Learning to Learn by Barbara Oakley — Part 1
By: Maung Agus Sutikno
Tags: Barbara Oakley, Brain, Longlife Learning, Neuroscience, Learning And Development

The written version of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd2dtkMINIw . It is a one of a Google Talks event that talks about learning to learn (new things). The idea about learning backed by science is always interesting since it reflects the way of long life learner actually doing.

In the video, she talked about how she was doing adventurous life from early childhood when she was not interested in math due to her always-moving life with her parents. She had moved 10 difference places already when she was in tenth grade. She loved to learn language so she joined military. Because of that, she could learn another language without paying. She learned Russian in the military and changed profession to be a crew in big Russian fishing ship (a kind of trawl boat). Finally she ended up in Antarctica where she met her husband.

Having rich experience makes her gaining a new perspectives. She realized that she was being used to by always gaining new perspectives. It is like having adventurous is becoming sort of a comfortable thing. But she was not actually stretching herself to really have a totally new perspectives.

She thought back when she was in the military and worked with West Point engineers who have exceptional problem-solving skills. They could think in a way that she could not think. For instance, they read and “communicated” with the equations below. Questions arise, what if we could read the equations like they could read the equations? Or in some sense, could we learn the language that they were able to speak? Could we actually change our brain to learn in what these people knew? How we could change our brain?

Captured from the video

To answer the questions, she did a research by visiting ratemyprofessors.com, and observed top professors worldwide who teaching subjects like engineering, math, chemistry, physics, economics (difficult subjects) and also relevant subjects also like psychology and English. Furthermore, she researched how they teach and how they learn for themselves. She also reached out to top cognitive psychologists and neuroscientist. Finally she came to the conclusion that they (the expert in each their fields) were using metaphor or analogy. They are embarrassed to say it because other professors would to say “ah, you are dumbing things down”. But it is actually they used to easily communicate with each other about the ideas. In addition, it is like a shared hand shake.

So the next materials are the key ideas how we can learn the certain subjects.

Brain Thinking Mode

There are two kinds of the way we think. They are focused mode and diffuse mode. Focused mode is a way of thinking that has established pattern of thinking. For example how we think about solving a multiplication numbers. It is a thinking exercise that we are used to since our elementary school. Therefore, its pattern has been mapped out in our brain generated from our previous learning. By using metaphor, if there is a pinball machine in our brain, this focused mode draws a pattern of ball movement path between pins. How we do this focused mode is usually by sitting and thinking about a solution for a problem. We are usually immersed to find out the solution. And it takes time. On the other hand -back to the metaphor- what if the ball intentionally or accidently bounces to another pins and makes a new path between the pins in the machine? It is called diffuse mode.

Diffuse mode happens when we learn new things or get the new ideas of solution for certain problem that never been encountered before. The ball creates a new path in our pinball machine. Or in other words, it creates new way of thinking in our brain. It can be harnessed by doing going off of the problem we want to solve. For instance, we can go outside to do jogging or by taking a nap.

By orchestrating these two difference kind of thinking modes can help us a lot in solving a really difficult problems. The focused mode has a role to help us reverting back to our previous and established learning process and apply the solution to the new same problem. It usually works. But what if it does not work due to the new complexity? The worst thing for us to act is just keep sitting and focusing on the problem. Actually, it is a time for diffuse mode playing its role to help us. To summon it, we can go to taking a walk or shower. Our brain will map out a new path for the thinking path as if the ball bounces between different pins and create a new pattern in the pinball machine. Both focused mode and diffuse mode are part of learning process.

Each person has various way of getting mind off. The famous surrealist painter from Spain, Salvador Dali got the inspiration by sitting in a chair, relaxing, and relaxing, holding a key chain in his hand. By the time he was really relax, his mind run free. The next time he fell asleep due to the relax mode, the chain would fall and made a noise. And at that time he usually got the ideas or inspiration making his masterpiece that we praise today. It happened also for Thomas Alfa Edison, an inventor who is famously having an innovative light bulb after many experiments. After he’s stuck on a difficult problem, he would do the same as Dali did, but by using ball bearing instead of key chain.

Diffuse mode is not conscious though, but it plays important role in learning process. It connects the dot between material that we have already absorbed which does not happen in focused mode. So, BIG YES for taking a break between study! And because of that activity of going back and forth between focused mode and diffuse mode, it will takes time. The next question is what if we are a procrastinator?

A Procrastinator

The procrastinator tends to see a task as a unpleasant activity. For that reason when we feel that kind of feeling, there is a pinch in our brain. There are two things we actually can do if we are in this condition. Firstly, we suppress our feeling and it will diminish and fade away at the end. Secondly, we can just move to another things that we like, for example turning to social media or watching funny video in YouTube. It will not significantly affect in short term, but if we continue this procrastination in the long term, it will detrimental for our life. Having said that, should we back to our first choice to overcome this procrastination?

There might be requiring a changing mindset on the first solution which is just do it! Instead of focusing on the task or worst on the pain of finishing it, try to focus on the time. There is one technique called Pomodoro developed by Francesco Cirillo in 1980s. It uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks (Wikipedia).

A tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillio used. Pomodoro is tomato in Italian.

What we can do is setting a time without distraction for around 20 minutes or depends on each person and focusing on the time for just doing the task. It will be making easier to us to do our task. After each interval, try to reward ourselves by taking a break and relax. It is okay to be relax since it is also part of the learning process. This time, the brain connects between dots or knowledge material.

About Sleeping

One of the form of relaxations is a sleep. First of all what happened in our brain when we are not in a sleep is the metabolites come out and sit between our brain cells or neurons. It will accumulate and become a kind of toxin for and affects badly in our way of thinking. Therefore, it is usually a bad time for making decision if we are lack of sleep.

AWAKE. The metabolites (red) are accumulated in between the brain cells (yellow). Source: Sleep Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain by Xie, Lulu, Hongyi Kang, Qiwu Xu, Michael J Chen, Yonghong Liao, Meenakshisundaram Thiyagarajan, John O’Donnell, et al.

SLEEP. The brain cells shrink and allow the fluids to wash the metabolites out. Source: Sleep Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain by Xie, Lulu, Hongyi Kang, Qiwu Xu, Michael J Chen, Yonghong Liao, Meenakshisundaram Thiyagarajan, John O’Donnell, et al.

Sleep can help us to grow a new synaptic that is generated after learning a new thing. It is based on a scientific research by Guang Yang et al. Sleep promotes branch-specific formation of dendritic spines after learning. So it is recommended to do the cycle of learn, sleep, learn, and sleep in order to grow more synaptic connections. While the relaxation of sleep helps through growing new synaptic connections, how about the active exercise?

About Exercising

Exercise is incredibly important for learning process. A study found that our brain produces new neurons every day in the Hippocampus part. There are two ways of this brain activity to grow and survive: get exposed to new environment like travelling and exercise like simple walking. This process is called neurogenesis. So, what is a special about the new generated neuron? It apparently has function as a pattern integrator by introducing a degree of similarity to the encoding of events that occur closely in time. So next time our kids ask a recess or break from the learning, give it to them! That is the time of their brain produce new neurons to build the memory of learning.

To be continued..