The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

#31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn

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Apr 10, 2018

Barbara Oakley, a polymath and engineering professor, shares her remarkable journey from a math-resistant student to an educator. She discusses effective learning strategies, including the power of 'chunking' knowledge and the benefits of switching between focused and diffused thinking. Oakley explains how overcoming procrastination can boost learning efficiency and emphasizes the importance of practice and memory retention. She also challenges traditional learning styles, advocating for diverse methods and the evolution of online education to foster creativity and innovation.

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ANECDOTE

From Hating Math to Teaching Engineering

Barbara Oakley transitioned from hating math and science to teaching engineering.
This change was driven by a desire to understand learning and neuroscience.

INSIGHT

Focused vs. Diffuse Learning

The brain operates in two modes: focused and diffuse.
Learning involves switching between these modes; the diffuse mode consolidates information while resting.

ADVICE

Combating Procrastination

Use the Pomodoro Technique: 25 minutes of focused work followed by a reward.
This trains your brain to focus and enjoy the process.

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Just when I start to think I’m using my time well and getting a lot done in my life, I meet someone like Barbara Oakley.

Barbara is a true polymath. She was a captain in the U.S. Army, a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers, a radio operator in the South Pole, an engineer, university professor, researcher and the author of 8 books.

Oh, and she is also the creator and instructor of Learning to Learn, the most popular Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) ever(!), with over one million enrolled students.

In this fascinating interview, we cover many aspects of learning, including how to make it stick so we remember more and forget less, how to be more efficient so we learn more quickly, and how to remove that barriers that get in the way of effective learning.

Specifically, Barbara covers:

How she changed her brain from hating math and science to loving it so much she now teaches engineering to college students
What neuroscience can tell us about how to learn more effectively
The two modes of your brain and how that impacts what and how you learn
Why backing off can sometimes be the best thing you can do when learning something new
How to “chunk” your learning so new knowledge is woven into prior knowledge making it easily accessible
The best ways to develop new patterns of learning in our brains
How to practice a skill so you can blast through plateaus and improve more quickly
Her favorite tactic for dealing with procrastination so you can spend more time learning
The activities she recommends that rapidly increase neural connections like fertilizer on the brain
Whether memorization has a place in learning anymore, or simply a barrier to true understanding
The truth about “learning types” and how identifying as a visual or auditory learner might be setting yourself up for failure.

...and a whole lot more.

If you want to be the most efficient learner you can be, and have more fun doing it, you won’t want to miss this discussion.

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