I don't really think there is a difference between adults and children in learning, this whole piece is simply about efficiency in learning and different ways of learning.

Still I think this piece misses some points. I believe there is a threshold (perhaps different for everyone) for the types of learning the piece is about. There is learning by forcing knowledge in by repetition. If you need to remember a small list not based on any logic, this is the only way. Knowing that Canberra is the capital of Australia is a poor example for the point the author tries to make. There is no logic behind capital city names, a human choose the name and it was not chosen according to any rules. There is no understanding involved at all.

However, for a Buick (or i.e. the Human Body) it is different, those "things" work according to the laws of physics, a Buick is build using a specific design and it has a limited set of necessary components. During its operation a repeating cycle of steps is executed. There is a very limited number of states in which a Buick can function but not be completely broken compared to the number of states it can be in. If you understand how a Buick was build, you can play its function in your head and simulate what could cause the noise a person on the phone is describing.

From childhood onward this is the way I have learned, I always felt like there was a point in time in which my knowledge became like self contained ball in my head, I would even visualize said ball. There is a moment of understanding, of seeing the beauty and logic of a system. In that moment you say: "Ah yes it felt very complicated before, but now that I get it, I would have designed it quite like that actually." In programming it works the same, that moment when you understand what a class is... it's beauty, you will program differently from that moment on. In biology one can have the same but often one must conclude: "Ok I would have designed it differently but in terms of evolution, it does make sense indeed."

I have a lot of trouble learning new languages, I also struggle playing elaborate games like Descent... Until that feeling of ahhhh I understand why a game designer put that weird element in, it balances the game, it adds some unpredictability to it. Only then does it become fun.

I'm told I am a very good and fast learner and have a good memory but I feel it is not true, I use this systems approach. As soon as you understand what a carburetor should do, it becomes very easy to remember how it does it. As a scientist that means constantly updating and changing ones view of reality itself based on new evidence. It's about building a mind model but always knowing that model is an oversimplification that is only useful as long as it explains your experimental results (more specifically, as long as it explains your experimental controls).

My wife is often amazed at how I can be so highly educated and smart in some ways and so stupid or un-understanding in others. I feel it is because I sometimes lack a "mind-model" for certain things of situation that I can interact with/in, I still need to build it, or it is insanely difficult to build it. Trying to build such models for the humans in my life may my biggest fallacy yet. It leads to countless hours of grinding thoughts, simulating conversations that will never occur.