Learning How to Learn

Course notes from Coursera’s Learning How to Learn MOOC.

Week 1

Modes of thinking:

• Focus: When you're focused on a task that takes intimate attention. You can't let your mind wander or be influenced by distractions. This mode is best for absorbing information or analyzing from a fixed amount of topics

• Diffuse: When you're doing a very simple, relaxing task and your mind is free to wander. This mode is where people are most creative, and where they synthesize new information with information that they previously have learned.

• Procrastination is a thing that everyone does and this course will teach you how to deal with it.

• Practice is insanely important when learning things. People severely underestimate the value of practicing something intermittently over a long period of time, which is one of the best ways to learn, solidifying facts into your long-term memory, which needs to be maintained.

• Memory is an important aspect of learning that consists of the volatile working memory, which has around 4 slots for information, and the stable but flexible long-term memory, which is much larger but harder to access.

• As of when the course was created, scientific evidence has demonstrated that sleeping well is essential for learning effectively.

• "Chunks" happen when you learn something and the concepts condense into a group that can fit in a single spot of your working memory.

Week 2

Chunking - "You can think of a chunk as a scintillating network of neurons that compactly synthesizes key ideas or actions." They can get bigger and more complex but ultimately condense information to occupy less spots in your working memory. focused attention, understanding, and practice are important when developing chunks.

Recall - This is what solidifies concepts in long-term memory. A good thing to practice is active recall, where you periodically look away from the book/screen and try to recall what you just learned.

• Rereading isn't usually a good thing to do because it's an illusion of competence.
• Your surroundings have an impact on how you learn too; sometimes, you associate concepts with objects in the room and then it's hard to remember them when you're not there, which is why practicing in different environments is important.
• Mistakes are very good but only if you can thoroughly analyze them.
• This is also why it's not usually a good idea to highlight text too much because it can encourage you to shy away from the key concepts because the highlighted text clutters the working memory.
• Quizzing yourself regularly, summarizing, and writing notes/study questions in the margins have proven to be more effective than simply highlighting, concept-mapping, or rereading.

What motivates you? - Animals have evolved to prioritize paying attention to the information that matters most for survival. Neurotransmitters (neuromodulators) such as dopamine (motivation; predicting future rewards), acetylcholine (focused learning/attention), and serotonin (serotonin, social pride/self esteem, makes people more risk averse) can have roles in paying attention.

Library of chunks - Chunking is essential for learning. information transfers between chunks. Easier to transfer between chunks when they are more solid (takes continuous, periodic practice), solving novel problems. Sequential problem-solving is linear; holistic problem-solving takes intuition and is more creative and random. Take things one at a time; it might take finishing one concept in order to successfully move onto the next.

Overlearning can sometimes be good. But repetitive overlearning in a single session can be bad. Directly repeating something you already now can be an illusion of competence. Deliberate practice focuses on the difficult material.

Einstellung - One previous thought pattern might prevent a certain thought pattern from developing. Some people jump into the water a little too early; it's important to fully understand how to come to a solution. Chunks can sometimes take away from flexibility in understanding; understanding relationships between chunks and maintaining fluidity (in the diffuse mode) are also valuable to consider.

Interleaving is using different chunks to solve the same types of problems in different contexts, or different problems with similar techniques. mix up your learning. knowing how to use a certain strategy is not always as important as learning when to use it. Interleaving enhances creative power.

Usually, large paradigm shifts are caused by people who are not experts in a particular field; either they're young, or they came from another field. This is due to einstellung. "Science progresses one funeral at a time." Real life, non-academic situations can be essential for understanding.

• It can be extremely valuable to learn by explaining something to yourself. Seeing which parts are missing details helps understand gaps in knowledge.
• Important to study in groups.
• Create vivid examples, especially for theoretical concepts. An instance of this is imagining a circuit as water pipes.
• MIT OCW is an incredible resource for learning any subject at a collegiate level.

Week 3

Intro to procrastination and memory

Effective learning needs to be periodic and consistent in order to build solid chunks that can be used by the working memory to refer to long-term memory.

• Pomorodo is super helpful!! 25min focus, 5min break.

Good learning is a bit-by-bit activity. Cramming is bad.

• Willpower is hard and shouldn't need to be used to fend off procrastination.
• Habitual avoidance can form a positive feedback loop in the long-term. Getting instant gratification from switching to a task that is slightly more pleasurable becomes more and more appealing. In that way, procrastination is a lot like addiction. It's easy to fool yourself into doing the wrong thing by devising irrational excuses.

Chunking is neuroscientifically related to habit. Procrastination is actually an example. Once you've learned/chunked something,

4 parts of a habit:

1. The cue - the small thing that instigates an action of the habit
2. The routine ("Zombie mode") - the process of doing the habit, where when it's ingrained, it comes naturally and you don't have to think about it.
3. The reward - the instant reward that comes out of doing the task
4. Belief - the long-term faith or rationale in the outcome of doing this over a long period

Instead of using study breaks or brief moments of free time to occupy your head with information you don't need, use those moments to relax and clear your head so you can focus on the task at hand without stressing out.

Research has shown that it is common to feel negative thoughts when starting an intense learning session, even if it's in a subject the person enjoys.

The most productive people reframe those thoughts in order to study more effectively.

Process vs. Product

• Process is the conceptual understanding of the immediate action required to do an activity, in the scheme of time: "I'm going to spend 20 minutes working."
• Product is the idea of the outcome, i.e. finishing a homework assignment.

Focus on building processes which enable you to do tasks that don't provide instant gratification.

Avoid thinking about how many problems there are to complete; instead think of how much time and effort to put in. It's important to be in the moment. Focusing on process helps form routine habits, that, when trained effectively, don't require much thinking or willpower to do.

Definitely minimize distractions while trying to focus. The best way to train yourself to handle distractions is probably to start from zero, e.g. using over-ear headphones with no sound in an isolated, quiet, clean space.

In order to complete tasks in a timely matter, estimate & schedule time before doing the task. During the task, try to pay attention only to working on the task. Then, afterwards, you can reflect and adjust conceptions and goals for productivity.

Harnessing your "Zombies" to help you

The only place willpower is needed is to change your response to a cue.

• Recognize what gets you into the procrastination mode. This could be a location, the time, how you feel, or reacting to a change in environment.
• Make your brain want to do a certain thing in response to a cue. FOR EXAMPLE, instantly turn your camera on when joining class Zoom meetings.
• Create an incremental plan to establish a productive work environment.
• Reward - rewarding yourself for work achievements can help establish habits. Setting rewards at a specific time can also be helpful
• Track goals and be accountable in groups in order to maintain belief in the effects of positive habits.

Juggling life & learning

• Weekly tasks, paired with a daily to-do list, can be effective in managing short-term goals
• Write daily task lists before you go to bed so that your subconscious can process and analyze how to effectively accomplish them.

• Planning your quitting time can be just as important as planning working time.
• Maintaining healthy leisure time is essential for staying at optimal productive levels.
• Try doing the hardest task first ("eat the frog")—just to get it out of the way
• Keep a journal to track goals and progress and see what does & doesn't work
• It's valuable to consider that the discomfort that leads to procrastination have shown in brain scans to be similar to responses to physical pain.
• It's extremely important to apply willpower at the small point between cue and response in a habit. Willpower is very valuable mental resource that you shouldn't squander.
• Try to let distractions "drift by", like stray thoughts, without interfering with the work at hand.

Memory

• Humans naturally have advanced visuospacial memorization abilities which can be harnessed to remember information.
• Remembering an image to associate with a word or concept can be effective.
• In order to be remembered, something needs to be both memorable (distinctive, as in an unusual image) and solidified through repetition.
• Hand-writing and speaking concepts can be really helpful. Drawing pictures is cool too!
• Intermittently practicing with index cards can be really effective. (See Anki)
• It's been proven that one of the best ways to remember people's names is just to recall them at increasing intervals from the time you meet them.
• Memory consolidation can take many years. Memories are not fixed; every time you refer to a memory, it actually changes (called reconsolidation). You can even make fake memories out of your imagination.
• Memory tricks like mnemonics and acronyms can be good for remembering things.
• Memory palace technique: store a series of things in different places around a space that you recognize. For example, using your house to remember a grocery list, like imagining the milk on the couch and the eggs on your desk.
• To remember people's names, think about what that name reminds you of and then associate that thing with an identifying feature of that person.

Week 4

How to become a better learner

• Exercise. Exercise significantly improves potential for neuroplasticity and neuron formation, which is directly tied to learning. Exercise is literally the best single thing you can do for your brain (and also your body!), in most situations better than any kind of drug.
• New experiences. Seeking out and embracing new opportunities, whether they're new fields of study, hobbies, new places of residence, traveling, or even shifting to a different work environment, this is something that substantially increases creativity and productivity.
• Trust the value of practice, and understand that different time periods and levels of development can influence learning capacity.

• Create metaphors and analogies. Analogies not only help people comprehend concepts, but synthesize them as well, leading to both scientific and artistic developments. They help glue an idea to your mind by associating new things with already existing topics, and can help get past einstellung. You can even imagine yourself inside the analogy to relate to an idea in a personal, experiential way.
• The Imposter Syndrome is legit. Virtually everyone experiences it. Understanding the why and how behind a concept is essential for understanding; however, some of the most critical skills are used in practice without thinking about how they work, because the muscles or brain is already accustomed to them. People with small working memories are more likely to be creative and make useful generalizations; people with larger working memories are more likely to be better focus and at learning very specific things.
• The brain is highly plastic; and as a result, features that society often looks at as "fixed" are actually flexible, including interests, learning capacity, and elements of intelligence. Some people are "naturals" at certain things, but with the right kind of training, it is very often not hard to reach the same or even more advanced abilities. Every day, people train themselves to push the limits of the modern understanding of what the human brain can do, so don't feel overly held back by a the box that anyone else might feel like putting your mind in.
• People like Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Charles Darwin are examples of how different frames of thought can drastically change the potential to achieve. The former went from a delinquent at age 11 to a Nobel laureate, considered the father of modern neuroscience. Darwin was actually a poor student in school, and achieved success through thinking differenly from his peers. Practicing thoughts that use the particular circuits you want to be strengthened can help you optimize how you think by making physical neural connections more efficient.

"Cajal felt the key to his own success was his perseverance—what he called the virtue of the less brilliant, coupled with his flexible ability to change his mind and admit errors."

• You can also think about people like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and even Albert Einstein to see how not being at the top of one's class can have little influence on success and achievement. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum there are people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos who excelled from a very young age.
• There will always be people who criticize. Tense competition can bring people down but also bring people up. Use your personal pride to lead you to success. You can even use the spite of other people's criticism to propel you further. Selectively choosing which higher voices to listen to and which ones to disregard can be tough, so it's best to focus on yourself.

• The left vs. right-brained personality thing is a complete myth, but there are certain characteristics of the different brain hemispheres that are valuable to consider. The right hemisphere helps put concepts in the big picture and questions the status quo, and the left brain is focused more on observing the world, accepting it as is in order to learn as efficiently as possible and minimize stress. This confidence can sometimes be a barrier to learning new ways of doing things.
• Everyone has blindspots. An extremely effective way to make sure your own closed perspective or personal biases aren't skewing a conclusion is to work with teams. Corroborating understandings in study groups has shown to be much more effective in many scenarios than learning individually. Study groups have to maintain a delicate balance of productivity and cohesion, however, so make sure you're in a study group that is accountable to itself and stays on-topic during discussions.

Importance of testing & how to approach tests optimally

• Testing has proven to actually be an extremely efficient method of learning. Spending the same amount of time taking a test vs. studying the same material has resulted in substantially more retention after testing.
• Potentially valuable things to do before taking a test:
  • Make a serious effort to understand the text
  • Work with classmates on homework problems
  • Attempt every homework problem on your own before working with classmates or checking answers
  • Actively participate in homework group discussions
  • Consult with the instructor when you're having trouble
  • Understand all homework problem solutions
  • Ask in class for clarifications and explanations of concepts or problems that you didn't understand
  • Use a study guide
  • Outline lots of problem solutions quickly
  • Go over study guide & problems with classmates & quiz each other
  • Review session
  • Get a good night's sleep (often the most important!)
• When taking a test, it's almost always a good idea to start with the harder problems, then jump to easy ones. Always take a quick look through to see the structure of the test. Start with a hard problem, and once you've spent a minute or so on it (even if you haven't finished it), switch back to the easy problems. This helps start up the diffuse mode of thinking. When you feel bogged down on the easy problems, switch back to the hard ones. The idea is that you can draw attention to different levels of thinking at close intervals, which accelerates problem-solving ability, while giving time for your subconscious to fully understand a problem before powering through something you're not immediately sure about. Switching attention like this helps prevent einstellung, and also the sensation of the answer coming to you right as you walk out of the door.
• I think that the above method works best for tests with a few long free-response problems rather than a ton of short questions. If it's a ton of short questions, switching back and forth too much can just be confusing and clog my brain.
• Also make sure to review/check your answers after you've done all of the problems.

A few more tips for test-taking

• Harness test stress into something that empowers you to do well. It's less about the anxious symptoms and more about how you react to them. I find that a great way to do this is by seeing a task as a personal challenge rather than a competitive test. There's a distinction between "good worry" and "bad worry."
• To fight anxiety (sympathetic nervous activity), breathe by expanding your diaphragm, so that your belly expands rather than your chest.
• Try consciously relaxing your tongue? (no further explanation)
• Try solving the problem before looking at the answer choices (definitely do this at least almost all the time)
• "Face your fears!" Understand why you're worried about something.
• Check your answers through as many perspectives as possible.
• For a lot of people, reviewing answers by starting at the end and working backwards can be more effective.