Learning - A Work in Progress for Life!

For the last month, I have been pursuing this course called “Learning How to Learn” on Coursera. It has helped me so much, and I am actively trying to inculcate some of the points advised into my actual life. Operative word being try, since I have got used to certain habits. However, I’m a work in progress.

This course has an assignment where we need to explain three main topics of the course as if someone else were learning from me. I’m hoping I can get across my point nicely, since I’m used to explaining things personally than through written cues.

Some of the things you need to know before you go ahead:
1) Some statements of mine refer to computer science and related subjects, since that has been my main subject for the past six years.

2) I have mentioned a few points but not elaborated it over there:

Chunking: This is when a lot of information in your brain is processed together to form one ball of information. This makes it easier to put it into your brain. Imagine it as multiple small bags put into one slightly larger bag in order to save space.

Modes of thinking: There are two modes of thinking:

Diffuse mode: It is the mode where your brain is relaxed. You aren’t putting pressure on it, and the brain makes patterns easier.

Focused mode: This mode is what your brain goes into when you’re learning something new. You concentrate wholly on that concept so as to get it into your brain and infuse it with your long-term memory.

Okay? I’m hoping you don’t get too bored. Let me confess, I have gone on Tumblr, chatted with a friend and used my mobile while doing all the work for this article. As I said, inculcating new habits is a work in progress for me. At least, I have started sleeping early. Oh man, spoiler to the article below. :D

 

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The three topics I’ll be covering today are:

        a)      Sleep – necessity for learning

        b)      Procrastination – why it must be avoided, or lessened

        c)       Metaphors and visualization – Really good learning tools

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Topic A: Sleep – Not as much as Sleeping Beauty

So, we have our usual arguments when it comes to sleep – we want to sleep in because we didn’t get enough sleep, or we pride ourselves in staying up till 4 am and doing absolutely nothing.

However, sleep affects our focus. And long term lack of sleep leads to a lot of problems.

Apart from the presence of dark circles, I mean.

So, when you say you’re gonna relax right before going to bed, don’t. Take some study book and read it before going to sleep. Why??

Because your brain goes into the diffuse mode, and forms patterns from all the information. Chunks are formed, and voila, you remember stuff!

I know people burn the midnight oil during the exams, and I do that as well (I am a morning person, though). However, remembering things during an exam is crucial, and lack of sleep hinders it.

Imagine your brain storage area as water. Throughout the day, stress, random distractions and useless information forms sludge in your brain. When you sleep, this sludge is washed away, thus leaving you with mostly clean water to start afresh.

If you get really little sleep, you are going to an exam with a distracted, occupied mind, which doesn’t leave you room to focus your concentration on the topic you’re giving the test on.

Also, also, also…

Did you know? If you really think about dreaming about something, high chances are that you will dream about it? You might apply this to non-studies matters as well, but if not, you can match information in your head, while ASLEEP. Isn’t that so cool!

Okay, I’m hoping you’re not asleep by now. That was a lot of words. Here’s chocolate to wake you up.

Effect on Me: I have started going to sleep at 11 pm rather than my usual 2 am nowadays. Partly because I started sleeping on the bus to college, and that gave me an idea of how sleepy I was.

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Topic B: Procrastination – Let me go do everything in the world before I tackle this

Come on, everyone does this. Even you, in the corner shaking your head, you do it as well. When you’re doing something, you’re procrastinating doing something else. If you have multiple assignments to complete, you know you’re gonna do the easy one first and keep the hard one for last. Even then, you’ll probably go on social networking sites, listen to music, sleep and then come back to it

Apparently if you are doing something that you actively dislike, then your brain reacts exactly like it would if you were in pain. This is me with electrical subjects. Put me near anything with a circuit diagram and I run away from it as if it were Voldemort.

So, if you say, “I’m hurting because of this darn subject,” you’re not lying, according to your brain.

When you try to feel better by going to Facebook, or calling a friend, the pain reactors go away. This is just a temporary fix. One of the ways you can avoid procrastination is to make a list of tasks to complete within a certain time the previous night. This way, you have a target to complete, thus reducing the amount of “Laters” you usually say.

One of the main reasons you delay stuff is because you don’t like it. You can fix it by doing that one task first in the morning. In this way, you get it over with and can look forward to doing the easier tasks. If you continue doing this for a long time, it overwrites your usual habits, thus reducing your procrastination.

Habit has 4 stages:

Cue – Launches you into Habit

Routine – Series of actions

Reward – Expecting something in return for doing routine

Belief – Believing that you can complete the task

This can be abbreviated to CRRB: Cow Roams while Ruminating Boredly

If the cue launches you into procrastination mode, changing the location you’re sitting in, or keeping your phone away changes the usual routine, thus changing the habit as well. You can reward yourself with a nice walk, chatting with an old friend, but not too much as well.

Effect on Me: Not much, I’m still trying to get this to work. Let’s see if I actually complete the tasks on that sticky note

 

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Topic C: Metaphors and Visualizations in Learning – You’d rather remember ice cream than algorithms

C (a) Metaphors

When you don’t know how to make heads or tails of a subject, metaphors come to your rescue. Since they are simple real-world examples, you can apply it to the concept and have a vague understanding. That, then, helps you learn further. The next time you read that part of your book, you would probably remember the metaphor that went with it as well.

For example, searching for a particular line in a reference book is like searching for a needle through a haystack.

(P.S. Not entirely accurate, because of indexing, but let’s run with it, please?)

There are other ways that help you learn faster, better and in a fun way. My two favorite ones were : Acronyms and Memory Palace.

C (b) Acronyms

If you see right above, I’ve made one of those for the four stages of a Habit. So, when I think of something launching me into a habit, I see the cow’s face, and I remember it instantly!

This helps you a lot when you have multiple terms to remember. Be sure that you remember the actual terms along with the acronym statement.

C (c) Memory Palace

Look ma, Even Sherlock does it!

Imagine a part of your house, one you know very well. Now imagine weird items all over that part. Would catch your attention, wouldn’t it?

Let’s take an example for the ingredients for pancakes: Eggs, milk, flour, sugar and chocolate (Cuz I like chocolate pancakes)

I shall suppose I have flour on the window, eggs cracked on the floor, a milk carton ready to spill milk, a big slab of chocolate on the computer desk and a sugar bowl where I usually sit

In real life, it’s not possible for all of this to spill (Knock on wood!) Thus, this absurdity will be ingrained in my mind and I will recall it every time I think about pancakes.

The memory palace technique works best when you have a list of items that don’t go with each other. Studies have shown that people who went through the memory palace technique a couple of times got many more items on the list than people who merely memorized it.

Effect on Me: I actively used metaphors and acronyms before this course. I’m making a point to use it more in this semester. Memory palace is a technique I am intrigued by, but yet to use.

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So that’s it for now. I hope you had fun in learning how to learn. This course will be starting soon again. If you want to hear the lectures from the experts themselves, go check out their course here!

Please tell me if you liked this article!

Sources:

    1)  You Ready Gif - http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-01/3/21/enhanced/webdr10/anigif_enhanced-buzz-14533-1420340283-5.gif

    2)  Big Slab of Chocolate – https://www.bakeaton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Dark-slab-close-up.jpg

    3) Cow chewing – http://sites.psu.edu/rclambergabel/wp-content/uploads/sites/5001/2014/03/istock_000003149416medium.jpg

    4)  Sherlock and his Mind Palace - http://anotherboywholived.tumblr.com/post/16156334049/how-to-build-your-own-mind-palace