Learning How to Learn is a book written by Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., Terry Sejowski, Ph.D., and Alistair Mcconvile. This book contains several ways to optimize the learning process. Of course, this book is not only for students who are studying. It is also for people who are already working, parents who have children, athletes, basically anyone who wants to improve their learning skills. I personally believe that learning is a never-ending process. My goal in writing this article is not only as an intermezzo, but also to help anyone improve their learning methods and make it easier to learn anything, including data science.
This book presents several methodologies that enhance our ability to learn something. I will discuss some of them along with my personal experiences in applying the methods I have learned. Here are some points that I think are important and interesting to learn.
Pomodoro
Have you ever lost focus while studying? Like when you’re reading your material and then you pick up your phone and before you know it, 15 minutes have been wasted checking your phone. For some reason, when I’m studying something, I always find it difficult to focus. I feel like it’s a bad thing and I think I’m the only one who feels this way. After reading the book Learning How to Learn, I understand that this is normal and can be improved.
When learning something, the human brain enters two modes: focus mode and diffusion mode. Focus mode is when we are very focused on doing something, while diffusion mode is a state in which our brain is very relaxed. It is like when we daydream or doodle in a book.
When we study science or mathematics, we often hit dead ends after trying repeatedly without understanding the point being made, and we experience even more challenges beyond that. When we learn something new, we sometimes experience dead ends. There are two reasons why this can happen. The first is that from the beginning, you do not understand the point you are learning. In cases like this, you can only learn it from the beginning.
The second cause of writer’s block is when you already understand something but for some reason cannot understand it when you try to do it. If you experience this, what you can do is switch from focus mode to diffusion mode. You can take a 5-minute break from studying to listen to music, play with your younger sibling, or just open Instagram.
Barbara first introduced a technique called the pomodoro, an Italian word that means “tomato”. In the 1980s, Francesco Cirillo discovered a way to help people who had a habit of procrastinating. He created a tomato-shaped timer.
The first step in practicing the Pomodoro Technique is to set a timer for 25 minutes and eliminate all distractions, such as your phone, TV, or tablet. Then focus on what you want to learn. After 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break. Reward yourself for completing a difficult task for 25 minutes. Watch a funny video on Instagram, play with your pet, and drink the coffee you made.
I will give my testimony about using the Pomodoro Technique. Before using the Pomodoro Technique, I often found myself doing nothing but staring at my books because I had difficulty understanding them, and I made very little progress. I can say that 25 minutes using Pomodoro is much more effective than studying for 2 hours without Pomodoro.
Sleep
Researcher Guang Yang, a professor at Columbia University who studies neurons, discovered that neurons do indeed change. Significant changes occur after we learn something and then sleep. While we sleep, the brain practices what we have learned so that when we wake up, we have a better understanding than before.
One way you can try to improve your understanding is to study something and then take a few days off to rest and not study it, and then repeat studying it a few days later. This activity can build a more solid and robust understanding compared to forcing yourself to learn something in a short period of time. During college, my friends and I often did this, and the result was that we forgot some of what we had learned, even though at night I was sure that I had memorized it.
Exercise
BDNF, or brain-derived neurotrophic factor, is a substance secreted by the brain when we exercise. The function of BDNF is to increase the branching between neurons in the brain so that we can learn better.
In addition to improving our physical health, exercise also has other benefits, such as producing serotonin, which improves our mood and makes us feel happy. Exercise can also improve understanding, decision-making, and focus. Exercise can also help people recover from mental illness. Some psychologists say that exercise is better than taking medication.
I will give my testimonial after exercising regularly and its effect on my ability to learn and my mental health. First of all, I exercise four times a week, three days for weight training and one day for cardio. Before exercising regularly, it was very difficult for me to focus when studying. The combination of exercise and the Pomodoro Technique has really helped me improve my focus.
For my mental health, I often experience stress at work, and after work I continue with exercise. After exercising, I feel more relieved, and my body becomes very tired so I can go to bed earlier. Previously, I often stayed up late, but after exercising, my sleep schedule has slowly returned to normal.
I would like to offer some advice to my readers who are working or at school and want to do cardio exercise before starting their day, such as jogging at five in the morning. My advice is to eat and shower immediately afterwards, followed by a short nap of 10 to 15 minutes. In my experience, after doing cardio exercise, we tend to feel very sleepy.
Author’s note
When learning, we certainly encounter many difficulties, but Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., has provided some helpful tips in her book Learning How to Learn. Of course, we can gain a better understanding of how to learn more effectively. My advice is to keep experimenting to find the most effective learning style for you. Whether it’s with a specific duration or under certain conditions. If you want to learn more about this topic, I highly recommend purchasing the book “Learning How to Learn” at your favorite bookstore.
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