Education Archives

Effective Learning Is About Balancing Tensions

What’s the key to effective learning? How do you know when to stop and take a break? When it comes to learning, there are no clear, sharp lines that indicate what to do, where to stop, and so on. For example, your body gives no obvious indication of when you’ve reached your mental limits, so you have to learn to sense when that edge is near. According to Josh Waitzkin, the key to effective learning is to balance three tensions: 1) exertion and relaxation, 2) process and results, 3) the technical and the creative. Here’s how to supercharge your learning by

Advice on Learning Through Trial and Error

Is trial and error a good way to learn? Do you take time to reflect and extract lessons from your mistakes? Error is inherent in learning. Mistakes reveal the flaws in our skills and show us where to grow. The key to learning through trial and error is to focus on the process, not the results. If you fixate on results, you’ll get derailed by mistakes, not learn from them. Here’s why growth comes from trial and error.

How to Find Your Personal Learning Style

What is your preferred way of learning? Why is it important to learn according to your natural, personal learning style? Your personal style is how you instinctively approach learning. When you learn in a way that aligns with your personal learning style, learning comes much easier and you encode the material much faster. Keep reading to learn how to find your personal learning style, which stems from your unique relationship to your skill.

Malcolm Gladwell: Success Comes From Opportunity

What is the key determinant of success in life? Is it hard work? Genetics? Privilege? According to Malcolm Gladwell, success is impossible without the opportunity to become successful no matter how hard you work. Furthermore, Gladwell writes that people who get opportunities early in life have a huge advantage over those whose opportunities come later in life. Here’s why earlier opportunities are more impactful.

Debates Over the Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule

What is the ten-thousand-hour rule? Who first came up with the rule, and what is the research behind it? The ten-thousand-hour rule basically says that you need to practice a skill for at least ten thousand hours before you can be considered an expert. After Malcolm Gladwell published these findings in his book Outliers, there have been a number of criticisms. Here’s why the ten-thousand-hour rule doesn’t hold up.

How to Use Focused & Diffuse Thinking to Learn

What’s the difference between focused and diffuse thinking? How can you leverage these two modes to maximize learning? Authors Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski offer a number of tips for enhancing your learning that are based on your brain’s ability to alternate between different modes of thinking. They assert that your brain operates in two separate modes, each of which contributes to learning and problem solving in different ways. They call these two modes “focused thinking” and “diffuse thinking.” Read on to learn these ways of improving your learning ability.

Are We Living in the Age of False Knowledge?

Are we living in the age of false knowledge? How did the advent of the internet contribute to the spread of false knowledge? In the internet age, false knowledge is spreading like wildfire. People consider themselves experts because they have easy access to information, but they never gain a deeper understanding of it. Here’s how the advent of the internet has given rise to the age of false knowledge.

How to Learn Effectively: 4 Tips to Maximize Study

Do you know how to learn effectively? What are some practical study habits you can use to learn more? In their book Learning How to Learn, Oakley and Sejnowski explain how neural pathways are created in your brain. Then they suggest four learning strategies that take advantage of the way your brain stores information: embracing a multisensory learning style, making up metaphors, skimming books first, and diversifying your studies. Keep reading for details on these strategies.

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) School Model

What is the KIPP school model? How does the KIPP school model differ from the traditional American model of education? The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Academy began in the South Bronx as an experimental, public middle school intended to create opportunities for success for low-income, underserved communities. By extending students’ time in school (both over the course of the day and over the course of the year), KIPP’s approach compensates for some of the disadvantages low-income students face. Let’s take a closer look at how KIPP helped students succeed by challenging the cultural norms of the American school system.

How to Study Efficiently: 4 Ways to Aid Neuron Growth

What are some practical ways to study more efficiently? What study habits can help your brain perform better? Authors Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski explain how neurons work in your brain and how stronger synapses make it easier to recall information. Then they discuss four study habits you can use to promote neuron growth: exercising between study sessions, testing yourself with active recall, practicing spaced repetition, and getting enough sleep. Keep reading for details on how to study efficiently.