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I am looking for a word that means learning how to learn. I think it may be 'epistemic' or 'epistemological', but looking these up in the dictionary, they do not seem quite right.

The context is in a statement like this:

But high school already teaches students how to use a library, and how to research on the Internet, or how to phrase questions to get the answer they are looking for. In fact, high school teaches these _______ skills in droves. High school doesn't need to teach skills like how to do taxes or cook spaghetti to prepare students for real life, when they should have all the resources they already need to learn those skills on their own when they need to.

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    There's nothing that "does not seem quite right" about looking up in the dictionary -- go ahead, and do it, now. Good Luck.
    – Kris
    May 24, 2018 at 9:21
  • Using a library, researching on the Internet, or phrasing appropriate questions is not "learning", nor epistemology it is.
    – Kris
    May 24, 2018 at 9:24
  • Funny, yes I worded that wrong, Looking these up in the dictionary and the definition does not seem quite what I wanted.
    – Registered User
    May 25, 2018 at 6:32
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    in droves is a mistake in your sentence.
    – Lambie
    May 17 at 15:41

5 Answers 5

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In the given context, you could say the school teaches research skills:

Some examples of research skills that you may have include:

  • Report writing
  • Analysing lots of information from different sources
  • Finding information off the internet
  • Critical thinking

Research Skills - TheBigChoice

Related is the idea of study skills which is more about studying information you already have than finding it.

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  • But wait. Let the OP be clear about what exactly is the idea in the first place.
    – Kris
    May 24, 2018 at 9:25
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"But high school already teaches students how to use a library, and how to research on the Internet, or how to phrase questions to get the answer they are looking for. In fact, high school teaches these societal labeled fundamental skills in droves. High school doesn't need to teach skills like how to do taxes or cook spaghetti to prepare students for real life, when they should have all the resources they already need to learn those skills on their own when they need to."

It depends on the viewpoint and subject of which you are mentally ingesting. Knowledge has two parts giver and receiver; fundamentally speaking.

But when we step aside the framework from which we live we find ourselves enaboring a grander much deeper level of understanding imposed and based upon perspective.

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  • I like "fundamental", not so much "societal labelled". It may be accurate but it feels cumbersome. Maybe "fundamental learning skills"? Also, you could use bold to make your contribution more obvious than italics.
    – Pam
    May 24, 2018 at 7:07
  • I agree, I went for brevity in hopes of maintaining an overall concise definition.
    – theRaven
    May 24, 2018 at 7:11
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"In fact, high school teaches these methodological skills in droves."

of or relating to method or methodology:

a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline : a particular procedure or set of procedures · demonstrating library research methodology

the analysis of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field

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Metacognition, being aware of your own learning process and decide what works for you.

Wikipedia gives:

Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them.

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    – Community Bot
    May 17 at 15:35
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Heuristic

That was the word I wanted.

A heuristic technique (/hjʊəˈrɪstɪk/; Ancient Greek: εὑρίσκω, "find" or "discover"), often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals.

The actual definition of the word I was actually looking for is a little different from said word. But it is the word I wanted to use but couldn't recall.

"But high school already teaches students how to use a library, and how to research on the Internet, or how to phrase questions to get the answer they are looking for. In fact, high school teaches heuristics in droves. High school doesn't need to teach skills like how to do taxes or cook spaghetti to prepare students for real life, when they should have all the resources they already need to learn those skills on their own when they need to."

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  • I don't find that this word captures "learning how to learn" at all. A heuristic is simply a "rule of thumb", an approach to doing something that's pretty good but not optimal. The phrase as you've used it here implies that high school teaches you lots of rules of thumb about specific problems like library use or performing research, not that high school teaches you how to learn things. Learning a heuristic is learning a generally applicable approach to doing something, not learning how to learn.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    May 17 at 16:10

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