What is Thought?

“Cogito ergo sum.” This famous Latin phrase comes from French philosopher René Descartes in the early 1600s. Translated into English, it means “I think, therefore I am.” It’s actually a profound philosophical idea, and people have argued about it for centuries: we exist, and we are aware that we exist because we think. Without thought or the ability to think, we don’t exist. Do you agree? Even if you think Descartes got it wrong, most would say that thought is intimately connected to being human and that, as humans, we are all thinking beings.

What, then, are thinking and thought? Below are some basic working definitions:

• Thinking is the mental process you use to form associations and models of the world. When you think, you manipulate information to form concepts, engage in problem-solving, reason, and make decisions.

• Thought can be described as the act of thinking that produces thoughts, which arise as ideas, images, sounds, or even emotions.

Many great thinkers and theorists have dedicated their lives to the study of thought, trying to understand exactly how humans receive, absorb, generate, and transmit thought—and also how they learn. One such thinker was Benjamin Bloom, an American educational psychologist who was particularly interested in how people learn. In 1956, Dr. Bloom chaired a committee of educators that developed and classified a set of learning objectives, which came to be known as Bloom’s taxonomy. This classification system has been updated a little since it was first developed, but it remains important for both students and teachers in helping to understand the skills and structures involved in learning.

What Are Learning Objectives?

What exactly are learning objectives? You may have already noticed them listed throughout your courses' syllabi. Learning objectives are goals that specify what someone will know, care about, or be able to do as a result of a learning experience. These learning skills can be divided into three main categories or “domains”: 

• the Cognitive domain (what you should know)

• the Affective domain (what you should care about)

• the Psychomotor domain (what you should be able to do).

Since this section of the course is focused on patterns of thought, we’ll cover the cognitive domain of learning.

The Learning Process

Many of us are accustomed to very traditional learning styles due to our experience as K–12 students. For instance, we can all remember listening to a teacher talk and copying notes off the chalkboard. In the college setting, you’ll discover that instructors teach their course materials according to the method they think will be most effective for all students. Thus, regardless of your individual learning preference, you will be asked to engage in all types of learning. For instance, even though you consider yourself to be a “visual learner,” you will still probably have to write papers in some of your classes. Research suggests that it’s good for the brain to learn in new ways and that learning in different modalities can help learners become more well-rounded. 

Consider the following statistics on how much content students absorb through different learning methods:

• 10 percent of content they read

• 20 percent of content they hear

• 30 percent of content they visualize

• 50 percent of what they both visualize and hear

• 70 percent of what they say

• 90 percent of what they say and do

The range of these results underscores the importance of mixing up the ways in which you study and engage with learning materials.

Next, consider experiences you’ve had with learning something new, such as learning to tie your shoes or drive a car. You probably began by showing interest in the process, and after some struggling, it became second nature. These experiences were all part of the learning process, which are known as the Four Stages of Competence:

• Writing assignments: Instructors may ask students to write short reaction papers or journal entries about lessons or reading assignments. The course you're in now, PDV 101, uses this activity style and class discussions extensively. The purpose is to help you review and reflect on what you've just learned so that hopefully you understand and remember the material. It's also a way to communicate questions and concerns about the material to your instructors.

• Student-led teaching: Many instructors believe that a true test of whether students understand concepts is being able to teach the material to others. For that reason, instructors will sometimes have students work in groups, research a topic or review assigned readings, and then prepare a mini-presentation and teach it to the rest of the class. This activity can help students feel more accountable for their learning and work harder since classmates will be relying on them.

Active Learning on Your Own

Many instructors conduct their classes mainly through lectures. The lecture remains the most pervasive teaching format across the field of education. One reason is that the lecture is an efficient way for the instructor to control the content, organization, and pace of a presentation, particularly in a large group. However, there are drawbacks to this “information-transfer” approach, where the instructor does all the talking and the students quietly listen: Students have a hard time paying attention from start to finish—the mind wanders. Also, current cognitive science research shows that adult learners need an opportunity to practice newfound skills and newly introduced content. Lectures can set the stage for that interaction or practice, but lectures alone don’t foster student mastery. While instructors typically speak 100–200 words per minute, students hear only 50–100 of them. Moreover, studies show that students retain 70 percent of what they hear during the first ten minutes of class and only 20 percent of what they hear during the last ten minutes of class.

Thus, it is especially important for students in lecture-based courses to engage in active learning outside of the classroom. But it’s also true for other kinds of college courses, including the ones with active learning opportunities in class. Why? Because college students spend more time working (and learning) independently and less time in the classroom with the instructor and peers. Also, much of one’s coursework consists of reading and writing assignments.

So how can these learning activities be active? The following are very effective strategies to help you be more engaged with and get more out of the learning you do outside the classroom:

• Write in your books: You can underline and circle key terms or write questions and comments in the margins of your books. The writing serves as a visual aid for studying and makes it easier for you to remember what you’ve read or what you’d like to discuss in class. If you are borrowing a book or want to keep it unmarked so you can resell it later, try writing keywords and notes on Post-its and sticking them on the relevant pages.

• Annotate a text: Annotations typically mean writing a brief summary of a text and recording the works-cited information (title, author, publisher, etc.). This is a great way to “digest” and evaluate the sources you’re collecting for a research paper, but it’s also invaluable for shorter assignments and texts since it requires you to actively think and write about what you read.