ABSTRACT
The first item on Chart 1 outlines the focus or phenomenon that has fascinated me for the last ten years or so. I have called it a learning project, but what I suggest in parentheses would be an even more accurate title — a major learning effort. The focus is on people trying to learn, trying to change. People of course learn without trying, but that is not what I’m looking at. What I suggest that we look at is highly deliberate effort; we define that as effort where more than half of the person’s total motivation had to be learning and retaining certain definite knowledge or skill — so that less than half of the person’s motivation can be pleasure or enjoyment. Learning Projects
A learning project (major learning effort):
highly deliberate effort
to gain and retain certain definite knowledge and skill
clear focus
at least 7 hours
Populations surveyed:
Toronto: pre-school mothers; elementary school teachers; lower white-collar women and men; factory workers; municipal politicians; social science professors; unemployed men; IBM salesmen; professional men; 16-year-olds and 10-year-olds
Vancouver: members of public employees’ union
Syracuse: suburban housewives
Tennessee: large rural and urban populations
Nebraska: adults over 55
Fort Lauderdale: adults who recently completed high school
Atlanta: pharmacists
Kentucky: parish ministers
West Africa (Accra, Ghana): secondary school teachers; bank officers; department store executives
New Zealand: several North Island populations
A middle or median person:
conducts 8 different learning projects in one year
spends a total of 700 hours altogether at them
Who plans the learning efforts from one session to the next?
the learner: 68%
a group or its leader/instructor: 12%
a pro or friend in a one-to-one situation: 8%
a nonhuman resource (records, TV, etc.): 3%
mixed (no dominant planner): 9%
Out of 100 learning projects, 19 are planned by a professional educator and 81 by an amateur.
Most common motivation: some anticipated use or application of the knowledge and skill.
Less common: curiosity or puzzlement, or wanting to possess the knowledge for its own sake.
Rare (less than 1% of all learning efforts): credit.
