What is the Best Way to Learn Things.

[Gauntlet]

Just curious as to how other people feel is the best way for them to learn things. Mine could be considered strange, by being willing to screw up. Many people feel that is not a good way to learn things, but I feel that it is, as by making mistakes not only do you see that it should not be done but get to realize the consequences as well. The only thing with this is to make sure that you make every mistake original as if you are repeating mistakes then you are not actually learning anything.

[Cancer]

Unfortunately, the most successful style varies among people, partly because individuals' native aptitudes vary.

[Gauntlet]

12 minutes ago, Cancer said:

Unfortunately, the most successful style varies among people, partly because individuals' native aptitudes vary.

 

True, but I'm just curious as to how other people do it.

[Cancer]

There's a cascade of anecdotes in the Academics thread about methods that don't work ....

Edited October 7, 2023 by Cancer

[Asperion]

22 hours ago, Gauntlet said:

Just curious as to how other people feel is the best way for them to learn things. Mine could be considered strange, by being willing to screw up. Many people feel that is not a good way to learn things, but I feel that it is, as by making mistakes not only do you see that it should not be done but get to realize the consequences as well. The only thing with this is to make sure that you make every mistake original as if you are repeating mistakes then you are not actually learning anything.

 

Actually,  this is the method most often used by the most successful people in most industries and the way I prefer.  Most researchers have discovered that it gets the best results with the least input.  That's basically how apprenticeship operate, and they worked great for millennia. 

[Gauntlet]

Yaaaaaaaay!!!!!

 

Being original with you screw ups makes you a smart one! 🙃

[Cancer]

Originality has much to commend it, and a determination to get an answer that agrees with others may put you at the bottom of Broken Bulldozer Gulch.

[DentArthurDent]

There is a lot of good research in this area and several classification systems.
One of the easiest to use is the Gregorc Mind Styles.

It works well most of the time. Is fairly easy to determine. And has direct application in teaching and training.

However …

Learning is greatly influenced by our settings, our colleagues, and our physical and mental states.

PDF with descriptions, an assessment, and applications: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5fd8/6823b1ebdaa254f17f6a1ce6d83fadc58bba.pdf
 

SUNY Faculty page: https://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/learning/gregorc.htm

[DentArthurDent]

Personally, I’m very abstract sequential. Most people think that I just jump into new situations and learn as I go. But I go through all possibilities that I can think of before jumping in. It helps that I know there is no such thing as ‘complete information’. We know what we know and we do the best we can. 
 

It also helps to pause a half second and watch the first guy sink in over his head. And then looking for a boat.

[Bazza]

Best way to learn thing. Learn logic, epistemology & ontology from a philosophical realist perspective, eg Plato, Aristotle, or Aquino’s. 

Aquinas*

[Gauntlet]

I all think that the best way to learn something is to already know it. If you already know it then you already learned it. 

 

[Pariah]

"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."

 

~ Will Rogers

[Bazza]

All learning is but remembering. Paraphrasing Plato. 

[Gauntlet]

3 hours ago, Pariah said:

"There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."

 

~ Will Rogers

 

Zap! Owww! 

 

Yea, that's me. 🤪

 

I actually did it once in response to a bet. It didn't hurt much, but then again what does when you got a bottle of 151 in you.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Gauntlet

[Pariah]

3 hours ago, Bazza said:

All learning is but remembering. Paraphrasing Plato. 

 

"Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons."

~ Vizzini the Sicilian 

 

[Pariah]

I'm also a fan of this one, which is a more serious approach to the question:

 

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

A big part of learning, in my experience, is being willing & able not to give up when it gets difficult. Because anything worth knowing will be difficult at some point. 

[Starlord]

In my experience, I have observed that by far the quickest and most efficient way of learning is by jacking into a computer system and having the program uploaded directly into your brain.  You can learn things like kung fu or how pilot a helicopter in like 10 sevonds that way.

[Gauntlet]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

In my experience, I have observed that by far the quickest and most efficient way of learning is by jacking into a computer system and having the program uploaded directly into your brain.  You can learn things like kung fu or how pilot a helicopter in like 10 sevonds that way.

 

No, you find the person who knows what you want/need to know and eat their brains. That way not only do you get the skills, but you take out the competition as well. Sheesh, it's simple science!!!

 

Or nutrition...

 

Or magic...

 

Or...

 

Well it doesn't matter, I just have to go find someone to eat! I'll have a better answer soon enough!

Edited October 10, 2023 by Gauntlet

[Bazza]

10 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

"Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons."

~ Vizzini the Sicilian 

 

Inconceivable. 

[Bazza]

2 hours ago, Starlord said:

In my experience, I have observed that by far the quickest and most efficient way of learning is by jacking into a computer system and having the program uploaded directly into your brain.  You can learn things like kung fu or how pilot a helicopter in like 10 sevonds that way.

 

24 minutes ago, Gauntlet said:

 

No, you find the person who knows what you want/need to know and eat their brains. That way not only do you get the skills, but you take out the competition as well. Sheesh, it's simple science!!!

 

Or nutrition...

 

Or magic...

 

Or...

 

Well it doesn't matter, I just have to go find someone to eat! I'll have a better answer soon enough!

Skip the middle man and eat computer systems… #HappyToHelp

[Pattern Ghost]

Repetition. You can go about it in many ways, but moving things into long term memory basically requires repetition. Or trauma. But since trauma's a bit impractical -- eventually the subject will get desensitized to most common methods employed to instill trauma in a classroom setting -- it really comes down to some form of repetition. I think how you receive the information matters to a degree, but not as much as sheer repetition. (As you'll see, a good amount of variety in input methods is helpful, IMO. I just don't buy into the "visual/verbal/tactile" learner model as being that important.)

 

If you want to remember facts, you can simply feed yourself the facts through repetition, maybe varying the intake methods. If you want to learn theories, proceed the same way, but you'll probably want to involve some practical thinking exercises in your repetition, similar to learning a physical skill. If you want to learn a physical skill, you perform it many times, until it's an ingrained skill. 

 

Here's a strategy that works well for most college work: Do your homework. Keep up on your assigned reading. Go into class, and take notes on the lecture (ideally, the reading topic is assigned in advance of the lecture, so the lecture serves to reinforce the reading. Immediately after class, if you have time, re-read your notes. Correct any sloppy writing so you can decipher it later if necessary. That little bit of repetition is very useful for shoving stuff into longer term memory. You go home, you rewrite your notes or type them up again. Then you do your homework. Re-read those notes periodically. and review all of your notes for the class, and think about how all of this fits together. (And classes should be designed so that they reference earlier material in later lessons if possible.) Also keep notes on your reading. Screw highlighting. Write the important points down. The act of writing helps shove that stuff up into the brain better.

 

Other forms of repetition for learning languages, used by students (and a bit by me) in DLI: Flash cards. Labeling everything in your environs in your target language. Watching news broadcasts in your target language. Outside reading in your target language -- newspapers and periodicals are good here, but you can read literature as well if you're more intermediate to advanced. Playing games in your target language, if available. Full immersion, communicating only in your target language (at one point, you didn't get fed at the chow hall if you couldn't order your food in the target language, and the chow hall was divided by languages, but they weren't doing that while I was there.) All forms of repetition. 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Pattern Ghost

[Bazza]

the Best Way to Learn Things…enjoy doing it. If you don’t enjoy it, it becomes a chore pretty quickly and any motivation is gone. If you enjoy it, then it becomes a benefit to your life. 

[death tribble]

I am surprised that no-one has said at gunpoint.......

[Gauntlet]

Well Mr. Death Tribble. It's nice to see another Star Trek and Pink Floyd fan.

 

But back on the subject, I have found that the only real way I can learn how to do something is to actually do it. I can read a manual for centuries and still not get it, but get in and do it, and it becomes permanently in my head.

[Duke Bushido]

Deciding it needs to be done.  Once I can't get around that, I'll get it figured out.