Learning is an act of making effort to know something that is known to others already. When we say we learn something new, it means that "something" is new only to us and not to others. So since others knew it already we learn from them by asking them, by listening to their lectures, by reading their books as well as their papers and so on.
Researching, on the other hand, is about making some effort to know something that is yet to be known to anybody. To research means to venture into the unknown and if we succeed, we would then call our success discovery or breakthrough. When we say we have researched and discovered something new, it means that "something" is new to everybody, new to the whole human race. And, as opposed to learning, we are basically alone in our research; alone as a self or alone as a team.
But remember, we must learn first before we research.
Else, how do we know what others don't know?
Else, how can we have the capacity that others dont have (which lacking of it is what had cause them to fail in their effort in the first place)?
Failure in making the distinction between "learning" and "researching" what leads us astray in our scientific works and worst, is what keeps us in the state of denial.
Finally, remember also, be with our "teachers" first (not only our immediate teachers, but teachers as in the authors of the books of our fields for example, as for me they would be Timoshenko, Zienkiwich, Reddy, Bathe, Nethercot amongst others) before we step into the unknown.
REMEMBER, LEARN FIRST THEN RESEARCH.
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