The Science of Learning: How to Turn Information into Intelligence | Barbara Oakley | Big Think

The Science of Learning: How to Turn Information into Intelligence
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Cramming for a test and having a hard time understanding something? Might be best to go away and come back after a while. Your brain is constantly fluctuating between a "learning" mode and an "understanding" mode. When you're sitting there reading (and re-reading!) a textbook, unable to make sense of it, your brain is actually learning. It just takes the decompressing part of your brain for it to all be unpacked. It's called the neural chunk theory and you can learn to utilize it to your advantage by learning how to study differently; small bursts of inactivity and breaks can really make a big difference in how to memorize seemingly difficult information by combining bigger and bigger "chunks" of information until you understand the big picture. It's fascinating stuff.

Barbara Oakley's most recent book is Mindshift

Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential
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BARBARA OAKLEY:

Barbara Oakley, PhD, is a professor of engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and Ramón y Cajal Distinguished Scholar of Global Digital Learning at McMaster University. Her research involves bioengineering with an emphasis on neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Alongside legendary neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski, Dr. Oakley teaches two massive open online courses (MOOCs), 'Learning How to Learn,' the world's most popular course, and 'Mindshift,' the companion course to her most recent book of the same title.
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TRANSCRIPT:

BARBARA OAKLEY: A very important idea that people are often unaware of is the fact that we have two completely different ways of seeing the world, two different neural networks we access when we’re perceiving things.

So what this means is when we first sit down to learn something—for example, we’re going to study math. You sit down and you focus on it. So you focus and you’re activating task-positive networks. And then what happens is you’re working away and then you start to get frustrated. You can’t figure out what’s going on. What’s happening is you’re focusing and you’re using one small area of your brain to analyze the material. But it isn’t the right circuit to actually understand and comprehend the material. So you get frustrated. You finally give up, and then when you give up and get your attention off it it turns out that you activate a completely different type of or set of neural circuits. That’s the default mode network and the related neural circuits. So what happens is you stop thinking about it, you relax, you go off for a walk, you take a shower. You’re doing something different. And in the background this default mode network is doing some sort of neural processing on the side. And then what happens is you come back and voila, suddenly the information makes sense. And, in fact, it can suddenly seem so easy that you can’t figure out why you didn’t understand it before. So learning often involves going back and forth between these two different neural modes – focus mode and what I often call diffuse mode which involves **** resting states. You can only be in one mode at the same time

So you might wonder, is there a certain task that is more appropriate for focus mode or diffuse mode? The reality is that learning involves going back and forth between these two modes. You often have to focus at first in order to sort of load that information into your brain and then you do something different, get your attention off it and that’s when that background processing occurs. And this happens no matter what you’re learning. Whether you’re learning something in math and science, you’re learning a new language, learning music, a dance. Even learning to back up a car. And think about it this way. Here’s a very important related idea and that is that when you’re learning something new you want to create a well practiced neural pattern that you can easily draw to mind when you need it. So this is called a neural chunk and chunking theory is incredibly important in learning. So, for example, if you are trying to learn to back up a car when you first begin it’s crazy, right. You’re looking all around. Do you look in this mirror or this mirror or do you look behind you? What do you do? It’s this crazy set of information. But after you’ve practiced a while you develop this very nice sort of pattern that’s well practiced. So all you have to do is think I’m going to back up a car...

[phaedrusg]

This woman is making a lot of sense out of learning theory. Good video.

[learnerlearns]

As a music teacher, I can confirm these theories. We see this phenomenon constantly. Students routinely seem confused by what we teachers perceive as simple ideas in music theory. Yet after students practice many times over a few days, the ideas become second nature.

[Barnardrab]

I am amazed at how accurately this describes my experience with learning mathematics.

I'd be spinning my wheels, then all of a sudden, something clicks and I shoot forward.

[sonofmann]

This happens when play video games.

When playing a video game, gamers might get stuck on a certain part and in the mind of a gamer they might feel it's Impossible so they might turn the game off.

However when you come back later or the maybe even next day they will often times overcome the part they were stuck on easily to the point were it almost feels like you beat it instinctively.

[Aerxander]

This is amazing, Alan Watts also told that when someone stop trying to force something, they finally get it. This knowledge has been here for long.

[RobbyK]

I've always suspected something like this happened but I don't think I could have ever put it forth this elegantly.

[nyx]

6:37 Good advice. However, when you're in school you may not always have 3 or 4 days to get the homework problems right. You often have to hand it all in the next day. School literally punishes you for making assignment mistakes and failing to learn a concept quickly enough.

[marshalldavidcolin]

One of the best Big Think videos. Her learning course on Coursera is also very helpful, you guys should check it out.

[RantingRamsay]

I've had many experiences in my life like this person describes; I felt like I was beating my head against a wall trying to understand something and then one day when I wasn't really thinking about it, it just "clicked".

The best example I can think of about this for me is in high-school band class. I'd been playing brass instruments (trumpet, cornet, french horn) for about 6 years at that point and my instructor was explaining the "Circle of Flats" (music theory stuff), and I simply did not get it. I wracked my brain trying to understand how a "middle-C" on a trumpet could produce the exact same tonal note as an "F" played on a french horn. And then, one day sitting in music class while the various sections were "tuning up" in turn, and my thoughts were wandering out of boredom, it hit me like a flash of lightning from a clear blue sky and I understood the "circle of flats".

Same thing seems to go for when you're actively looking for something you've misplaced. When you're looking for it you can't find it; the moment you let your mind wander and stop focusing on the goal you find the item you were looking for, and a lot of the time by accident.

[yvesmalinverni]

She wrote a book that is well written on the subject, it's called: A mind for numbers
It's really on learning, not only maths and science.

[ambershah]

im glad I watched this video.
this channel is a gem to students, because schools don’t teach you how to think.this lady thought us how to and make learning less stressful.

[acornkid]

Her explanation was so simple to understand and follow! She’s a really excellent and knowledgeable communicator!

[M.]

Barbara Oakley! I'm reading A Mind for Number and she explained it so eloquent verbally! It can be said that I'm developing the neural chunk of her learning method, so meta lmao!

[samipan]

Great talk.what a soothing voice and personality .enjoyed listening; thank you.

[ultravidz]

wow she's really smart and a very good communicator

[trish]

Excellent video...excellent advice! What I like best about intelligent information she delivers is that her advice is to everyone about learning, not just to minors in the elementary, junior or high school setting. Her wisdom on learning "chunks" could apply to anything someone wanted to learn, from beginning to cook a meal to mastering planetary movement and the black hole theory. She also speaks to her audience very well and makes you want to hear more about this subject! I feel like I am ready to add some "chunks" to a few folders in my file cabinet that I keep inside this brain of mine! ;)

[andreperez]

Wow, she explained such deep material in such an easy-to-understand way. Her students are very lucky.

[roymammenjoseph]

I am impressed by your channel that I plan to revolutionaise my life of learning.

[yliu]

It makes total sense, and I believe the fundamental concept of this video is learning through constantly practicing.

[digitalbread]

30/45 minutes of focused attention on whatever topic you're learning, then 15 min mindfulness meditation will have that (new info) sticking Like Glue. 👍