I think this is an interesting topic in the world of accelerated learning. Most people learn by trial and error. They really have not formal education on how to learn. The question is, “is learning a skill like everything else that can be taught?”
One of the more interesting ways to learn how to learn is to try to teach something. When you do this, you have to struggle with why others aren’t learning what you’re teaching or it doesn’t stick very long.
Part of it is understanding your own learning style so you can productively work on learning something. For example, I know people who need to write things down to understand and remember something while others need to actually see a demonstration. So if this isn’t part of the way the teacher teaches than can you translate it for yourself.
I also think there are a lot of trick and techniques for things like taking tests, writing papers and even studying. They aren’t always one size fits all, but they’re a start. I remember when I was in school that there were two types of kids that got good grades. One group that really studied hard and spent a lot of time going over things. The other group didn’t study much at all but seem to do well. I think they knew something the other kids didn’t. Because of the school I went to, you can rule out difference in IQs or even social background. They were very similar and at the higher end.
My guess is that one group did things the hard way and the other group had learned how to learn.
This is a great post in that you mention that learning is not the same or as easy for everyone. Teachers often attempt to provide students with a number of learning methods/means to put in their learning “toolboxes,” and then the students may choose the method making the learning the easiest.
I tend to write things down and visualize processes, though many of my students use quite a variety of methods. I find it fun to create mneumonic/mnemonic devices like HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) for the Great Lakes and the like. 🙂