Learning is Creating Flashcards
Name some activities that I find helpful switching from focused mode to diffuse?
When I have done couple of focused mode I can use any of the following to switch my mind to diffuse mode:
- Walking, Running, Cycling, Drawing, Talking with friends, Listening to music, Driving my car somewhere, Sleeping;
Sometimes I can feel certain I have explored new approaches to analysing a problem, when I actually haven’t. What can I do to become more actively aware of my thinking processes to help myself open to other possibilities. Should I always keep myself open to new possibilities?
While I’m in focused mode, my mind tends to enter in the so called focused patterns, where I explore only this first solution that pops in my mind. I need to distract myself from the topic for a couple hours so that my brain can enter in diffuse mode.
Another option here is to talk with other peoples, friends, classmates, teachers on the topic. It is important that first I have worked in focused mode, so that I have basic understanding and enough knowledge to accept different view points.
It is always important to help myself open to new possibilities, this encourages my creativity.
Why is important to use self-control to make myself stop doing something? Can I think of times outside of studying and academics when this skill might be important?
I need to stop myself on time, before I get frustrated or angry. This shuts down my brain for the learning process. Is such cases I need to step away from the learning and start relaxing or doing something fun and interesting.
When you are learning new concepts, you want to review the material within a day so that the initial changes you made in your brain don’t fade away. But your mind often becomes preoccupied with other matters - it is easy to let several days or more pass before you get around to looking at the material. What kind of action could you develop to ensure that you review important new material in a timely fashion?
I can use spaced repetition technique, combined with flash-cards.
Another important step that I can take is to learn a little bit of the material every day. This way I will progress, and will let my brain understand the topic I’m learning.
Describe Working Memory
Working memory is like a blackboard, where my brain holds the immediate information. When I learn new topic it stays in my working memory. It can hold up to 4 items.
Describe Long-term Memory
Long-term memory is like a storage warehouse of my brain. Here I can store all concepts, and all of the information that I need to remember forever. In order to transfer information from working memory to long-term, brain needs enough repetition so that mental markers are created. This is also the ultimate process of deep-learning, to transfer new concepts and ideas from working memory to long-term memory.
