How to 🙇‍♀️ Learn

• Planted  🌱 21 February 2020…
• learning

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 modes of thinking when problem 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
• Draw connections between the concepts being learnt

Remaining in focused mode too long sees diminished returns in thinking, energy and productivity so work in intense, focused bursts. Afterwards, exercise, walk, read etc., do 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 octopus' connections so it's hard to make decisions, be productive etc.

Priming 🫵

• Use headings/TOC etc., to get a sense of what a book is about.
• Skim chapters first for visual structure/outline as a mental primer.
• Use priming as a repetition technique to increase verbal fluency.

All this helps brains build new concepts into larger contextual and semantic structures, increasing efficiency in learning. Learning is not a race — gradual effort trains brain.

Recall 🫵

• Close page/section/chpt — look away and recite, recall the main ideas.
• Try recalling when walking or in a different location from where 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, repeat to remember.

Test 🫵

• Everything — all the time. Flash cards are your friend.
• Test at the end of pages, sections and chapters.

Memorise Understood Things 🫵

Master each chunk to complete the bigger picture …

1. Prime the brain by surveying content, eg., TOC.
2. Observe an example, such as a video.
3. Do it yourself to consolidate the new knowledge.

Chunk Problems 🫵

• Practice a problem solution so 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 answers repeatedly, so the info combines into one smooth chunk that's retrievable whenever.

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.

The brain's myelin neural circuit sheaths develop with use tf., they create connections so enhance the development of neural circuits by practicing thoughts using 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 with other subjects and areas. It's the abstraction that helps transfer ideas between brain areas and tf., can use/see related patterns.

Neural mini-chunks are like micro skills as with playing musical instruments and 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 numbers backwards can improve working memory.

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 and concrete at least they are if you build and 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 and dart randomly around.

If you practice the material and 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 and 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 and watch the relevant videos, read the relevant materials and discuss the concepts on the community forums. Keep taking the quizzes until you pass with ease!

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 and before bed and on rising. Gradually extend time between repetitions and 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 and the thing you're trying to memorise in that location. These work — the more evocative the better.

Metaphor and 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 and 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 and work on different types of problems. This teaches both how and 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 and test, go over errors, make sure to understand why made and 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 and the solution on the other. Handwriting builds stronger neural structures in memory than typing. Photograph the card to load it into phone (or use [Anki](/posts/

Quiz Randomly 🫵

Try different types of problems e.g., randomly flip through book, pick out a problem and 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 and work in the background.

Use Explanatory Questioning & Simple Analogies 🫵

If you're struggling with a concept, ask ‘How can I explain this to a ra-tard?’ But don't just think it — say/write it because the additional effort of speaking and writing allows deeper encoding i.e., it converts what's being learnt into neural memory structures.

Focus 🫵

Turn off all interrupting devices and turn a timer on for twenty five minutes. Focus intently for those twenty five minutes and 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 and places where studying — not glancing at your computer or phone so it's just something you do naturally.

Eat Frogs First 🫵

Do the hardest thing earliest in the day, when you are fresh.

Make Mental Contrasts 🫵

Imagine where you’ve come from and contrast that with the dream of where your studies will take you. Look/think at/of goal when your motivation's lagging. This work will pay off!

Avoid … 🫵

• Not reading textbooks before working problems
• Passive re-reading
• Highlighting
• Merely glancing at material
• Waiting until last minute
• Repeatedly solving the same type of problems
• Not checking resources to clear up points of confusion
• Not getting enough sleep

Brains piece together problem solving techniques when asleep then practices and repeats whatever you think about before sleep.

Prolonged fatigue allows toxins to build up in the brain that disrupt the neural connections needed to think quickly and 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 and subtitles forcing concentration with cues of code and 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 when they appear — trick them.
• Learning step by step leads to solid neural structures.
• Spaced learning is best (because, will-power uses neural resources).

Habitual avoidance makes study more painful tf you get into bad habits to avoid study — like an addiction.

To avoid procrastination concentrate on the process not the 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 and focus on the process — the flow of time and 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:

1. Recognise cues that start procrastination (time, mood, reactions).
2. Start good routines to rewire habits.
3. Reward yourself — have breaks between focussed sessions.
4. Believe — you can do this!

Explain the topic to understand it tf., understanding is a consquence of explaining rather than explaining from understanding.

Journals 🫵

• Put weekly tasks & quitting times in journal.
• To free working memory, Sundays & night before make daily task lists.
• Think about these list items before sleeping.
• Plan your day: note a minimum of 3 x 25 study periods
• Reflect & write on what you've achieved.

Track Success/Failure 🫵

• Note due dates.
• Avoid procrastination cues!
• Commit to routines & tasks each day.
• Break larger tasks up doing bit by bit.
• Note when/why you don't complete tasks.
• Pick small parts of unpleasant tasks to start.
• Note quittin' time & reflect at EOD on what's been achieved.
• Learning is like lifting — cycle over periods of time — not all at once.
• Early preparation helps diffuse mode thinking about how you'll succeed.

Strategise: 🫵

• 4 days on + 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 of failure.
• 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 these techniques because you can train & repair the brain.
• But, it takes time & so keep going.
• Deliberate practice especially targets hardest tasks/concepts first.
• Ask questions & find out things you don't understand.
• For hard problems scan then start hard parts first
• Then, jump to diffuse mode/easy problems.
• Change your thoughts (practice thinking good things), & change your life.

Just start — set easy targets w small steps then apply pomodoro and do it regularly — make schedules.

Cortisol is released in stress; draw slow breath — deep breathing to calm down.

Transfer is when a chunk mastered in one area it can help learn chunks of other areas that can share commonalities and knowledge can be used in different contexts.

Deliberate Practice 🫵

• Apply special attention in practicing material that's most difficult.
• This is the practice that experts use to speed up their knowledge gain.

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 🫵

• Writing before an exam 'bout how you're feeling can be calming.
• The day before, brush up but don't overdo.
• Check exam answers 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.
• Check for hardest problem & start with it.
• Jump away if stuck focusing into diffuse mode.
• Apply jump-away method to homework to train yourself.
• Focus on breathing/meditation hand on belly getting O2 to brain/
• Have a lot of sleep!

Understanding doesn't build fluency. Fluency builds understanding. Barbara Oakley, Professor of Engineering.

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