61–70 of 72 posts
I've found that the things I taught to others are the things that I learned the most completely. Not sure if it is the most efficient way but having to explain it to someone else always seemed to crystalize the details for me.
Perseverance, reaching positive failure and resilience.
For example, the parallel between muscle building and learning (as well, creativity and problem solving).
In the context of muscle growth, you're looking to balance two states - anabolic (protein synthesis) and catabolic (protein breakdown). During your exercises, you're training your [1] nervous system, which is responsible for signalling and transmission of impulses to your muscles, triggering hormonal responses and adaptations. The load you try to lift is proportional to the stress you place on your nervous system. Accordingly, [2] hypertrophy (from Greek, excess + nourishment) occurs post-workout during your resting periods and muscle tissue is [3] formed when you're not weight training.
Protein synthesis > Protein breakdown = Muscle mass increases
Protein synthesis = Protein breakdown = No change in muscle mass
Protein synthesis On the other hand, your [4] neurocognitive functioning and [5] mental resources are no different. You're looking to balance state of intense conscious efforts with unconscious state of incubation. During your conscious efforts, you're collecting data and confronting with the elements of the problem. The effort you put into solving the problem is proportional to the decline of your cognitive capacity, leading to a decision to put the problem aside. The unconscious incubation state takes place (ex. sleep, mindfulness, meditation), where the memory is being repaired, information is consolidated and new associations are formed, accordingly leading to creative insights and problem solving.
1. Conscious, intense and focused state of confrontation w/ the problem;
2. Decision to put the problem aside;
3. Unconscious incubation state;
The quality of your recovery is crucial and directly correlative to the amount of your output.
--
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V77oaboEmY&feature=youtu.be...
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy
[3] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140
[4] - http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/VanDongen_etal_S...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The reason I did not continue on to teach physics was partially due to an insistence that it was teachers who needed to expend more effort to make classes "fit" a student's preferences so that their learning would be a gradual climb." What's wrong with that? "You learn material by flailing, not by floating." Why do you believe that?
Because in practice it's impossible to do what is being asked. Maybe if your class size was six students, but that's the case basically nowhere. I believe that learning is best achieved when people struggle greatly. If someone is cautiously guided through every problem in life, or in education, they will possess a sense that they know how to do something because they have seen it done by others and they were guided t…
I personally find "a bit of struggle" is probably the best way to learn.
There are a few things I have trried to learn, and made it more difficult than need be (Trying to learn JavaScript and Angular together, Spanish classes that were too advanced for my level). I feel like I learned more when I went back and did some more basic JavaScript, and classes that were at the appropriate level for me, rather than taking on too much, and just being overwhelmed.
Sometimes however, you need a more direct feedback if you are 'making progress'. I have seen that maintaining a blog or two is very effective in getting that feedback in two different ways. Making video lectures of your own is also an attractive option, but requires more effort. If you just write down something you think you understand as succinctly as you can, it helps to solidify your understanding. And if your (understanding of the matter and hence) writing is any good (of course, you should actively promote it), the magic of Internet will make your writing visible to many. People will flock to your blog and will ask you all kinds of questions, sometimes they will point out your mistakes and then you learn more what you thought you had already learned.
I like this article in large, but sometimes it really is appropriate to blame the instructor/textbook if you feel confused. Everyone wants to believe that the harder and more painful an experience is, the more you got out of it, but that's not the case. Imagine if you took a math textbook and then removed every fifth sentence. It'd be way more confusing, way harder, and require much more struggle, and that struggle w…
When I learned programming both my teachers left me confused.
But I rapidly understood that the first was hard to understand because he was a sort of genius and you had to get to speed if you wanted to follow him, the other was just an incompetent lazy bastard that was there just for the pay (I remember asking him once a simple question on his domain specialty, he just resorted to Google and didn't even find the answer !).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because in practice it's impossible to do what is being asked. Maybe if your class size was six students, but that's the case basically nowhere. I believe that learning is best achieved when people struggle greatly. If someone is cautiously guided through every problem in life, or in education, they will possess a sense that they know how to do something because they have seen it done by others and they were guided t…
"It's what the article is about. Did you read it?" Arranging a course so that your students never struggle with the material is one thing. Never bending to your students' needs, as a teacher, is another. A teacher can provide a lot of opportunities for the students to struggle with the material. But I think it's ridiculous (and lazy) to teach without any regard for pedagogy, especially with high school students. I kn…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps I should clarify. I am not claiming that there is a superior educational philosophy. I am only claiming that in most modern educational institutions, constructivism is the practiced philosophy of education and is taught to all teachers. These institutes often also hold a belief in the idea of learning modalities and, contrary to the foundations of constructivism, preach these ideas quite blindly without regar…
I was agreeing with you while simultaneously pointing out that you, like the folks you're criticizing, are conflating a constructivist model of learning with a handful of specific approach to teaching derived (mistakenly, IMO) from that model. Just don't throw the constructivist baby out with the bathwater. :) As a counterpoint, the Logo programming language[1] is an example of a well-executed pedagogical approach in…
I'm one of those people who failed as an undergraduate. You know what's not pleasant? Being under constant stress to perform and "progress". Maybe, just maybe, that has something to do with learning in school. By the way, that's entirely a product of the academic system. "The opposite is true: a good course is one where you always feel that you will barely make it." Because making people stress necessarily means they…
I have been an avid learner since I left high school but my college experience was more understanding closed systems of teacher/professor goals and requirements (3.8 computer science graduate). I really didn't learn anything except to be exposed to ideas. The real learning always starts after school. What I find is we as human beings are incredible learning machines and learn efficiently already. What the OP seems to really be saying is a watered down approach to making another person happy with what they think you need to learn. AKA, express results within that system.
Goals, curiosity and discovery are tools to learning.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ditto on Moonwalking. I listened to the audio book and found its practical advice incredibly helpful.
Out of curiosity, what new practices did you adopt after reading Moonwalking?