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Critical in both engaged and worthwhile learning are the opportunities students have to be involved in a range
of what we call "learning actions." Learning actions are processes or behaviors all learners can employ across
all learning situations. Involvement in a range of actions can (a) help students learn authentic but different
approaches inherent in various disciplines; (b) allow students to choose actions that fit their learning style
preferences; (c) encourage students to understand content from different perspectives; and (d) learn, use, and
eventually "own" new strategies for learning, thinking, and sharing their knowledge.
We have developed four categories of learning actions. The Learning Actions chart on page 27 lists these
categories and the specific actions that tend to fall into them. Discussions of learning actions are infused into
the sections on student roles and tasks.
Learning Actions
Learning actions are processes or behaviors that learners engage in across learning situations. You can use
this list as a guide for lesson and unit planning so that you can ensure your lessons support the kinds of
actions you and your students consider important for the lesson's goals, topics, concepts, and content. The list
is a reminder of the range of learning actions that promote engaged and worthwhile learning.
Build Knowledge and Skills
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Explore and Collect Information. Students browse, search, explore, and obtain information from around
the world.
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Make Connections. Students make connections to prior knowledge and experiences.
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Retain Information.Students deliberately remember information, ideas, strategies, and skills.
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Reflect and Reason, Analyze Information, and Evaluate Information. Students ponder issues, problems,
and ideas; deliberate; reason inductively and deductively; draw conclusions from evidence; chart, compare,
examine, perform statistical analyses, and look for inconsistencies to reach conclusions, make decisions,
solve problems, and plan and execute experiments; and judge the value of information.
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Manipulate and Organize Information. Students summarize, transform, and convert information; and
organize information logically in order to remember, analyze, and discover existing, new, or different
relationships within and across disciplines.
©1997-99 North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
1-800-356-2735 NCRTEC
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