Coursera final project · Learning How to Learn
Learn how to learn, one card at a time
Flip all 15 cards, finish 5 topics and earn every badge.
Created by Daniela Castellanos
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Focused mode and diffuse mode. Never both at once.
- focused
- diffuse
- one at a time
Why
They run on different neural networks. When one is active, the other is off.
Study tip
Hard problems need both: focus to load the problem, a break to let the brain connect it.
Intense concentration on something specific, using familiar neural pathways.
- concentration
- familiar paths
- step by step
Why
It is best for solving familiar problems and for learning step by step.
Mental relaxation that makes broad, random connections. It appears while walking, showering or falling asleep.
- relaxed
- broad connections
- creativity
Why
It helps you find creative solutions and grasp new concepts that focus alone could not.
Analogy
Focused mode is a flashlight on one spot. Diffuse mode is a lantern lighting the whole room.
Diffuse finds creative solutions. Focused solves familiar problems.
- creative
- familiar
Why
Focused mode stays on known pathways. Diffuse mode wanders across them.
The Einstellung effect. Step away and let diffuse mode work.
- Einstellung
- stuck
- take a break
Why
Your first idea locks your focused mode into one familiar path and hides better ones.
Study tip
Staring harder rarely helps. Take a walk, then come back.
About 4 slots.
- short-term
- 4 slots
- overload
Why
Like a processor with four slots. Too many new concepts at once overload them and learning fails.
Analogy
It is a desk with four spots, not a warehouse.
Binding pieces of information together through meaning, so they take up one slot.
- meaning
- one slot
- mastery
Why
Once you deeply understand a complex concept, it becomes one chunk and leaves the other slots free.
Study tip
Chunks come from understanding, not from reading the same page twice.
Illusions of competence: the material is in front of you, so your brain thinks you have mastered it.
- rereading
- highlighting
- false mastery
Why
Looking at the solution to a problem creates the same false sense of mastery.
Study tip
If you can only recognise it with the book open, you do not know it yet.
Active recall: close the book and retrieve the main idea, or explain it to yourself.
- retrieval
- close the book
- self-explain
Why
Pulling information out of memory strengthens the neural connections. Looking at it does not.
The brain registers starting a difficult task as physical pain and redirects you to something pleasant.
- procrastination
- pain
- avoidance
Why
That pain fades within a few minutes of actually starting.
Study tip
You only need to survive the first few minutes.
Automatic, unconscious routines that run when a cue shows up.
- cue
- routine
- automatic
Why
A cue like sitting at your desk or a notification triggers the habit of procrastinating without you thinking.
The process. "Work with intense focus for 25 minutes" instead of "finish this essay".
- process
- product
- anxiety
Why
The product triggers anxiety and the pain of starting. The process is small enough to just begin.
25 minutes of work, then a 5 minute reward.
- 25 + 5
- no interruptions
- reward
Why
The reward is vital: it is what rewires the habit and tames the zombie.
Study tip
Check your phone or get a coffee only in the reward break.
1 hour a day over several days (spaced repetition).
- spaced
- cramming
- solidify
Why
Connections need time between sessions to solidify. Cramming does not give them that time.
Analogy
Building a wall: the bricks need time to set before you add more.
Mixing different problem types or topics in one session. It teaches you when to use each technique.
- mix topics
- when to use
- real exams
Why
Real exams jumble topics, so you must identify the right technique, not only apply it.
About this project
How I use it
Anyone can learn the essentials in minutes, on a phone or a laptop.
Where it comes from
The ideas come from the course and its book. The cards are summarized.
References
Oakley & Sejnowski, Learning How to Learn (Coursera, UC San Diego). Oakley (2014), A Mind for Numbers.