Learning How to Learn - A Review
Learning how to learn has always been a struggle, I think. Ancient philosophers invested significant time and energy into thinking about pedagogy. Though we have advanced in many ways, our struggle to learn has not changed that much, since we are still humans with the same basic traits as the ancients.
The difference in our age is that everyone promises easy ways to learn with half the effort. Usually, those new ways to learn are ineffective in the long run. Meanwhile, the sheer number of distractions and their addictiveness have increased. While there is nothing new under the sun, I think that Nicholas Carr is on to something with his book, The Shallows.
As an instructor, I am seeing a generation rise that tends to struggle with focus and learning in ways that are changing. This is not as much as “kids these days” comment as it is an awareness that the ubiquity of digital entertainment and information overload has made it more difficult for people to make connections between concepts, retain that information, and see the value in knowing anything that can be looked up. Since by federal law the end of the training course I supervise is a closed book exam, there is no escape from the informational demands, just a greater struggle to get to the finish line.
My wife found and enjoyed Barbara Oakley’s 2014 book, A Mind for Numbers, in which she talks about how she went from being a very verbal person to an engineering professor over a number of years. In 2018, along with Terrence Sejnowski and Alistair McConville, she published a volume for kids, Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School without Spending All Your Time Studying.
As the subtitle hints, the selling point on this is instrumental. Read this book and you’ll get smarter faster. However, given that a book advertising the benefits of learning for its own sake is less likely to sell, I can’t really fault the publisher for their choice in titles. In the end, the book is helpful whether you are learning how to learn to get ahead or simply for the value of learning on its own.
Summary
The book opens with an introduction to the main authors. More significantly, the book tells students that “follow your passion” is bad advice. It’s a good way to start. Their point is that just because something is hard or unpleasant does not mean that it is not a good thing that you come to enjoy. In Chapter Two, the authors shift to describing types of thinking, noting that we need to practice both focused thinking when we are zeroed in on solving a problem or getting information, but we also need to use diffuse thinking, where we allow ideas to bounce around in the back of our head. A lot of creative thought and connection of ideas comes during diffuse thinking. The issue is that its not enough to try to blast through studying in one chunk, there has to be time for multiple focused hits and diffuse mulling to get things embedded. So this is not a book that simply tells you to work harder, it is intended to help teach how to study smarter for better results.
The third chapter wrestles with focus and procrastination. The authors provide some hints to help overcome the hard start as well as to increase focus. One big tip they recommend is the Pomodoro method. Chapter Four drills into some neuroscience, describing how many scientists believe information is stored and provided some tips on how to strengthen neural pathways. The visual aids in this chapter help with understanding, and the understanding can be useful in providing motivation for study. The fifth chapter offers an exhortation to take up subjects that are new, even at the risk of being bad at it. Chapter Six emphasizes the need for proper sleep so that the brain can be restored. It also introduces the concept of “spaced retrieval” where a learner looks at material multiple times, preferably with sleep in between. This is the anti-cramming chapter.
Chapter Seven deals with the way our memories work and describes the processes for getting things from short term (working) memory to long-term memory. This is an encouraging chapter for those that struggle with focus, as the authors highlight the potential for people with weaker working memories often have higher capabilities in creativity. The eighth chapter provides to tips and tricks for improving one’s memory. There is nothing earth shattering, but the techniques have been validated, which is encouraging. Chapter Nine talks about building brain links, which elsewhere is called chunking. This is the process of connecting ideas together to strengthen their hold in our minds. The authors recommend focus, repetition, and understanding as key means of retaining knowledge and skills.
The tenth chapter recommends learning in groups, especially exploring more in-depth topics beyond the typical curriculum. Chapter Eleven commends the benefits of both exercise and good nutrition as part of improved learning. The twelfth chapter returns to the construction of brain links and encourages practice over an extended period. The authors commend both deliberate practice (focused study) and interleaving (doing something different between practice or study sessions). Both can be helpful means of solidifying knowledge in the brain. Chapter Thirteen recommends being truthful about how distractions affect a student and then eliminating them. The fourteenth chapter notes that tests are actually some of the best ways to learn and thus commends quizzing and self-testing as a means to ingrain knowledge. Chapter Fifteen provides some helpful tips on being better prepared for tests. And the book concludes in the sixteenth chapter tying many of the concepts together.
Analysis and Conclusion
Learning has not changed drastically over the course of documented human history. There are no real shortcuts to learning, but Learning How to Learn helps to identify roadblocks so they can be removed. In other words, there is not a lot of original content in this volume, but it has been structured and presented in a way that it is accessible to kids.
The target audience of this volume is tweens and teens. There are cartoons and diagrams throughout. The language is simple and plain. On of my children didn’t appreciate the zombie cartoons or analogies, but others might find this makes the book more interesting.
This is the sort of book that will help a motivated student get better. For the kid that is convinced that everything is going to pan out and that video games are enough of a career goal that real learning can be foregone, this book will probably not cross the threshold of engagement. Learning How to Learn isn’t a promise of an easy path to success. For students that want to learn more effectively, this can be an excellent resource. For parents of kids who have some desire to improve, but whose kids are resistant to their input, this book offers a sly way to get good advice into the hands that need it.
I commend this book as a helpful resource. As we try to prepare out children to learn on their own, this sort of book has the potential to assist them in the quest to be successful in their studies and become lifelong learners. It may also begin to form habits of persistence and perseverance that transcend academic success, often bleeding over into so many other venues.
As a bonus, here is Barbara Oakley speaking at Google. This is based on her Mind for Numbers book, but it has basically the same content as the book translated for teens.
The way we talk about humans also has moral implications, which are more significant than how we treat our pets. In his 2011 book, Less than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others, David Livingstone Smith explores how language changes culture and leads to the justification of extreme violence against others, especially when they become perceived as less than human.