Category Archives: School

What Is The Best Way to Learn Something New?

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Finished an English paper, thought you may enjoy:

Here is an M4A audio file of the article

What Is The Best Way to Learn Something New?
Anthony P. Kuzub
Everyone learns in his or her own way. As an adult returning to school, there have been many strategies to getting the best value from the academic industry. Time, both in and out of class, is lost income for many learners. Wondering if there was: a more efficient and effective way of learning new concepts, a strategy for processing fresh information, and an approach for subject retention, seemed a worthy topic. How to Learn Better at Any Age (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) and How Classroom Teachers Can Help Students Learn and Teach Them How to learn (Kiewra, 2002) are two great resources on the topic. Both articles stress similar factors and compliment each other but Brown et al. push the argument towards the right answer.
“Instructors who present information so effectively that students are compelled to learn in effective ways are good “fish givers.” They give students the means to learn what is being taught right now. What more can instructors do? Be fishing teachers” (Kiewra, 2002)

“When learning is harder, it’s stronger and lasts longer”
(Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).
Effective learning is broken down into three parts done in an organized way: intake, practice, and self-testing. The best way to learn: is a lesson you can properly ingest; with ‘questions from yourself’ and ‘questions to yourself’.
 
“You usually cannot embed something in memory simply by repeating it over and over. Rereading has three strikes against it: It is time-consuming; it doesn’t result in durable memory and it invokes a kind of unwitting self deception, as growing familiarity with the text comes to feel like mastery of the content.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014)

Classroom lessons are the most expensive way to learn, using this time efficiently is to the learners benefit. To make classroom lectures effective, Kiewra advocates that teachers provide skeletal note-taking devices. These devices encourage attention and focus on the material presented in lectures. Such devices should include: pre-prepared point form user format-able packets of core concepts with matrix style illustrations (for simplified reference) and practice questions. Learners can format the layout of this information to whatever medium they prefer to read with. Emerging software allows users to create their own audio books, read everywhere, and take advantage of speed-reading technologies like Spritz. These outside tools compliment classroom mentoring. With these augmented experiences, learners can easily take “a single, simple quiz after reading a text or hearing a lecture [that] produces better learning and remembering than rereading the text or reviewing lecture notes.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) Notes are external information, not internalized knowledge. Having personalized notes make for easy retrieval. “Recalling facts or concepts from memory — is a more effective learning strategy than review by rereading.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014)
“Practice makes perfect. But, perfect practice makes permanent.”
Mr. Vince Lombardi
Comprehension of new material is best achieved through practice. Practice inspires questions that classroom lectures cannot provide. This engagement has long-term benefits and allows greater comprehension of the subject material being learned. Practice must be tailored to the learners learning style and to their unique intelligence. “Periodic practice arrests forgetting, strengthens retrieval routes, and is essential for hanging onto the knowledge you want to gain.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) Comprehension allows the learner visualize, recall, predict, and connect with material. practiced knowledge. If the learner makes personal connections they can evaluate problems and synthesize answers more effectively and accurately. “Flashcards and example tests are a simple example. Retrieval strengthens the memory and interrupts forgetting.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) Practice and instant self-monitored feedback of learned material creates long last knowledge.
Self Testing, delivered in whatever form that is reflective of ‘measure of the learned material’, – should be make freely available through online resources. Self-testing material is more effective than the re-reading lengthy material. “Instructors can facilitate self-testing by providing students with previous tests or practice tests as study device. [Teachers could] assign students to generate practice tests.” (Kiewra, 2002) Making mistakes, and being able to learn from them, comes through practice and implementation of concepts. Self-testing is a mirror to knowledge. Having personalized practice is : “… giving new material meaning by expressing it in the learners own words and connecting it with what they already know.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014) Mistakes, in application, are made through hands on experience.is an option worth embracing; it is a necessity to overcome learning obstacles. “Self-explanations are statements learners make as to why certain ideas are so. Learners should test themselves so thoroughly prior to an exam that there is nothing the instructor can ask them that they haven’t already asked themselves” (Kiewra, 2002) Learners asking “what’s on the test?” are looking for guidance in practice. What’s on the test is the reflection of good instruction and good practice.
Kiewras wrote an enjoyable academic review on the approach to teaching. It was a sort of ‘wakeup call’ for “fish giving teachers” to become “Angling Technology 112.7FLY instructors at the school of choice. Learners are choosing their own adventure, and their hard work always pays off. Brown et al. say it best in that “the elements that shape your intellectual abilities lie to a surprising extent within your own control.” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014). For an instructor the best pupils: are the ones who want to be there, who want to learn, and who want to be good at something. If there is a meaningful rewarding lesson in the work, with someone there to tell them: “how to know” and “what to avoid”, they’ll be okay.

Works Cited
Brown, P., Roediger , H., & McDaniel, M. (2014, 03 09). How to Learn Better at Any Age. Boston Clobe Magazine .

Kiewra, K. A. (2002). How Classroom Teachers Can Help Students Learn and Teach Them How to Learn. Theory Into Practice , 41 (2), 71.

Quotes

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Technology & Engineering

  • “Recording is not what one hears, but what one must make others hear.” – George Martin
  • “No one hates audio as much as someone who loves audio.”
  • “A patent is license to litigate.”
  • “Half of engineering is fooling other engineers.”
  • “If the work doesn’t require creativity, delegate it, automate it, or leave it.“
  • “Tesla built motors in his head and ran them in his head for months to test bearing wear.”
  • “You’re not useless. You can always serve as a bad example.”
  • “You look like you know what every crayon tastes like.”
  • “He’s an oxygen thief.”
  • “If engineers were capable of faking empathy they’d make great politicians.”
  • “Boredom is an insult to your intelligence.”
  • “If elevators were never invented the penthouse would be the cheapest.”
  • “One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.” – Grace Hopper
  • “You don’t manage people, you manage things. You lead people.” – Grace Hopper
  • “A book is a machine to preserve text.”
  • “A scientist can spend a million dollars to discover a new idea, but an engineer can take that idea and turn it into something worth millions.”
  • “Corporate tears, music to my ears.”
  • “A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.“
  • “I’m not in any rush – I know something’s going to go wrong, so i want it to go wrong nice and slow.” – AVE
  • “Woodworking is making boxes and calling them something else.”
  • “Why should i buy something for $100 when i can spend 6 weeks of my life making it for $500?”
  • “Crafting is actually two hobbies – doing it, and shopping for it.”
  • Found on a shop drawing: “Cut to length, beat to fit, file to suit, paint to hide” or “Hammer to shape, file to fit, paint to match.”
  • “Definition of a craftsman, regardless of field is: ’10 years, 10 fingers’…”
  • “So dumb he’s thinking in 7 bit words.”
  • “There are only two ways to do things. Right, and twice.”
  • “Plan three times, measure twice, make once.”
  • “Don’t let perfect get in the way of done.”
  • “You have to be smarter than the piece of metal in the vise.”
  • “The problem with making something foolproof is underestimating the fool.”
  • “There is thousand ways of making something wrong.”
  • “I’ve seen less done in more time.”
  • “The machine hates you and only wants to make scrap.”
  • “I have something more powerful than options at my disposal, I have a whole machine shop”

 

Knowledge & Learning

  • “The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.” ― Horace Walpole
  • “Seek evidence that disproves your most cherished beliefs and those of others. This is the essence of true science.”
  • “Interested people are interesting.”
  • “Two months in the lab will save you two hours in the library.”
  • “We never really grow up we just learn how to act in public.” ― Bryan White
  • “Don’t be afraid to start over. This time you’re not starting from scratch. You’re starting from experience.”
  • “If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something.“
  • “Larry king: ‘I never learned anything while i was talking’.”
  • “The answer is always no until you ask.“
  • “Every public action, which is not customary, either is wrong or, if it is right, is a dangerous precedent. It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time.” – Francis Cornford
  • “The problem with the english language is there too much english in it.”
  • “If you want facts read a book – if you want to learn, find a teacher.”
  • “Research not re-search, why do you need to search for something again?”
  • “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.“
  • “Never stop learning. Even an idiot sometimes has a great idea. I know, i am often that idiot.”
  • “Teach a man to fish he’ll pay you once, sell a man a fish and he’ll pay you for a lifetime.”
  • ” what must be known eventually should be known immediately” – Henry Kissinger

 

Attitude & Self-Improvement

  • “The best apology is changed behavior.“
  • “It doesn’t have to be done right the first time. It just has to look like it was done right the first time.”
  • “A stupid question better than a stupid mistake.”
  • “There is nothing noble about being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.” – Hemingway
  • “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
  • “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”
  • “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.”
  • “Religion is doing what you’re told, no matter what is right. Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you’re told.”
  • “You will never be great if you don’t have the patience to be average for a while.”
  • “The most successful people are those who are good at plan b.”
  • “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
  • “Anxiety is just ambition without action.”
  • “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
  • “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
  • “you dont have to earn my trust, all you can do is loose it”
  • “Thinking is stressful. Doing is easy.”
  • “Harsh feedback hurts less than harsh outcomes.”
  • “I was wrong builds more respect than i told you so.”
  • “Kites rise highest against the wind – not with it.” – Winston Churchill
  • “A man does not build his reputation on what he is “going” to do. Don’t judge yourself by your intentions but by your actions.”
  • “Discipline is doing what needs to be done even if you don’t want to do it.”
  • “Bite less; chew more.”
  • “Sucking at something is the first step towards being kinda good at something.”
  • “You become who you spend your time with.”
  • “Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” ― W.P. Kinsella
  • “It’s better to take care of it now than have to think about it later.”

 

Interpersonal & Societal

 

  • “If there’s one universal truth throughout history its that the people shutting down the press are the good guys, always.”
  • “Friends are family chosen by you.”
  • “I’m not upset with you personally, this situation just sucks.”
  • “When you’re good at something you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something they’ll tell you.”
  • “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” – G. K. Chesterton
  • “If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.”
  • “A people hire A people, and B people hire C people.”
  • “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut
  • “I understand if this is where the road ends, but if you can do or recommend anything, i’d really appreciate it.”
  • “I really appreciate your patience and willingness to try.”
  • ” How was the play?” ” You know, people pretending to be people”
  • “Secrets, secrets are no fun, secrets, secrets hurt someone.”
  • “If you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu.”
  • “You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.”
  • “I have a formula (for good management) – three words: Organize, deputize, and supervise. You can always find people who are smarter than you are to do a job – if you pick the right people and you give them full authority to run it – and let them run it without any interference. If they make too big of a mistake, you fire them.” – Wilkie Leighton
  • “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry Truman
  • “Too many people think arguments are about finding out who’s right, rather than what’s right.”
  • “Don’t try to understand women. Just try to understand one woman at a time.”
  • “Fatherhood is the grief of leaving one stage of life, while being overjoyed about entering the next.” – Christopher Sampson
  • “Make friends with change, it’s the only thing you can count on.” – Cullen Bohannon
  • “There he goes. One of god’s own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” – Hunter S. Thompson
  • “There’s two types of parent: The ‘i’m in deep shit, i hope my parents don’t find out!’ and the ‘i’m in deep shit, better call them!'”
  • ” Look, working with you is like working alone, only harder”
  • “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” —Mark Twain

 

Life & Humor

 

  • “There are many parts of my youth that i’m not proud of. There were loose threads – untidy parts of me that i would like to remove. But when i pulled on one of those threads – it unraveled the tapestry of my life.” – Captain Jean Luc Pickard
  • “Here’s hoping a random universe works out in your favour.” – Young Sheldon Chem teacher
  • “The early bird gets the worm, but the late worm dodges death.”
  • “The longer i live on this planet, the more i understand why roosters start their day screaming.”
  • “A fish tank is the opposite of a submarine.”
  • “A man with one watch knows the time, a man with two is never sure.”
  • “Normality is a paved road. It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.“
  • “Lemons are not a naturally occurring fruit. They were created in se asia by crossing a citron with a bitter orange around 4000 years ago. They were spread around the world after found to prevent scurvy. Life didn’t give us lemons.. We made them ourselves.”
  • “Make plans like an adult and believe in them like a child.”
  • “With the all spark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call… home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight… but watching over them in secret… waiting… protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye. I am, optimus prime and i send this message to any surviving autobots taking refuge among the stars: we are here… we are waiting.” – Optimus Prime
  • “They say people with autism take things literally. I disagree, those are kleptomaniacs.” – Ztexcius
  • “There’s those thinking more or less less is more but if less is more how you’re keeping score? Means for every point you make your level drops kinda like its starting from the top you can’t do that…” – Eddie Vader
  • “Great moments in human history usually have an opposition that is exactly proportional to their greatness.”
  • “And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” Confucius