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What are the most effective learning methods? What is yours?

INTP

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I cant memorize things i dont understand. Key to my learning is understanding the thing i need to learn. When i was taking some psych classes in uni, i used to record the lectures(and listen them many times), write not notes from the class, but what they project on the wall during class(dictionary or me doesent know what they are in english), then look at youtube videos or what ever info from interwebs.
 

Ingrid in grids

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I learn best through narrative. It's important for me to understand concepts and where they fit in a greater context. In my science subjects, I find learning from diagrams and dot points difficult. Generally I've always learned best when I've sat down with the textbook or some papers. Having concepts explained to me in person also helps. As I'm reading or listening, I tend to visualise the concepts, and that self-generated internal image seems to be the one that really sticks. The knowledge consolidates further when I write about it or explain it to someone else.
 

Riva

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27 years old, still haven't figured out the most effective learning method for myself.
 

prplchknz

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tutuorials! i'm actually using that now to teach myself photoshop. i have a 30 day free trial, thinking about geting the creative cloud subscription student version which is all the apps for 20 dollars a month and i think there's 20 in there, i'd probably mostly use dreamweaver and photoshop. but they're 20 dollars each full price. but i'm largely a kinetic learner things don't stick for me unless i do them, i could read a billion books listen to a bunch of lecturs watch a ton of videos on the subject and it be like i still wouldn't know what was going on. I also learn by making mistakes and going hmmm that didn't work and trying something else.
 

Poki

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Analyze what I want to do. May be through tutorials, reading, hands on, asking. I don't have limits on how I learn. I read alot, but not as much books. I read everything around me, whether it be forums, Web pages, books, white papers, etc. I pull in everything around me and learn from it. Learn what to do, why, what not to do and why. Different solutions, each solutions good and bad.
 

Bush

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I didn't post in this thread already? Oh well.

Context. I need context. If I don't know why Pin A goes into Hole B, and what the hell it is we're actually aiming to build, I essentially don't understand the very concept of Pin A going into Hole B. But, hey. That's balanced by being able to bring in some context from similar situations.

And give me examples to play with. Throw some my way, and I don't really need any larnin' that you'd impart upon me.
 

Showbread

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There have been a lot of different ways to learn, and with technology new ways in learning are also being developed that were less possible before.

How much is memorisation over understanding important in how you learn something new? Do you require direct experience to help in understanding? Visual, auditory or feelings about something too?

I find it almost impossible memorize what I do not understand. Things with personal meaning are universally MUCH easier to remember.

I actually really like the traditional lecture format for learning, if the information is moderately interesting to me. I retain a lot from listening, taking notes, asking questions, and discussing concepts. If it's action oriented learning I will pretty much demand that I be able to practice with supervision, because I don't want to fall into the habit of doing something incorrectly.
 

ChocolateMoose123

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If I can explain it, I have learned it. I'm hands on but I don't have a lot of issues learning other ways.

Least favorite is visual. Where someone just shows me what to do. I blank out. Cannot pay attention. I usually ask them to switch places with me and tell me while I execute. I retain quickly that way.
 

Sil

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Kinesthetic (doing) first, visual second. When I am learning by doing, I understand what is it is I'm doing on a much larger scale. I can also perceive multiple possibilities (or alternative ways) of doing something because I have a better large-picture grasp of it. Visual works if the image is either compelling or bound to some sort of narrative. I freak people out when I remember details about them that they posted on a social media sites years ago; I remember it simply because the visual made an impact and it stuck with me (however unconsciously) over the years.

Auditory is pretty much non-existent. It goes in one ear out the other. This was a tough lesson to learn; I used to go into meetings with management without notes, only to come out 2+ hours later with no idea what the heck we'd discussed. I now take pen and paper to anything and everything that might be important. It's not that I need the notes so much as I need the act of writing them down. Once I've written something down I've memorized it (again, that's kinesthetic).
 

Bush

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If I can explain it, I have learned it.
This is one of the best methods out there, bar none. I'd say that it's universally applicable. It shows that you have some rigor in your understanding behind the concept.

Even better is being able to explain it, at least to some extent, to a layperson.
 

danseen

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abstraction. i think of real-life scenarios and fit it in. seems to work well for me, helped me pass my degree.
 

ilikeitlikethat

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Jumping in at the deep end.

Learning business by helping out a friend's business and registering for VAT etc and working out trading standards with stock with suppliers offering sh*t which'll sell but'll run you out of business.

:)

Have my eye in enrolling into this course in town about business.
I work, have 2 jobs and was talking EMA vs. my income. 'student loan vs. right to work full time'..
 

kyuuei

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As far as science is concerned, these are the things I've seen studies on:
- Repetition. Learning it over and over again, or doing it over and over again masters the skill. No matter what it is or how passionate you are about it, without repetition you'll forget details. And luckily, a LOT of skills are repetition-based.
- Figuring out the logic behind the thing. They changed the whole common core thing, and everyone is crying about it, but the idea is to re-engineer the way we teach math so that children aren't like "Okay, and I put a floating number here because, stuff, and then I put zeroes here because magic and I get the number." They're teaching how to think about math--that it's all a logical approach. Knowing the backstory to something makes it stick and make more sense.
- Relevance to daily life. I'm super passionate about learning the concepts behind unique Japanese words that just don't exist elsewhere. And then I forget them like 2 seconds after I've read them. Because nothing in my life is Japanese. Especially when learning a language, start with what you say and use the most.. because those things will stick a lot faster and easier when they have an actual daily application. In comparison, you might have been a math whiz in high school, never used a lot of it afterwards, and now you've forgotten all your cool stuff because it isn't relevant anymore. Making something more relevant to you makes it stick.
- Multi-focal approaches. When people say they're auditory learners it means they need to hear it. But that isn't the same as they ONLY need to hear it. Usually, when hearing it, seeing it, copying it, and then doing it on one's own it is soo much more effective than just reading a book on it, or just listening to a lecture.
- Mind maps. People do this all sorts of ways--from simple mnemonics, to charts, picmonics, to serious mind-mapping sherlock-esque style. Memorizing things with mind mapping that creates a surreal, visual experience in one's own head of the object makes it far easier to conjure than it just floating in a void of "I hope I remember this."
- Structured focus. Some people are capable of reading something hours at a time and studying only that. But for most people, 20 minutes of dedicated focus time without any interruption is the studied average. A small reward followed by 20 minutes of studying, rinse and repeat, has been shown to be far more effective.. and that was true for me too. I'd watch a 20 minute show in an hour (5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 5 minutes), and in between I'd also read on a subject, then hear about the subject, and then draw it and watch movies on it. That rounded out an hour, and then I could move on to the next item on the agenda. It's a slow process, but far more sustainable that way.
 

Poki

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Reading, hands on, and verbal. I learn extremely fast.
 

Swivelinglight

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I read her book. There's also a course on coursera going on that she's leading:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

The course is essentially the same as the material in the book. I'll be a nice guy and do a quick summary of the conclusions of the book. Basically two states, which she mentions in the video above. Focused and diffuse. Both are essential to learning. Can't learn without both. Most people do one or the other too much, what's needed is a nice mixture. Focused makes you build the blocks of knowledge, and diffuse essentially puts the blocks in context and helps you relate to other things. The more blocks you build the easier it is to build new blocks. Therefore, the more you learn the faster you learn and it just builds on itself like a snow ball. In conclusion, need to switch between diffuse and focused modes. Only have study sessions of 30 minute periods or so, which goes in line with what conventional wisdom says about learning. Take at least 5 minute breaks in between each session.

When it comes to cumulative knowledge like math, the author stresses battling procrastination a lot. The idea is that knowledge here is cumulative and so you need to have at least a decent amount of time spent on each section. But procrastination might not matter as much for those who are self-learning. It matters more so for those with deadlines such as those placed whilst in school. Oh...and to battle procrastination you pretty much have to force yourself to do it. To make that process easier you tell yourself that you will only do that task for 25 minutes. Don't worry about the results of the task, just worry about the process. So if you're procrastinating on exercise you tell yourself I will exercise for 25 minutes, no more. I won't worry about how intense I make my exercise, I will only worry about doing it. After 25 minutes are up you're done. Theoretically the next time will be even easier, then the next time after that easier etc. So it's more so a bootstrap that kickstarts the process. You can start worrying about results in those 25 minutes after you don't have an issue of procrastination.
 

EJCC

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Not a fan of the current shorthand/framework for learning styles, mostly because I don't fit into any of those learning style boxes. Not a visual learner, not an auditory learner, not a kinesthetic learner.

TBH I'm still not sure how I learn best, even at age 25, but "learning by doing" is the best catch-all I can come up with. One of my former supervisors told me, a few years ago, that once she showed me how to do something, and once I did it correctly one time, she knew I was set to go and wouldn't need any further instruction.

Either that, or learning by teaching: taking in all the info preliminarily, then explaining it to someone else. Once I've talked it out with someone, and put it into my own words, then I've got it down pat. But I guess that's also learning by doing, in a sense. (Edit: Looks like I'm on the same page as [MENTION=5223]MDP2525[/MENTION] and [MENTION=22264]jscrothers[/MENTION] on this front)
 
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Chrysanthe

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Self-motivation. Even if I enjoy the subject I am learning at school I can't find the energy to effectively learn the material since it's being forced down my throat so I can be as productive as possible in society rather than being an intrinsic desire of mine to expand my own knowledge base.
 

Bush

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Either that, or learning by teaching: taking in all the info preliminarily, then explaining it to someone else. Once I've talked it out with someone, and put it into my own words, then I've got it down pat. But I guess that's also learning by doing, in a sense. (Edit: Looks like I'm on the same page as [MENTION=5223]MDP2525[/MENTION] and [MENTION=22264]jscrothers[/MENTION] on this front)
Bit me in the ass just yesterday. I botched an example because I didn't know it enough to teach it.

"Oh yeah, sure! I have simulation integration methods down pat! I got this in the bag."

But some of my lecture slides (which I'd borrowed from a freaking orbital mechanics Ph.D.) involved applying those to orbital mechanics. Well, shit.

"So here's this adaptive timestep thing. It's a good method. And uhm.. yeah, as these slides mention, you can apply it to Keplerian orbits or whatever. Let me stare at the board for a half-minute and try to make sense of it real quick."
 
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