Learning Life: The Path to Academic Success and Personal Happiness - Softcover

Burke, Dr. Adam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0963396188 ISBN 13: 9780963396181

Publisher: Rainor Media, 2015

Synopsis

"I don't know how to do that yet, but I will learn."

Learning is a process -- going from not knowing to knowing, from not being able to do to being able to do. The reason people do not know, cannot do, is because they never learned how, or they were shown the wrong way. In addition to simply lacking instruction, individuals may also acquire self-imposed barriers to learning -- ''I am not good at that" -- sometimes because they 'failed' on their first try.

Learning Life provides a systematic way to shift those root causes, a process to make the adventure of learning and success more efficient and more effective. The text is comprised of four sections -- Foundations, Learning Strategies, Life Skills, and Applications. The Foundations are a unique aspect of this text, a holistic approach to learning developed over many years of classroom instruction. This section of the text consists of three core elements -- mindful awareness to cultivate attention and memory; clear goals and mental imagery to reinforce goal-oriented action and positive expectation; and a quality/continual improvement perspective.

The second section, Learning Strategies, provides a model of learning and a palette of techniques to optimize all aspects of academic success. Having the right approach makes the world of difference. The third section focuses on specific Life Skills that are essential for success in human environments, from the home, to the office, to the planet. These include emotional literacy, time and stress management, decision-making, and habit change. The final section looks at Applications in the areas of work, relationships, health, finances and civic engagement.

The text emphasizes self-reflection, problem solving, use of data/feedback, and making constructive changes. It is about building an effective life. Ultimately the information and skills are applied in an active research format, based on a learning-by-doing orientation, which focuses on a personal change process related to academic/life success.

Learning Life is the product of working with real students making real changes in their lives, significant changes. This is not a rehash of all the old ideas. This is a systematic, fresh approach to student achievement. We can all learn, and knowing how, having an effective strategy, is a game changer. Learning Life provides that path.

About this title

About the Author

Adam Burke, PhD, MPH, LAc Adam Burke is a Professor in the department of Health Education and the Director of the Institute for Holistic Health Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU). He holds advanced degrees in the social/behavioral sciences from UCLA and the University of California Santa Cruz, as well as being trained as an acupuncturist in San Francisco and in Sichuan, China. He is the author of numerous articles and books with research interests in the areas of student achievement, meditation and imagery, and traditional medicine. His most recent work, Learning Life, is the product of over 20 years of thinking about and working with strategies, research findings, best practices, and personal reflection and practice, to help students do better in school and in life, no matter who they are or where they start.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rainor Media
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0963396188
• ISBN 13: 9780963396181
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 378