I recently
took a course online named: “Learning how to learn”. As a final test I need to
prove what I learn teaching others three major ideas covered in that course and
this is my contribution:
Mind
Modes
One of the
first things the course teaches is that are two types of thinking: the focused
mind and the diffused mind.
In the
first mode the mind is concentrated in a task or activity and in the second the
mind is relaxed, at peace.
You may thing
that the focused mode is the best one to study and, consequently, to learn but you
are half mistaken. Yes the focused mode is great to study or to really inspect
something but is the alternation between the two mind modes or ways of thinking
the best path to an effective learning.
The first
step in learn is to focus your attention in the subject you want to learn, no
you are not a super hero if you can do several things at the same time, in fact
you only are getting small parts of the thing you want to learn or maybe not a
part at all. You need pay attention!
But the
process to learn is based in the diffused mode: here you construct the long lasting
ideas, concepts and grasp the understanding of the object of learning.
Remember
what happened to Archimedes when he discovers the principle with his name:
The Roman
Emperor has Archimedes about a gift he receives, some tales says is a crow
others a scepter, at the end the Emperor was to know is the object was pure
gold or not. At first Archimedes, as others scientist of his time, don’t put
much effort in the matter, but that displeases the Emperor which arrest the
scientist and torture him. Then Archimedes became obsessed to find the answer,
for obvious reasons, he didn’t eat, barely sleep, he was in full focused
mode to the task!!!...but can’t find the answer and the time frame the
Emperor give him was nearly over.
The wife of
Archimedes was worried, again obviously, she didn’t want her husband tortured
again but Archimedes was now an older man and the effort can make him ill or
worse. She convince him to go to the baths, communal houses with pools of water
to bath, she argue he need relaxation but the smell was a more appealing one.
He go to
the bath house, some say he surrender to the idea he will not find the answer,
but with his mind at easy, in diffuse mode, he discover
some amazing thru: The water in the pool gets out when he gets in. His mind
help him to find the answer, yes everyone knows two bodies can have the same
space, maybe in that time not everyone, well maybe neither now, moreover almost
all can see the water coming out of a pool but not everyone knows is exactly
the same volume that the body entering the pool.
Even if the
tale has some historical errors, like the object, this not matter much because
the material, in this case gold, is the important one. Archimedes proves the
object was not gold.
Memory
Capacity
The memory
is a big part of the learning process but is not the central one. As the mind
we have two principal types of memory: Short term memory and long term memory. The first one is referred
in the online course as the working
memory.
I discover
some papers online that mention a third kind of memory: Sensory memory. But in
here we are going to discuss about the Working
and the Long term memory.
The easy
way to understand the types of memories is comparing with something more familiar
or at least more east to imagine:
In the case
of the working memory imagine a work table with four sits: A person can sit un
one spot an “work”, then another came and takes another sit, if three more
persons came to work one of them must stand by to get a sit. Similar is the working memory, it only can have
certain number of things at the same time, when a new one came need to release
space to work with it. Again imagine the table with people working they can have
a record of his work; this translates in passing the object of the work to the
long term memory.
The long
term memory is then as a storehouse, or a hard drive for the young, in there
you can storage all the information, concepts, ideas or work you do and if
needed retrieve it.
And here is
a question: If I have an excellent memory then I’m smart? I can learn or know
all?
Well an
excellent memory is a good first step in learning as I write before but you
need to understand the concepts you have in the long term memory, how to use it
in solving problems or simply in a conversation, moreover if you can teach others
about it then with some certainty degree you really know THAT concept in THAT
situation.
Here is
another question: How I improve my memory?
Well if you
count I wrote several times the types of memory we have: working memory and
long term memory. Yes repetition is a good way to remember something but a lot
in short time is not very good is a lot better use something called “spaced
repetition”.
This is an
example: You study Monday and Tuesday takes a rest Wednesday again Tuesday rest
Friday Saturday and Sunday (this are good to a party time!) and then start over
Monday.
Other good
way of remember things is imagine it: If you want to tell others the history
about Archimedes I wrote before try to imagine all the things: The Emperor
wearing the crown or holding the scepter; Archimedes arrested and tortured,
they burn his hands, his precious hands; his smell, after days of working, entering
the pool and the water coming out of it; then he leaves the bath house, naked, screaming
“EUREKA!, EUREKA!” (I did it) and arrested again for nudity!!
The
Art of Procrastinate
No you
are not mistaken, you really feel “pain” when you know you need to work or
study or make homework. This, somehow, is wired in the brain: Is better do
something else. And yes again procrastinate is an art, a modern art, because
you check email, facebook, whatsapp or worst you play with the xbox, the smartphone,
the “samarthTV” and do nothing!
One method
to avoid this is the “pomodoro technique”, in short: You need to work for 25 min
uninterrupted then relax 5 min, do this 2 more times because in the for time
you earn a 30 min relax time!!
In this way
the mind can jump from a focused 25 minutes to a 5 diffuse minutes. As I
previously wrote the alternation in minds helps to effectively learn. Moreover
this method helps to improve the time management.
Final Thoughts
Some
advice to learn:
·
Eat
well, you spend a lot of energy learning.
·
Sleep
is very important, not only to relax, again for the expense of energy, because
the brain recovers, clean the toxins it accumulates during the day.
·
Physical
exercises, is a great way to enter the diffuse mode.
·
Remember
the space repetition.
·
No
matter which technique you uses to avoid procrastinate you need to BELIVE it works and then it will.
·
Have
fun learning!!
