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Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-13
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.htm
"In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.
The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a new language. But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on."
Bonus: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html
"Some 50 years ago, the renowned linguist Roman Jakobson pointed out a crucial fact about differences between languages in a pithy maxim: 'Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.' This maxim offers us the key to unlocking the real force of the mother tongue: if different languages influence our minds in different ways, this is not because of what our language allows us to think but rather because of what it habitually obliges us to think about.
Consider this example. Suppose I say to you in English that 'I spent yesterday evening with a neighbor.' You may well wonder whether my companion was male or female, but I have the right to tell you politely that it’s none of your business. But if we were speaking French or German, I wouldn’t have the privilege to equivocate in this way, because I would be obliged by the grammar of language to choose between voisin or voisine; Nachbar or Nachbarin. These languages compel me to inform you about the sex of my companion whether or not I feel it is remotely your concern. This does not mean, of course, that English speakers are unable to understand the differences between evenings spent with male or female neighbors, but it does mean that they do not have to consider the sexes of neighbors, friends, teachers and a host of other persons each time they come up in a conversation, whereas speakers of some languages are obliged to do so."
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - jcdietz03 - 2010-09-13
Quote:Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; ...a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas.Is this really false? The training department at my work believes this. Is the null hypothesis (everyone learns every way equally well) really true?
Quote:That’s one reason cognitive scientists see testing itself — or practice tests and quizzes — as a powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment.This is how I feel about it. When did the whole "tests are bad" and "teach to the test" movement start?
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-13
jcdietz03 Wrote:I posted links on the former topic about learning styles, including the cited work, but too lazy to look it up. Try a search if you're interested.Quote:Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; ...a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas.Is this really false? The training department at my work believes this. Is the null hypothesis (everyone learns every way equally well) really true?Quote:That’s one reason cognitive scientists see testing itself — or practice tests and quizzes — as a powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment.This is how I feel about it. When did the whole "tests are bad" and "teach to the test" movement start?
For the latter, I think it's a different kind of test to what's usually criticized -- poorly scheduled, poorly designed testing as part of a certain type of education system that's predominant.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-13
Found the link I think, or just one for now: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5009
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - zachandhobbes - 2010-09-13
"If I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbor, I may not have to mention the neighbor’s sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever they describe an action."
Wtf? Is that true?
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - rich_f - 2010-09-13
Hmm... I wonder if just moving around to different parts of the same room will work as well as moving to a different room will. I'm kind of short on rooms.
I'm already using John's background switcher to change my desktop background every 20 minutes... but I don't think that's going to do it, either.
I need MORE ROOMS! @_@
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - JimmySeal - 2010-09-13
zachandhobbes Wrote:Wtf? Is that true?Yes, it's true, though I'm not sure why it deserves a "Wtf?"
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - Tzadeck - 2010-09-13
zachandhobbes Wrote:"If I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbor, I may not have to mention the neighbor’s sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever they describe an action."Doesn't seem so weird to me, because in context it must be completely obvious. Japanese, for example, doesn't distinguish between general present tense statements and the future tense ("I eat sushi" and "I will eat sushi" are both すしを食べる), but it's not like you'd ever get confused by them as long as you have a relatively intermediate Japanese ability.
Wtf? Is that true?
(It's like Japanese having no plurals. If you tell beginner students of Japanese 「車の間にあります。」 many of them will get confused, even if they could understand 「車と家の間にあります。」. But, any person who knows Japanese well would recognize that in the first sentence there is more than one car, and whatever it is is between them.)
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - Vaste - 2010-09-13
zachandhobbes Wrote:"If I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbor, I may not have to mention the neighbor’s sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions. Again, this does not mean that the Chinese are unable to understand the concept of time. But it does mean they are not obliged to think about timing whenever they describe an action."That's not something I ever had a problem. What kills me though, is that the gender of a person unless explicitly stated typically remains unknown to me. In English if you keep talking about your neighbor you'd end up using he/she eventually. "I saw my neighbor yesterday btw. This neighbor told me that this neighbor had lost this neighbors pen and was out looking for it." This just gets ridiculous. But not in Chinese. In the end I usually have to explicitly ask for the gender of the person mentioned.
Wtf? Is that true?
In Chinese this uncertainty is perfectly normal since he/she aren't distinguished in spoken language. 他(he) -> tā and 她(she) -> tā. Surely this is also why Chinese speaking English keep he/she up mixing, making for very confusing stories unless you're aware of it. "My friend just broke up with his girlfriend. He cheated on him with another guy."
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - zachandhobbes - 2010-09-13
I dunno, it just seems crazy to leave it all to assumptions.
I mean, who's to say that when you say "eat ice cream" you don't mean the past, or the future? It seems like a whole lot for context to have to sort out.
The Japanese one makes sense, because I mean, if you can see the person you are talking to, you know if they are eating now, or will be eating in the future.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-13
zachandhobbes Wrote:I dunno, it just seems crazy to leave it all to assumptions.I think it's a bit more complicated than this, though I wouldn't mind if someone had some interesting links discussing analyses of context-usage differences in say, Japanese and English. That's a discussion we've had in the past but I was never able to find more than vague references on the topics, including topics such as polychronic/monochronic societies.
I mean, who's to say that when you say "eat ice cream" you don't mean the past, or the future? It seems like a whole lot for context to have to sort out.
The Japanese one makes sense, because I mean, if you can see the person you are talking to, you know if they are eating now, or will be eating in the future.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - JimmySeal - 2010-09-13
zachandhobbes Wrote:I dunno, it just seems crazy to leave it all to assumptions.It's not left to assumptions. It's just not expressed through verb tense.
I mean, who's to say that when you say "eat ice cream" you don't mean the past, or the future? It seems like a whole lot for context to have to sort out.
Yesterday I go to the park with my friend. We eat ice cream. We play catch.
Tomorrow I take my driving test. I go to the testing center by train.
I don't see what's so crazy about that.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - zachandhobbes - 2010-09-13
Ahh I see! That makes a whole lot more sense.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-13
JimmySeal Wrote:I need to start writing like this.zachandhobbes Wrote:I dunno, it just seems crazy to leave it all to assumptions.It's not left to assumptions. It's just not expressed through verb tense.
I mean, who's to say that when you say "eat ice cream" you don't mean the past, or the future? It seems like a whole lot for context to have to sort out.
Yesterday I go to the park with my friend. We eat ice cream. We play catch.
Tomorrow I take my driving test. I go to the testing center by train.
I don't see what's so crazy about that.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - mezbup - 2010-09-14
That study the article links to about interleaving maths problems boosting learning was a brilliant read. Thanks. School has it so wrong.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - captal - 2010-09-14
Nice article. I thought the different learning styles was true as well.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nadiatims - 2010-09-14
Usually when someone isn't learning in class, it's because they are lacking foundational knowledge. I.e. they failed to learn something earlier in the course or life for whatever reason or they are distracted. Different learning styles is BS. Some students who would otherwise be bored might start paying attention if the type of activity is changed but this doesn't mean their brains are wired differently. Obviously I'm generalizing a little here and this probably doesn't apply to people with autism and so on.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-14
It's really interesting to see the different angles the 'spacing effect' is taking to reach the mainstream. Hopefully it's a default principle of all pedagogy in the future.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - yudantaiteki - 2010-09-14
Also Chinese has a particle "le", which (among other things) can indicate completion.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - kainzero - 2010-09-14
i don't like how it uses athletes mixing it up an example... but that's only because i'm a fitness nerd right now. =)
if what this article is saying is true...
then should we study grammar point-by-point or mix it up?
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-14
kainzero Wrote:i don't like how it uses athletes mixing it up an example... but that's only because i'm a fitness nerd right now. =)Could you clarify what you mean? Rereading it, I think it's an accurate and good example. Keep in mind the emphasis on skills (as far as parallels for learning go), but yes, most strategies for fitness and nutrition I've seen aim for alternation, cycling, dividing into mutually complementary components, etc.
One fascinating thing is the training regimens for mixed martial artists. I'm curious as to how that area develops, as it's still nascent and evolving. I think GSP is on the best track so far.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - bizarrojosh - 2010-09-14
Quote:"The finding undermines the common assumption that intensive immersion is the best way to really master a particular genre, or type of creative work"Looks like the church of AJATT just had it's foundation shaken...
Not really though, since I purposefully left out the rest of that paragraph; just make sure to keep your immersion varied and shifting things around so your brain doesn't get too fixed onto one thing for too long.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - kainzero - 2010-09-14
nest0r Wrote:It really depends on what the athlete is trying to accomplish.kainzero Wrote:i don't like how it uses athletes mixing it up an example... but that's only because i'm a fitness nerd right now. =)Could you clarify what you mean? Rereading it, I think it's an accurate and good example. Keep in mind the emphasis on skills (as far as parallels for learning go), but yes, most strategies for fitness and nutrition I've seen aim for alternation, cycling, dividing into mutually complementary components, etc.
One fascinating thing is the training regimens for mixed martial artists. I'm curious as to how that area develops, as it's still nascent and evolving. I think GSP is on the best track so far.
The way I interpreted the article was that focusing on many different but related areas at once is more effective than focusing on one area at a time.
For bodybuilding, it's mostly done in phases. Bulking phases, cutting phases, strength phases, hypertrophy phases, maintenance phases, etc. So to some extent you have to specialize there.
For sport it varies, but they do break up their sessions. I've never seen someone's training regimen read as "power clean 5x2 followed by 100m sprints followed by agility."
In major sports like football and basketball, many athletes have different offseason routines than in-season routines, and the offseason usually has them building strength or mass. They can't do skill / speed / conditioning work and strength work without killing themselves or getting severely injured.
MMA is interesting. You might say it's barely evolving but some people think it actually is the most advanced training out there since there are no bad old habits. The nature of their training matches their sport, as they are more likely to push moderate weights for long periods of time, and it's reflected in their conditioning work (tire flipping/barbell complexes/sledgehammer work etc.) But still, they'll break it up into sessions so that one day is conditioning, the next day is light conditioning/skill work etc.
(When I read what I wrote... I feel like I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing. Don't mind me!)
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - zachandhobbes - 2010-09-14
It also kind of misrepresents how musicians practice.
It's not like, in my average practice, I sit down at my piano, play a tune, then a scale, then a chord, then an arpeggio.
I sit there, I practice my scales for 20 minutes. Then I transition to my songs (that was like a warm up per say), and practice them each 10 or 20 times for a total of an hour. Then at the end, I'll just warm down with a little play along with a CD or something.
It's not like I'm rapidly transitioning from different types of thing all the time.
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - nest0r - 2010-09-14
I agree that MMA is advanced in its way (precisely because of its newness as a metamodel for training, despite the age of the book Tao of JKD by Bruce Lee, grandfather of MMA), but it's rapidly evolving in terms of finding the best training that combines the fighter's build and strengths with well-rounded training, in terms of integrating different areas. Not to mention it's a hotbed for experimentation, methinks. GSP is a good example because as he's popular, we've had media access to his changing routines.
I really don't think that article was saying you just rapidly cycle through everything in athletics or musicianship, etc. I think they were saying you don't just do the equivalent of 'cramming'. There's a lot of research for training skills out there, and it all emphasizes the spacing effect. In fact, I think most of the spacing research has traditionally been in skill/sport training.