Learning how to learn: a brief overview of course materials

How to learn better and be more efficient: simple and useful techniques

I looked at the Coursera “Learning how to learn” course, which tells you how to learn better, memorize information and be more effective, and made a list of 17 tips and tricks. You might find them useful.

1. Pomodoro equipment : 25 minutes of focused, focused work (classes, reading, etc.) without distraction and with reward yourself at the end of the session.
   The technique got its name from the kitchen timer in the form of a tomato, which was used by its author Francesco Cirillo.
   
   You turn off everything that usually distracts (sound in the phone, email, etc.), then set the timer for 25 minutes and immerse yourself in work.
   
   25 minutes is the time during which any person is able to precisely focus and not get tired. You can adapt this time a little for yourself (for example, change to 30 or 24.9 minutes - freedom of opportunity!).
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   Afterwards, be sure to reward yourself somehow: take a walk on the Internet, watch a video with cats, make yourself a cup of coffee, etc. - this will reinforce the useful “reflex” that good work brings pleasure.
   
   This technique has another positive effect, described in the next paragraph.
   
   
2. Step by step in small pieces.
   
   It is better to memorize information in small parts with pauses between them, rather than trying to learn everything at once. This allows you to create fragments in your head — well-connected thoughts and pieces of information that help your “mental puzzle” become more and more complete.
   
   The best metaphor here is a brick wall: if you spread it level by level, letting it dry out, you will get a strong, even laying; if you try to throw all the bricks and cement in a pile at once, you will not get anything but a strange mess.
   
   
3. There are 2 modes of thinking :
   - focused - when you completely control your thoughts and literally watch them;
   - scattered - when you relax and give your thoughts quietly flow in your head; it often helps to find a solution when you get a little stuck in an idea.
   
   Thomas Edison and Salvador Dali used this mode of thinking. When they were working on a task and at some point came to a standstill, they would sit down in a chair, pick up an object that could be heard when falling, and plunge into a light sleep. When the object fell out of the hands and hit the floor, they woke up, and the solution was usually found.
   
   
4. Remembering (call from memory) : when you learn something, try at some moment to break away from the source and try to remember what you have just read or heard. It works much better than just reading it again, because sometimes it seems to us that we remember something while looking at the text, when in fact we just find out what we read.
   
   This technique avoids the illusion of knowledge.
   
   
5. The illusion of knowledge - when it seems that you know something simply because you understand what you hear or learn what you read. This also happens in moments when you focus and learn light material (instead of working with difficult ones too).
   
   
6. Purposeful practice - when you do not just read and learn something, but try to understand it as deeply as possible and practice regularly.
   
   Many people think that the secret of mastery of the world's best specialists is hidden in their certain sacred talent, which is unattainable for mere mortals. However, in most cases, focused practice is exactly what distinguishes a good student from a brilliant one.
   
   
7. Learning is not the best practice when you learn the same thing over and over again, as if driving it into your head. In some cases this is useful - for example, when you rehearse your speech to speak to a large audience (and in other cases when a share of automatism is welcome). But it will work badly if you overdo it, and can form "installations."
   
   
8. “Installation” (“ Einstellung ”) - when you learn something, perform some action or think about something again and again. So you form a stable pattern and can block the finding of other options.
   
   
9. Transfer - when you use some kind of approach or principle of thought, not only in the area where you formed it, but also in others.
   
   This is my favorite technique, because It allows you to understand what a huge number of laws and principles in the world is universal.
   
   You can take a simple example: I know that if I do exercises regularly and for a specific purpose (for certain muscle groups or to improve stretching, etc.), I will get a strong body of the shape I need. And then I take this principle and transfer to learning: if I do exercises to improve memory, speed of reading, improve understanding of the material, I will learn faster and better, that is, I'll get the brain that works the way I want.
   
   
10. Creating metaphors and analogies helps to better understand and memorize. This works especially well in relation to some abstract things (like some elements of higher mathematics). The brighter the images you create, the better.
    
    
11. Change your thoughts and you change your life. The story of Ramon and Kahaly.
    
    Santiago Ramon y Cajal is a Spanish physician and histologist, one of the founders of modern neuroscience, who, along with Camillo Golgi, invented the modern method of staining nerve tissue. As a child, this scientist was not distinguished by his exemplary behavior and at the age of 11 was in prison. But at the age of 20 he began his journey in the field of classical medicine, and, thanks to his efforts and constant purposeful work, he was able to achieve great results, get the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine and become known in history as the father of modern neurobiology.
    
    
12. After making a decision, mentally step back and look at it with the "right hemisphere."
    
    When you focus on something for a long time, trying to solve a problem or understand a material, you become too focused on details and can “not see the forest behind the trees”. Take a short pause and try to see a big picture of what you are doing and whether the meaning of what you want to say is clear.
    
    The left hemisphere helps to see the details, but it is the right one that allows you to summarize information and understand something in general.
    
    
13. Start with the difficult - jump to the simple.
    
    When you need to complete a task (for example, a test), review the entire list and look at the one that seems most difficult. After you read and understand the meaning of the assignment, think about it for a while and proceed to simple assignments. By doing so, you move your complex assignment to the reflection format in the scattered mode described above. When you return to that assignment, you will find a solution much faster.
    
    
14. Change the interpretation of your body signals.
    
    If you are nervous (for example, before an important meeting, a responsible event or an exam) - your hands are sweating, your heartbeat rises - change the interpretation of these signs from “I am afraid” to “I’m excited - mm, it will help me better and great pleasure to complete the task! ".
    
    The fact is that there is a physical sensation or other signals that the body gives us, and there is their understanding at the level of what it means. And these two processes are independent - in the sense that we are able to teach ourselves to “translate” these signals in a very different way.
    
    
15. Deep belly breathing can help if you are nervous. So you manage your “run or fight” reaction , which is produced by the sympathetic nervous system in stressful situations.
    
    
16. Create a list of questions that will help you assess the quality of your work and understand whether it is truly worthwhile.
    
    
17. The impostor syndrome (+ more in Russian ).
    
    Sometimes, when you are in the company of colleagues or fellow students, it may seem that you are not as smart, competent, knowledgeable as the others. As if you were an impostor and turned out to be among them by mistake.
    
    In fact, this feeling is experienced by almost all people in different moments of life. According to a survey conducted on the course website, only 5% of respondents answered that this had never happened to them. This means you have 95% of your friends in misfortune.
    
    The most important thing is to simply let go of thoughts on this matter, continue to work, strive for growth, communicate with colleagues and work with them in a team. And, perhaps, you even learn that you are not alone in your fear.