeves, ask a question, and explore sites you never otherwise would have discovered.
• Every day, read a chapter of a book just for fun.
• Decide to become an expert in a specialized topic and begin collecting (and reading) books on the subject.
• Every weekend, discover a new area of your neighborhood, town, or city.
• Subscribe to a newspaper or a periodical of special interest.
• Join an internet discussion group devoted to a topic that you think might be interesting.

Tayyab Rashid and Afroze Anjum offer 340 Ways to Use VIA Character Strengths including these four for Love of Learning:

1. Visit a new museum every month and write about new things you learned. Bring a friend or family member and listen to their impressions of the trip.
2. Read a non-fiction book monthly on a topic you find absorbing and engaging. Find others who share your interest and swap books after finishing.
3. Read and research about a topic by visiting the library at least once a week. Write one page of pragmatic ideas that can advance that field and discuss them with someone who shares your interest.
4. Arrange a teach-learn date with a friend, learn a skill, and teach what you are best at. Try to find a friend with very different interests so that you are exposed to something totally new.

• • Essay on the Love of Learning from  David McCullough.

• The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance–Josh Waitzkin

Learn about how you learn

There are many different approaches to learning styles. Explore a few:

VARK Questionnaire (Neil Fleming)

• • • Short and reliable. Results are in terms of Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Multimodals.
    • Read the FAQs before you begin to better understand the approach of the survey. Then click on Questionnaire to discover your learning preferences. It is easiest to print the score sheet from the site.
    • After completing the survey, you will calculate the results. Follow directions carefully.
    • An explanation of your particular learning style and tips for applying this information to your college studies are found under Descriptions.

Information for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners can be found at the following sites.

Learning Styles: Learn Effectively by Understanding Your Learning Preferences (Mind Tools) This web site is a bit distracting, but the information includes other types of learners which you may want to look at. Print the handout if the site bothers you.

Index of Learning Styles This on-line instrument is used to assess preferences on four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global). (North Carolina State University)

Read the introductory information, check out the FAQs, the click onILS questionnaire. To interpret your assessment results, click onDescriptions of the learning styles.

 

Paragon Learning Style Inventory A 48-item self-administered survey that provides a very reliable indication of learning style and cognitive preference. It uses the four Jungian dimensions (i.e., introversion/ extroversion, intuition/sensation, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving). (CSULA and State University of New York at Oswego)

• • Click on Take the PLSI. Follow the directions carefully. Upon completion, click on Your Score.
  • For interpretation of your results, click on Descriptions.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences This is not a survey. You will find information about multiple intelligences, an important theory that impacts education today. From reading the descriptions, you will be able to determine your strengths, that is, your different forms of intelligence.

The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance [Paperback]

Josh Waitzkin

VARK Questionnaire (Neil Fleming)

• • • Short and reliable. Results are in terms of Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Multimodals.
    • Read the FAQs before you begin to better understand the approach of the survey. Then click on Questionnaire to discover your learning preferences. It is easiest to print the score sheet from the site.
    • After completing the survey, you will calculate the results. Follow directions carefully.
    • An explanation of your particular learning style and tips for applying this information to your college studies are found under Descriptions.

Information for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners can be found at the following sites.

Learning Styles: Learn Effectively by Understanding Your Learning Preferences (Mind Tools) This web site is a bit distracting, but the information includes other types of learners which you may want to look at. Print the handout if the site bothers you.

Index of Learning Styles This on-line instrument is used to assess preferences on four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global). (North Carolina State University)

Read the introductory information, check out the FAQs, the click onILS questionnaire. To interpret your assessment results, click onDescriptions of the learning styles.

Paragon Learning Style Inventory A 48-item self-administered survey that provides a very reliable indication of learning style and cognitive preference. It uses the four Jungian dimensions (i.e., introversion/ extroversion, intuition/sensation, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving). (CSULA and State University of New York at Oswego)

• • Click on Take the PLSI. Follow the directions carefully. Upon completion, click on Your Score.
  • For interpretation of your results, click on Descriptions.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences This is not a survey. You will find information about multiple intelligences, an important theory that impacts education today. From reading the descriptions, you will be able to determine your strengths, that is, your different forms of intelligence.