qct / wrapup-to-learning-how-to-learn

Wrapup to the course "Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects"

Week 1 What is Learning?

• Focused versus Diffuse Thinking
  In essence, people have two fundamentally different modes of thinking that, for the purpose of this course, we've labeled focused and diffuse.
  The focused mode: The focused mode has tight spacing for the rubber bumpers which seems to, in some sense, help keep your thoughts concentrated.
  The diffuse mode: The diffuse mode, on the other hand, has more widely spaced bumpers that allow for more broad ranging ways of thinking.
• Way to tackle procrastination
  The easiest way to tackle procrastination is to use the Pomodoro Technique. That brief 25 minute stretch of focused concentration, followed by a bit of mental relaxation.
• Practice and repetition
  It's through practice and repetition that we can help enhance and strengthen the neural structures we're building as we're learning something new. Practice and repetition is particularly important for more abstract topics.
• Memory
  There are two kinds of memory, working memory and Long term memory.
  Working memory: There are four slots in our working memory. Things can fall out of those slots unless we keep repeating them to hold them in mind. In that sense, working memory is like a not very good blackboard.
  Long term memory: on the other hand, is like a storage warehouse. If you practiced and repeated something well enough to get it into long term memory, you can usually call it up later if you need it, although you may need an occasional bit of repetition to freshen the memory up. It's never a good idea to cram your learning by repeating things many times all in one day. Because that's like trying to build muscle by lifting weights all in one day. There's no time for solid structures to grow.
• Sleep
  sleep can wash away the toxins that develop during our day's activities. You want to avoid taking tests or doing anything difficult with little sleep the night before, because it's like trying to think with poison on the brain.
• Exercise
  exercise is surprisingly valuable in helping improve both our memory and our ability to learn.

Week 2 Chunking

• Chunks
  Chunks are pieces of information, neuroscientifically speaking, that are bound together through use and often through meaning. You can think of a chunk as a scintillating network of neurons that compactly synthesizes key ideas or actions. Chunks can get bigger and more complex. But at the same time, they're a single easy to access item that you can fit like a ribbon into the slot on your working memory.
• Build chunks
  Chunks are best built with focused, undivided attention, understanding of the basic idea and practice.
• Recall
  Simple recall, trying to remember the key points without looking at the page, is one of the best ways to help the chunking process along. It seems to help build neural hooks. They help you better understand the material. Also try recalling material in places that are different from where you originally learned the material, so it becomes more deeply ingrained and accessible, regardless of what room you're in. This can be very helpful for tests.
• Transfer
  Transfer is the idea that a chunk you've mastered in one area can often help you much more easily learn chunks of information in different areas that can share surprising commonalities.
• Interleaving
  Interleave your learning by practicing your choice of different concepts, approach, and techniques all in one session.
• Illusions of competence
  Learn to recognize when you're fooling yourself about whether you're actually learning the material. Test yourself frequently. Using little mini-tests to see whether you're actually learning the material, or whether you've been fooling yourself, thinking you're learning when you're actually not. Recall is actually a form of mini-testing.
• Avoid depending too much on highlighting
  Try to avoid depending too much on highlighting, which can fool you into thinking that the material is going into your brain when it actually isn't.
• Mistakes are a good thing
  Mistakes are a good thing to make when you're learning. They allow you to catch illusions of competence.
• Deliberately practice
  Avoid practicing only the easy stuff, which can bring the illusion that you've mastered the material. Deliberately practice what you find more difficult to gain full mastery of the material.
• Einstellung
  Einstellung is when your initial thought, an idea you've already had in mind, or a neural pattern you've already developed well and strengthened, prevents a better idea or solution from being found. Or keeps you from being flexible enough to accept new, better, or more appropriate solutions.
• The Law of Serendipity
  The Law of Serendipity is helpful. Lady Luck favors the one who tries. Just pick one tiny thing out to learn, then another. Just keep trying and you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Week 3 Procrastination and Memory

####Procrastination
Learning well often involves bit by bit, day by day building of solid neural scaffolds. Rather like a weight lifter builds muscle with day to day exercise. This is why tackling procrastination is so incredibly important. You want to keep up with your learning and avoid last minute cramming.

• Focus on process not product, Process means, the flow of time and the habits and actions associated with that flow of time.
  To prevent procrastination you want to avoid concentrating on product. Instead, your attention should be on building processes. Processes relate to simple habits, habits that coincidentally allow you to do the unpleasant tasks that need to be done.

Key aspects of tackling procrastination:

1. Keep a planner journal so you can easily track when you reach your goals and observe what does and doesn't work.
2. Commit yourself to certain routines and tasks each day. Write your planned tasks out the night before so your brain has time to dwell on your goals and help ensure success. Arrange your work into a series of small challenges.
3. Delay rewards until you've finished a task. Always make sure you, and your zombies, get lots of rewards. Take a few minutes to savor the feelings of happiness and triumph, which also gives your brain a chance to temporarily change modes. Deliberately delay rewards until you've finished a task.
4. Watch for procrastination cues.Try putting yourself in new surroundings with few procrastination cues, such as the quiet section of a library.
5. Gain trust in your new system. You want to work hard during times of focused concentration and also to trust your system enough so that when it comes time to relax, you actually relax without feelings of guilt or worry.
6. Have back up plans for when you still procrastinate.No ones perfect after all.
7. Eat your frogs first every day.That is do your most unpleasant task first.

Memory

• Long term memory, which is like a storage warehouse. You need to practice and repeat in order to help store items in long term memory so you can retrieve them more easily. Practicing and repeating, all in one day, is a bad idea. You want to extend your practice to several days. This is why tackling procrastination is important. It helps you build better memories. Because you start earlier.
• Working memory, which is like a poor blackboard that quickly fades. You can only hold about four items in your working memory. When you master a technique or concept in some sense, it compacts the ideas so they can occupy less space in your working memory when you do bring them to mind. This frees your mental thinking space so that it can more easily grapple with other ideas.
• Visual and spatial memory systems. If you tap into those systems, it will help improve your memory. To begin tapping into your visual memory system, try making a very memorable visual image representing one key item you want to remember. Beyond merely seeing, try to feel, to hear and even to smell something you're trying to remember. The funnier and more evocative the image is, the better. As always, repetition over several days is really helpful.
• Create meaningful groups. Another key to memorization is to create meaningful groups that simplify the material. Try associating numbers with years or with systems you're familiar with like running times. Many disciplines use memorable sentences.
• The memory palace technique, placing memorable images in a scene that's familiar to you, allows you to dip into the strength of your visual memory system, providing a particularly powerful way of grouping things you want to remember.

By making meaningful groups and abbreviations, you can simplify and chunk what you're trying to learn so you can more easily store it in memory. And by memorizing material you understand, you can internalize the material in a profound way. You're reinforcing the mental library you need to become a genuine master of the material.

Week 4 Renaissance Learning and Unlocking Your Potential

• Metaphors and analogies aren't just for art and literature. One of the best things you can do to not only remember, but more easily understand concepts in many different fields, is to create a metaphor or analogy for them. Often, the more visual, the better.
• Change your thoughts, change your life. It seems people can enhance the development of their neuronal circuits by practicing thoughts that use those neurons. Like Santiago Ramon y Cajal, you can take pride in aiming for success because of the very things that make other people say you can't do it.
• Testing tips. Going through your own test preparation checklist can vastly improve your chances of success.
• Hard start then jump to easy technique. Counterintuitive strategies such as the hard start jump to easy technique, can give your brain a chance to reflect on harder challenges even as you're focusing on other more straightforward problems.
• Tackle nervousness. The body puts out chemicals when it's under stress. How you interpret your body's reaction to those chemicals makes all the difference. If you shift your thinking from, this test has made me afraid, to this test has got me excited to do my best, it helps improve your performance. If you're panicked on a test, momentarily turn your attention to your breathing. Relax your stomach, place your hand on it, and slowly draw a deep breath. Your hand should move outward and your whole chest should expand like a barrel.