The Value of a Library of Chunks: Compaction, Transfer, Creativity and the Law of Serendipity

Question 1

How do people enhance their knowledge to gain expertise?

Answer 1

By gradually building the number of chunks in their minds so that have a great deal of PK/schema from which to choose to think critically and creatively

Question 2

How can you strategically increase your ability to solve problems and figure out solutions in any given subject?

Answer 2

By creating bigger and well-practiced chunked mental libraries per subject.

Question 3

What is creative flexibility?

Answer 3

The ability to reach into the brain an easily access and retrieve knowledge to solve problems and figure out solutions or create something new.

Question 4

How does understanding one chunk of information help you understand other new concepts?

Answer 4

When you have stored chunks that exist as prior knowledge and the brain seeks to match to PK while it strives to understand (pin balling until it finds a match), it can match what is already known to what you are trying to understand and give you a little insight into it - even if it’s not exactly the same, just similar

Question 5

What is transfer?

Answer 5

The process of coming to understand a new concept by matching it to some similar quality of an already stored knowledge chunk

Question 6

Give some examples of transferred chunks?

Answer 6

1. transferrable skills
2. Concept of saving can extend to all different subjects in different ways, just different content
3. the process of learning a language can be transferred to learning computer programming