image: Cover of "Strategic Learning: A Holistic Approach to Studying". view more
Credit: World Scientific
Most of Professor Robert Kamei’s NUS students have always just relied on their natural abilities to learn. They have never thought a moment about learning, and they’ve just done what felt right for them. And while their practices have usually served them well, they were still surprised how much more there was to do to optimize their study. They were especially interested in discovering what they thought was good learning practice had been scientifically proven to be the opposite.” He added, “My NUS students would learn much more if they worked more strategically.”
The former founding vice-dean of education at Duke-NUS Medical School, has written a book based on his popular National University of Singapore undergraduate course, “Strategic Learning.” The last time the course was offered, it enrolled more than 900 students, prompting Prof Kamei to share his ideas in a book. “The book allows me to reach out and provide help to even more students than the ones taking my course,” Prof Kamei said.
Most "how to learn" books focus only on presenting study techniques. Strategic Learning: A Holistic Approach to Studying goes beyond this. An unusual feature of the book is its emphasis on how to make the actual changes that improve your learning.
In addition, Prof Kamei draws on his background as a medical doctor and a professor in NUS’ Yong Loo Lin Medical School for his holistic approach. “For example, most students can get better grades by improving their sleep habits. It isn’t all about just working harder,” he said.
To guide and motivate readers, Professor Kamei includes some personal stories so that the reader knows that the path to academic success is never smooth and not due to natural gifts alone. He details his difficulties with learning Japanese in the US.
“I made the mistake of approaching my Japanese language class in college in the same way that I approached my biology courses. It was a disaster! Language classes were hard for me, and I did poorly, in part because I didn’t have a good learning strategy solidly in place. I didn’t know enough at the time to plan more carefully for how to study this different subject. And when my study strategy wasn’t working, I didn’t think to ask for help and try to change my plans. Instead, I just tried to work harder,” he writes in the book.
Strategic Learning: A Holistic Approach to Studying retails for US$28 / £25 (paperback) and US$58 / £50 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12001.
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About the Author
Robert K Kamei is a Professor at National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, and a tenured faculty member at Duke University. He was Associate Provost (Education) at NUS from July 2016 to 2019. He served from 2006 to 2016 as the founding Vice-Dean (Education) at Duke-NUS Medical School, a collaboration between Duke University and the National University of Singapore (NUS). In that role, he led the development of a new pedagogical approach that served as a model for curriculum change at Duke University Medical School, USA, and other schools in Singapore and worldwide.
A paediatrician by training, his career has been devoted to medical education and the learning sciences. At the University of California, San Francisco, he directed one of the largest paediatric training programs in the United States (1989–2006). During that time, he also co-edited the popular reference textbook, Fundamentals of Pediatrics, with Dr Abraham Rudolph.
Professor Kamei holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his paediatric training at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, he served as a United States Fulbright Senior Scholar in Indonesia. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Outstanding Educator in Residence Award given by the Singapore Ministry of Education. He is a third-generation Japanese-American and has two children; his son is a venture capitalist in New York, and his daughter is a university student in British Columbia, Canada.
About World Scientific Publishing Co.
World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 140 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.
For more information, contact Amanda at heyun@wspc.com.