Chapter 4 Flashcards
What Happens When You Focus Your Attention?
Focusing your attention to connect parts of the brain is an important part of the focused mode of learning.
When you are angry, stressed or afraid what happens?
when you are stressed, your attentional octopus begins to lose the ability to make some of those connections in your brain and impedes learning.
What is a chunk?
Chunks are pieces of information that are bound together through meaning.
What are conceptual chunks? Why are they useful?
mental leaps that unite separate bits of information through meaning.
one of the first steps toward gaining expertise in math and science is to create conceptual chunks.
What are the 3 basic steps to form a chunk?
- focus your attention on the information you want to chunk.
- The second step in chunking is to understand the basic idea you are trying to chunk.
- The third step to chunking is gaining context so you see not just how, but also when to use this chunk.
What is the value of concept chunks?
Understanding the underlying concept makes it easier to detect errors when you make them.
It also makes it much easier to apply your knowledge to novel problems, a phenomenon called transfer.
What does practice help you do?
Ultimately, practice helps you broaden the networks of neurons connected to your chunk, ensuring that it is not only firm, but also accessible from many different paths.
Learning takes place in two ways. What are they?
Top-down
top-down “big picture” process that allows you to see where what you are learning fits in.
Bottom-up
bottom-up chunking process where practice and repetition can help you both build and strengthen each chunk, so you can easily gain access to it when needed.
What must you do before you go to sleep?
Before going to sleep, repeat what you want to remember the other day.
What is more effective than re-reading?
Recall.
When should re-reading be used?
In spaced repetition.
What must you do when underlying text?
Look for main ideas and keep underlying to a minimum.
Words or notes in a margin that synthesize key concepts are a good idea.
How should you work through your homework?
always work through homework problems in math and science on your own.
What should you do if there’s something new you are learning?
Touch it again within the day.
Rewrite your notes in the evening.
How long can you expand the “upkeep” repetitions once you have something down?
To weeks or months.
How long should you work with a concept?
work with the concept until it becomes second nature, so you can begin to use it like a tool.
What can you do to improve the understanding of a concept?
Read it over, then look away and see what you can recall—working toward understanding what you are recalling at the same time. Then glance back, reread the concept, and try it again.
Law of Serendipity?
Just focus on whatever section you are studying. You’ll find that once you put the first problem or concept in your library, whatever it is, then the second concept will go in a bit more easily. And the third more easily still. Not that all of this is a snap, but it does get easier.
How should you practice regarding the context?
when learning any new skill or discipline, you need plenty of varied practice with different contexts.
How can you use different places to strengthen your memory?
recalling material when you are outside your usual place of study helps you strengthen your grasp of the material by viewing it from a different perspective.
What is interleaving?
Interleaving means practice by doing a mixture of different kinds of problems requiring different strategies.
Should we over learn?
Overlearning can have its place—it can help produce an automaticity that is important when you are executing a serve in tennis or playing a perfect piano concerto.
But be wary of repetitive overlearning during a single session in math and science learning—research has shown it can be a waste of valuable learning time.
How should we combine interleaving with index cards?
Consider creating index cards with the problem question on one side, and the question and solution steps on the other. That way you can easily shuffle the cards and be faced with a random variety of techniques you must call to mind.
How can you get the most bang for your buck regarding over learning?
To get the most bank for the buck, Once they understand ‘X,’ they should move on to something else and return to ‘X’ on another day.”
