How to 🙇♀️ Learn
Learning how to learn can help in many areas of life. Don't just follow interests but broaden them by being open to learning new things. Learning How to Learn is one of the best learning courses available and this is a summary of some of the techniques and strategies the course covers.
Beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away. B.B. King.
Brains employ two thinking modes of thinking when problems solving: focused and diffuse. Much of the learning process occurs during the focused mode of thinking while the diffuse mode mind wanders freely.
Learning complex skills requires both modes working together. Master the details in focused mode, then comprehend how everything fits together in diffuse mode — drawing connections between concepts.
Remaining in focused mode too long sees diminished returns in thinking, energy and productivity so work in intense, focused bursts. After, exercise, walk, read etc., things physically absorbing and mentally freeing.
The four slots of working memory are found in the prefrontal lobes. When focussed attention is occurring it's like octopus arms sliding through these slots helping make connections to information in various parts of brain.
Cf. diffuse mode's random connections. Anger, stress etc., stop the octopus' connections so it's hard to make decisions, be productive etc.
- Priming
- Use headings/sections/TOC to glance over the chapter or section to get a sense of what it’s about.
- Skim chapters first for visual structure/outline as a mental primer. This helps the brain to build new concepts into larger contextual & semantic structures, increasing efficiency in learning.
- Using priming as a repetition technique increases verbal fluency.
Learning is not a race — gradual effort trains brain.
- Recall
- Close page/section/chpt — look away & recite, recall the main ideas.
- Try recalling when walking or in a different room from where originally learnt.
- The ability to recall — to generate the ideas from within — is one of the key indicators of good learning.
- Review Notes & Reflect
- Self-testing can add small chunks to memory to help understanding. Writing things out helps you learn as does saying it out loud. Saying the word and its meaning out loud helps — before sleep and upon rising.
- Make recall a habit. Then,
- Test
- Everything — all the time. Flash cards are your friend.
- Test at end of page, section, chapter.
- Memorise Understood Things
- Master each chunk to complete the bigger picture …
- - *First*, prime brain by surveying content, eg., TOC.
- - *Second*, observe an example, such as a video.
- - *Third*, do it yourself to consolidate knowledge.
- Chunk Problems
- Understanding & practicing with a problem solution so that it can all come to mind in a flash.
- After a problem is solved, *rehearse it — repeatedly. Make sure you can solve it cold — every step. Learn to play it over & over again in your mind, so the information combines into one smooth chunk retrievable whenever you want.
- After a problem is solved, *rehearse it — repeatedly. Make sure you can solve it cold — every step. Learn to play it over & over again in your mind, so the information combines into one smooth chunk retrievable whenever you want.
Repeat to remember.
New concepts are often jumbled in the mind, so chunking is the mental leap helping write bits of information together through meaning in order to grok new concepts.
Myelin neural circuit sheaths develop with use tf creates connections so enhance the development of neural circuits by practicing thoughts that use those neurons.
Change your brain by changing how you think.
An abstraction or chunk is a neural pattern. Good chunks form neural patterns that resonate not only within the current subject but w other subjects & areas of our lives. The abstraction helps you transfer ideas from brain area to brain area &tf* can use/see related patterns.
Neural mini-chunks are like micro skills as with playing musical instruments & sports skills which can be joined together into larger chunks, peaking with complex single chunks like a new language.
- Break Subject Into Manageable Chunks.
- Using metaphors/analogies; abstract new/difficult ideas, concepts.
- Turn ideas into characters/personalities & converse with new ‘friends’.
- Build image maps for concepts.
- Explain concepts to a child.
- Understanding helps memory.
- Exercises like repeating larger numbers backwards can improve working memory; ie., what you're processing immediately.
Practice makes permanent.
Practice is important for any area in which you want to acquire expertise. Even if ideas being with are abstract, the neural thought patterns being created are real & concrete at least they are if you build & strengthen them through practice.
If stuck, switch your attention to something completely different, or even better, go for a walk or have a shower; anything that allows your mind to relax & dart randomly around.
If you practice the material & keep taking the quiz until you pass w greater than 90% — in other words, master a topic — you are more likely to learn more.
Learning for Mastery is an approach in which you practice & understand each concept before moving on to the next.
As you’re taking quizzes, pay close attention to the feedback on the questions that you didn’t understand. Go back & watch the relevant videos, read the relevant materials, & discuss the concepts on the community forums. Keep taking the quizzes until you pass w flying colours!
Visual images connect to right brain's visual-spatial memory tf provide ‘neural hooks’.
Focussing on something brings it into working memory but to move to long-term memory you need distinct/discreet images plus repetition i.e., make it memorable like index cards over time in different locations & before bed and on rising. Gradually extend time between repetitions & self test.
Long-term memory relies on hippocampus i.e., memory consolidation. Re-consolidation is memory change each time it's accessed.
Creating meaningful memory groups that simplify material we're trying to learn like remembering GaRaHaM from garlic/rose/hawthorn/mustard as an image of a graham cracker or the word/name itself.
The memory palace technique calls to mind a familiar place & the thing you're trying to memorise in that location. These work — the more evocative the better.
Metaphor & analogies helps to understand concepts by connecting to existing neural structures. Smarter people may have bigger working memory Cf. smaller working memories which may lead to higher creativity.
Write them out as they occur; the process itself fosters creativity i.e., using & building memory muscle.
By committing the important points of a concept to memory you come to understand it better.
- Spaced Repetition
- Spread out your learning in any subject a little every day — like an athlete. The brain is a muscle — it can handle only a limited amount of exercise on one subject at a time.
- Alternate Techniques
- Never practice too long using only one problem solving technique. Because, after a while, you are just mimicking what you did on the previous problem. Mix it up & work on different types of problems. This teaches both how & when to use a technique.
- Absorb content in multiple formats to make meaningful connections (e.g., compare books/videos on the same subject).
- Review
- After every assignment & test, go over errors, make sure to understand why made & then rework solutions.
- Be able to solve a problem step-by-step, without looking at the solution.
- Handwrite
- Put problems on one side of flash cards & the solution on the other. Handwriting builds stronger neural structures in memory than typing. Photograph the card to load it into phone.
- Quiz Randomly
- Try different types of problems e.g., randomly flip through book, pick out a problem & see whether you can solve it cold.
- Have Breaks
- It is common to be unable to solve problems or figure out concepts in math or science the first time encountered. This is why a little study every day is much better than a lot of studying all at once. When you get frustrated with a math or science problem, take a break so that another brain part can take over & work in the background.
- Use Explanatory Questioning & Simple Analogies
- Whenever struggling with a concept, think ,
How can I explain this so that a five year old could understand?
Don’t just think — say it out loud or put in writing.
The additional effort of speaking & writing allows deeper encoding (that is, convert into neural memory structures) what's being learnt.
- Focus
- Turn off all interrupting devices & turn on a timer for twenty five minutes. Focus intently for those twenty five minutes & as diligently as possible. After time's up, reward yourself. A few of these sessions in a day can really move studies forward. Try to set up times & places where studying — not glancing at your computer or phone — is just something you naturally do.
- Eat Frogs First
- Do the hardest thing earliest in the day, when you are fresh.
- Make Mental Contrasts
- Imagine where you’ve come from & contrast that with the dream of where your studies will take you. Look/think at/of goal when motivation's lagging. This work will pay off!
Avoid these techniques …
- Not reading textbooks before working problems
- Passive re-reading
- Highlighting
- Merely glancing at material
- Waiting until last minute
- Repeatedly solving same type of problems
- Not checking to clear up points of confusion
- Not getting enough sleep
The brain pieces together problem solving techniques when asleep & practices & repeats whatever you put in mind before you go to sleep.
Prolonged fatigue allows toxins to build up in the brain that disrupt the neural connections needed to think quickly & well.
- Video Courses:
- Watch all the lessons.
- Note any key info and/or things to look up.
- Then, give it a go — using the videos for reference — replay as necessary.
- Watch @ speed & subtitles forcing concentration with cues of code & text.
- Process vs Product
- Want to be better at X & Y?
- Do X & Y everyday
- It’s not possible to know everything about a subject
- Procrastination
- Routines develop from specific cues tf you procrastinate when they appear so trick them.
- Learning step by step leads to solid neural structures.
- Spaced learning is best — remember, will-power uses neural resources.
- Habitual avoidance makes it more painful tf get bad habits like procrastination to avoid study — like an addiction you're fooling yourself.
- To avoid procrastination concentrate on process not product. Focussing on process — the steps to get there — means you don't have to finish everything in one session.
- Habits
- Habits (like reversing down driveway) are energy conserving which frees your mind for other activity, so you don't need to focus.
- Reframe & focus on the process — the flow of time & the habits/actions associated w that flow of time I'm going to study for 25 minutes, rather than product as an outcome — as with HW due in morning.
Focus on doing a pomodoro not completing a task.
The trick to changing a habit is to look to change your reaction to a cue. tf:
- Know/recognise your cues that start procrastination (location, time, mood, reactions etc)
- Routines to rewire habits
- Reward — break between focussed settings
- Belief — you can do this!!
Explain/teach the topics to understand them tf understanding as a consquence of explaining rather than explaining from understanding.
- Journals
- Put weekly tasks & quitting times in journal
- Sunday nights & the evening before daily tasks (use lists). All this frees working memory.
- Think about them before sleeping.
- Write next day task lists the night before.
- Do 5 or so per day.
- Reflect & write what achieved.
- Journals let you track success/failure
- Note due dates
- Learning is like lifting — cycles over periods of time to build — not all at once.
- Commit to routines & tasks each day.
- Avoid procrastination cues!
- Note when/why you don't complete tasks
- Plan your day: minimum 3 x 25 study periods
- Break tasks up doing bit by bit
- Pick small parts of unpleasant tasks
- Note quittin' time & reflect at EOD on what's been achieved
- Early preparation helps diffuse mode thinking about how you'll accomplish tasks
- Strategise like training: 4 days + 1 day review, in 4 week blocks
- Long-term vs working memory which is 4 chunks only & immediate
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask questions — you'll learn more
- Don't self-fulfil prophecies &; avoid einstellung making you too focussed to see options
- Active Learning: saturate learning modes: write-read-speak
- Note due dates early
Work creates talent.
Exercising mind & body helps the hippocampus grow new neurons. Practice & practice techniques because you can train & repair the brain.
However, it takes time & can collapse from time-to-time — so keep going. Practice — deliberate practice especially which targets hardest tasks/concepts first.
Ask questions & find out things you don't understand.
For tough problems scan then start hard parts first then jump to diffuse mode/easy problems.
Cortisol is released in stress; draw slow breath — deep breathing to calm down.
Change your thoughts (practice thinking good things), & change your life.
Just start — set easy targets w small steps then apply pomodoro & do it regularly — schedule.
- Transfer
- Is the idea that a chunk mastered in one area can help more easily learn chunks of information in other areas that can share commonalities.
- Knowledge can be used in different contexts.
- Deliberate practice
- Is applying special attention in practicing the material that's the most difficult.
- This is the type of practice that experts use to speed up their knowledge gain.
Just understanding how a problem was solved does not necessarily create a chunk that can be easily called to mind later. That’s part of why one can grasp an idea when it's presented in class, but if it's not reviewed it’s forgotten.
True understanding is when you can actually do it yourself. Think how good breakfast will taste!
- Exams
- The day before brush up but don't overdo.
- Try checking exam answers back-to-front i.e., read last-one first before handing in.
- Analyse what you did wrong & correct it. Rechecking work done in focussed mode can show errors.
- Tests are learning experiences.
When first reading a paper check for hardest problem & start with it. Jump away if you get stuck focusing into diffuse mode (apply to homework also) after several minutes.
Focus on breathing/meditation with hand on belly getting O2 to brain & have a lot of sleep!
Writing before an exam 'bout how you're feeling can be calming.
Understanding doesn’t build fluency; fluency builds understanding. Barbara Oakley, Professor of Engineering.
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