Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
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Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
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Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#2I totally agree with the points in the article. I actually have actively pushed myself to learn from my own mistakes since I was around 22-23 yrs old. For me, it was a natural, logical way to learn.
I looked at it like riding a bike. Almost noone says they cant ride a bike if they make a mistake and fall. They try to adjust their balance better or think about what caused them to fall. They key is that they get back on the bike. However, in other areas of life, people dont think that what they are doing is like riding a bike when it really is.
With that approach I was able to teach myself programming, linguistics, etc. Its kind of awesome to read this article a decade or so afterwards.
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#3"Most people say it's easier to pick up languages when you're younger," says David Green, of University College London, who specialises in bilingualism.
"But people can learn languages at any point in their lives. Being immersed in a language is important. Personality is a contributing factor too - not being able to tolerate feeling foolish from making inevitable errors will make learning a new language a difficult process.
"The cult of the hyperpolyglot"
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#4Isn't this all about interest? When you are interested in a subject you are more likely to try again and learn from your mistakes. People with an almost unhealthy interest in a subject (people with Asperger for example; they think Newton had this) are the brilliant people on the subject.
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#5I think about Spolsky's post on programmer productivity quite often [1]. I think the most interesting part of the post is when he says, "The mediocre talent just never hits the high notes that the top talent hits all the time." Obviously, I wonder if I am a programmer who can hit the high notes and, if not, what it will take to get there.
When I read a post like this, I try to apply it to making myself a better programmer in the "high note" sense. Trouble is - it just doesn't apply (and I am a huge fan of Dweck's work). This article is one for the masses - not people who are trying to create the next Google. Motivation, hard work and an ability to learn from mistakes are all necessary, but ultimately not sufficient for our craft.
If I had to guess what the missing ingredient is, I would say creativity.
Heck - we are programmers. We get immediate feedback on our mistakes all day long and anyone reading this post has most likely gotten really really good and learning from those mistakes. ...but, how many of us are hitting those high notes?
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#6While I do agree that learning from your mistakes is a huge part of education, I think your interests are a close second. Generally, I'm intrigued by something that others deem to be difficult. I scored better grades in all of my engineering, math and science classes than my intro courses like psychology, economics and so on which I attribute to being more interested in science and thus being able to focus more.
For example, I was always very intrigued by calculus because most people talk of how difficult it is. I wanted to know why it's so difficult, so the first opportunity I had I took a calculus course. The subject itself wasn't necessarily interesting, I wanted to know what the fuss was about.
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#7"Most people say it's easier to pick up languages when you're younger," says David Green, of University College London, who specialises in bilingualism. "But people can learn languages at any point in their lives. Being immersed in a language is important. Personality is a contributing factor too - not being able to tolerate feeling foolish from making inevitable errors will make learning a new language a difficult p…
I'm experiencing this at the moment. I am picking up the local lingo at a relatively rapid rate compared to my peers, and I can see it is mostly down to having no sense of embarrassment. I went around saying 'Biscuit' to people for a month as a reply to 'Gruess Gott', thinking I was mimicking perfectly, and I'm okay with that.
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#8I think about Spolsky's post on programmer productivity quite often [1]. I think the most interesting part of the post is when he says, "The mediocre talent just never hits the high notes that the top talent hits all the time." Obviously, I wonder if I am a programmer who can hit the high notes and, if not, what it will take to get there. When I read a post like this, I try to apply it to making myself a better progr…
I have seen programmers make the same avoidable mistakes over and over again without learning much from them. Sure, they learn from syntactical errors and perhaps how to avoid specific kinds of errors. But how many programmers will actually re-model their entire coding paradigm in order to improve?
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#9Really, this kind of research points to the folly of the "everyone gets a trophy", "sheltering ego is most important in learning" school of thought. The every-day evidence of that folly litters the corpse of the American public education system.
Praise your kids when they do well. Point it out when they've made mistakes (in a graceful way). Teach them that doing better next time is always within their power if they apply themselves.
Most of all, let them know that you make mistakes but that you learn from your own mistakes and are willing to work hard to do better. Be a good example of coping with life and its difficulties, including the difficulties of parenting.
Re: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
#10[deleted]