3 ms·

Some practical advice on how this can be put to use from Barbara Oakley: https://youtu.be/vd2dtkMINIw https://youtu.be/vd2dtkMINIw

TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
I highly recommend her book too. Combining what I learned from her book with spaced repetition software has boosted my capacity to learn significantly.
- damontal 5y ago
  Which book? She has quite a few published.
  - TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
    A Mind for Numbers is the one I read. It also goes well with her Coursera course Learning How to Learn.
- fighterpilot 5y ago
  Is there one or two particularly high impact things you could share here?
  - TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
    There are high focus and low focus modes of thinking that serve different purposes in learning something. Chunking is the encapsulation of several steps or processes into an overarching process. Think of all the steps required to put on a shirt. You need to know how to hold the shirt, have an intuitive understanding of cloth dynamics, pull it in a certain way so that you can put your arms in, etc. But because you do it every day, it has become second nature and all you have to think to complete the task is "put on shirt." It has been chunked. Chunking requires 3 things: focus, understanding, and practice. Math is largely about chunking underlying concepts so you can learn more complex concepts. Chunking is a high focus activity, and spaced repetition is best as a low-focus activity that can be used to efficiently memorize jargon and other things that involve rote memorization. There's a lot more in the book, but those are the pieces that I remember best and that have had the biggest impact for me. I review flash cards every day, and once every few days, I do a high-focus learning activity. Even though I don't put much effort in, it feels like I am learning as much as I did in university.
    - fighterpilot 5y ago
      Thankyou.
    - bob_theslob646 5y ago
      Does she cite any scientific evidence that her method works?
      - TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
        Yes, there's an entire references section in the end of the book. The process I use isn't everything the book said to do, it's just what I chose to adopt to strengthen my weaknesses. The book covers much more.

TheAdamAndChe 5y ago

I highly recommend her book too. Combining what I learned from her book with spaced repetition software has boosted my capacity to learn significantly.

damontal 5y ago
Which book? She has quite a few published.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
  A Mind for Numbers is the one I read. It also goes well with her Coursera course Learning How to Learn.
fighterpilot 5y ago
Is there one or two particularly high impact things you could share here?
- TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
  There are high focus and low focus modes of thinking that serve different purposes in learning something. Chunking is the encapsulation of several steps or processes into an overarching process. Think of all the steps required to put on a shirt. You need to know how to hold the shirt, have an intuitive understanding of cloth dynamics, pull it in a certain way so that you can put your arms in, etc. But because you do it every day, it has become second nature and all you have to think to complete the task is "put on shirt." It has been chunked. Chunking requires 3 things: focus, understanding, and practice. Math is largely about chunking underlying concepts so you can learn more complex concepts. Chunking is a high focus activity, and spaced repetition is best as a low-focus activity that can be used to efficiently memorize jargon and other things that involve rote memorization. There's a lot more in the book, but those are the pieces that I remember best and that have had the biggest impact for me. I review flash cards every day, and once every few days, I do a high-focus learning activity. Even though I don't put much effort in, it feels like I am learning as much as I did in university.
  - fighterpilot 5y ago
    Thankyou.
  - bob_theslob646 5y ago
    Does she cite any scientific evidence that her method works?
    - TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
      Yes, there's an entire references section in the end of the book. The process I use isn't everything the book said to do, it's just what I chose to adopt to strengthen my weaknesses. The book covers much more.