This is part of the seven-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). In Episode 11, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks closes the series by showing you how to move beyond short-term studying and build learning that transfers—into new classes, new problems, and real-life decision-making. You’ll learn how to recognize whether you truly understand something (or just recognize it), how to turn knowledge into usable skill through practice and reflection, and how to protect your confidence when struggle shows up again. This episode also ties the full method together—learning as a process shaped by your lived experience, language, and cultural context—so you can keep improving without comparing your “learning room” to anyone else’s. You’ll leave with a simple long-term plan to keep learning on purpose.

Audience

• High school and college students who want learning that lasts beyond the test

• First-generation college students building long-term academic confidence

• Struggling learners who want to stop the cram–forget cycle

• Adult learners returning to school or skill training

• Students preparing for cumulative finals, certification exams, or next-level courses

• Learners who want to connect school learning to real-life goals and identity

  
  

  Keywords

  • Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition)

  • learning transfer

  • learn on purpose

  • study strategies

  • deep learning

  • metacognition

  • Bloom’s Taxonomy

  • active recall

  • retrieval practice

  • long-term retention

  • academic confidence

  • struggling learners

  • first-generation students

  • learning habits

  • student success

This is part 6 of the 7-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). In Episode 10, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks helps you turn everything from the series into one simple, repeatable learning system you can use for any subject—especially when motivation is low, and pressure is high. You’ll learn how to diagnose what you actually need (using Bloom’s), choose the right study move for the right phase, and build a short daily routine that creates progress without burnout. This episode also shows how your lived experience, language, and cultural context shape how information “fits” in your mind—so your learning system is built for you, not copied from someone else. By the end, you’ll have a practical method for studying with purpose, tracking what’s working, and building confidence through consistency.

Audience:

• High school and college students who want a simple, repeatable way to study

• First-generation college students building independence and confidence

• Struggling learners who need structure more than motivation

• Adult learners returning to school or professional training

• Students managing heavy course loads, athletics, work, or family responsibilities

• Learners preparing for finals, cumulative exams, or long-term skill building

  
  

  Keywords:

• Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition)

• learning system

• how to study effectively

• study routine

• Bloom’s Taxonomy

• metacognition

• active recall

• retrieval practice

• study plan

• academic confidence

• struggling learners

• first-generation students

• time management for students

• exam preparation

• learning strategies

This is part 5 of the 7-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). In Episode 5, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks breaks down what’s really happening when you feel behind, stuck, or like nothing is clicking—especially under time pressure. You’ll learn the most common sources of learning delays (missing foundations, stress and anxiety, overloaded schedules, unclear instruction, and life responsibilities) and how to respond with a plan instead of self-blame. This episode gives you practical tools for diagnosing the type of delay you’re experiencing, choosing the right Bloom level to restart from, and building a short recovery routine you can use to catch up—without cramming, quitting, or spiraling.

Audience

• High school and college students who feel behind or overwhelmed

• First-generation college students balancing school, work, and family responsibilities

• Struggling learners who experience anxiety, shutdown, or avoidance when work piles up

• Adult learners returning to school while managing busy lives

• Students preparing for midterms/finals or recovering from low grades

• Learners who want a catch-up plan that is realistic and repeatable

  
  

  Keyword:

• Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition)

• learning delays

• how to catch up in school

• study recovery plan

• academic overwhelm

• test anxiety

• procrastination help

• time management for students

• study strategies

• Bloom’s Taxonomy

• active learning

• struggling learners

• first-generation students

• academic confidence

• exam preparation

This is part 4 of the 7-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). In Episode 8, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks turns Bloom’s Taxonomy into a practical toolkit you can use immediately. Instead of studying the same way for every class, you’ll learn simple strategies matched to each phase of learning—Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create—so you always know what to do next when content isn’t clicking. This episode breaks down how to move from recall to real understanding, how to practice application without burnout, and how to build higher-order thinking step by step. You’ll leave with a clear, repeatable process for studying that works across subjects and helps you learn with purpose—not panic.

Audience

• High school and college students who want practical study routines

• First-generation college students building academic confidence

• Struggling learners who feel overwhelmed or “don’t know how to study”

• Adult learners returning to school or professional training

• Students in STEM and reading/writing-heavy courses

• Learners preparing for midterms, finals, and high-stakes exams

  
  

  Keywords:

• Bloom’s Taxonomy strategies

• study skills

• how to study

• active recall

• retrieval practice

• learning strategies

• exam preparation

• applying vs memorizing

• critical thinking

• metacognition

• struggling learners

• first-generation students

• study routine

• learning process

• academic confidence

This is part 3 of the 7-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). Most people don’t struggle because they’re “not smart”—they struggle because they study in a way that doesn’t match what the task requires. In Episode 7, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks introduces Bloom’s Taxonomy as a practical learning map you can use to diagnose where you’re stuck: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, or creating. You’ll learn how to tell the difference between “I don’t remember it” and “I don’t understand it,” why many learners get trapped in memorization, and how cultural context and lived experience shape what feels familiar—or confusing—when new information comes in. By the end, you’ll have a simple method for choosing the right study move based on the Bloom level you actually need.

Audience

• High school and college students who feel stuck despite studying

• First-generation college students building study skills

• Struggling learners who confuse memorization with understanding

• Adult learners returning to school or career training

• Students in lecture-heavy courses and problem-solving courses

• Learners preparing for exams, finals, or high-stakes assessments

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  Keywords:

  Bloom’s Taxonomy, how to study smarter, learning map, study strategies, active learning, remembering vs understanding, applying knowledge, higher-order thinking, critical thinking skills, exam preparation, learning process, cultural context of learning, first-generation students, struggling learners

This is part 2 of the 7-part series, Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). Many learners think studying means memorizing—and then feel frustrated when the information disappears during a test or can’t be used in real problems. In Episode 6, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks breaks down the difference between memorization and learning, why memorization can be useful (and where it fails), and how to build understanding you can apply. You’ll also learn the four common reasons memorization feels difficult—cognitive factors, environment and lifestyle, underlying conditions, and study habits—and what to do about each. By the end, you’ll have a practical, repeatable approach: memorize the basics, then turn them into learning through explanation, examples, and application.

Audience

• College and High school students

• First-generation college students, student-atheletes, and re-turning students

• Struggling learners who feel “behind” or doubt their ability

• Adult learners returning to school or training programs

• Learners who rely on cramming, rereading, or last-minute studying

• Students in content-heavy courses (psychology, biology, history) and problem-solving courses (math, chemistry, statistics)

  Keywords: memorization vs learning, how to study effectively, Bloom’s Taxonomy, active recall, retrieval practice, deep understanding, test preparation, study habits, learning strategies, cognitive load, test anxiety, first-generation students, struggling learners, long-term retention, applying knowledge.

This is part 1 of the 7-part series of Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition). In this foundational episode, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks explains why learning naturally feels difficult—and why that struggle is not a sign that something is wrong with you. Using a simple “mental storage room” metaphor, you’ll learn how the brain tries to fit new information into what you already know, why confusion and delay are normal, and how lived experience, language, and cultural context shape what feels familiar or unfamiliar when you’re learning. This episode sets the foundation for the series by giving you a clear way to understand the learning process and a starting set of techniques to guide your studying with purpose, not self-blame.

Audience

• High school and college students who feel overwhelmed, stuck, or “not smart enough”

• First-generation college students building confidence and study habits

• Struggling learners who experience anxiety or shutdown when content gets hard

• Adult learners returning to school or career training

• Students who want a simple explanation of how learning works (without jargon)

• Learners who want practical tools to study more effectively

  
  

  Keywords:

  • Learning Is a Struggle (Learner Edition)

  • why learning is hard

  • how the brain learns

  • study skills

  • learning strategies

  • academic confidence

  • struggling learners

  • first-generation students

  • cultural context of learning

  • metacognition

  • productive struggle

  • learning process

  • student motivation

  • how to study effectively

  • learner mindset

In this episode of The Cultural Context of Knowledge, host Donald Easton Brooks challenges one of the most common assumptions in education: that STEM is neutral. If we say “math is objective” and “data speaks for itself,” what gets hidden is the cultural design of many STEM classrooms—speed, linear reasoning, abstraction-first instruction, individual performance, and language-heavy explanations. These norms are not universal; they are traditions that have been normalized as intelligence.

This is not a call to lower standards or add “culture” as an extra layer. It is a redesign challenge: how do we build STEM learning where rigor is not confused with restriction, and where students don’t have to earn belonging before they can learn? You’ll leave with concrete redesign moves—starting with real-world systems before formal notation, widening how students can show reasoning, and rethinking assessments that measure familiarity and speed more than understanding.

In this episode of The Cultural Context of Knowledge, host Donald Easton-Brooks asks a foundational question most schools rarely name: What counts as knowledge—and who gets to decide? Moving beyond the myth that curriculum and assessment are neutral, this episode examines how knowledge is shaped by history, culture, and power, and how “standard” definitions of intelligence can privilege some ways of knowing while marginalizing others.

You’ll be introduced to key ideas, including epistemology, master narratives, sociocultural learning theory, and Funds of Knowledge, with clear connections to everyday classroom practice. The episode also explores Community Cultural Wealth and the consequences of misrecognition—the hidden “tax” students pay when they must constantly translate their identities and reasoning to be seen as capable. The closing challenge is practical and urgent: redesign learning so schools stop asking, “How do we fix students?” and start asking, “How do our systems fail to recognize what students already know?” This is an episode for educators, leaders, and learners committed to rigor, equity, and meaningful learning.

In this episode of Cultural Context of Knowledge, Dr. Donald Easton-Brooks compares Episode 1's use of NotebookLM with his narrated work to examine the central truth about learning: genuine learning is a productive struggle that moves us from uncertainty to understanding through a sequence of steps. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a frame, the episode explains why foundational concepts must be built before higher-order analysis and creation are possible, and why AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can become harmful when they encourage “sequence-skipping.” The conversation then extends beyond process into purpose, connecting AI-supported learning to the cultural context of knowledge: how history, lived experience, dominant narratives, and “whose knowledge counts” shape what we understand and how we interpret it. Educators and learners will leave with practical guidance for using AI as a scaffold that strengthens learning, supports inquiry, and remains culturally responsive, rather than replacing the struggle that makes understanding durable.