Intensive Reading Notes | Understand How to Learn Efficiently

Compared with learning in the school scene, self-education after work is particularly difficult. There is no specific learning framework, no fixed teachers, or even no assessment criteria. Everything is self driven. However, learning should not be a painful thing. Mastering the learning methods will lead to more happiness.

about Efficient learning , share with you Scott Young's popular book on learning methods Learn More Study Less (Chinese translation name:《 How to learn effectively 》）Described in Holistic learning method , use less learning time to achieve better learning results and truly improve learning efficiency.

01 Holistic learning method

Holistic learning is the opposite of mechanical memory. It is not to learn and remember a knowledge point in isolation, but to break the boundaries between disciplines. By stimulating the brain's association and imagination, it can find connections between knowledge points, establish connections, and form a network of knowledge (this is the same as the application principle of mind maps).

When "the more connections you create, the better they will be remembered and understood. Learning is not sorting out individual boxes. Learning is like weaving a big net."

For example, when you learn a formula, compared with rote learning, holistic learning requires understanding the true meaning of each symbol of the formula, its derivation principles, rules, and the applicable environment and conditions. You need to use all the sensory experience and the rich neural network in your brain to connect with the existing knowledge, turn abstraction into concrete, so as to truly understand and apply it.

As for holistic learning, the author gives three very vivid metaphors: structure, model and highway.

structure

Structure is a series of closely related knowledge. The structure is like a well designed city. Knowledge points are buildings in the city, and the connection between knowledge points is a highway.

When building a knowledge structure, the goal is to establish as many connections as possible between various kinds of knowledge. When your basic knowledge structure is very developed, it will be easier to understand new knowledge, because every time you learn a new concept, it will automatically connect with other knowledge.

Model

The model is a simplified structure The goal of creating a model is to compress information and refine core concepts. For example, the model of a book is a directory. Model is the foundation and framework of a building, and is the core concept of knowledge.

expressway

Expressway is the connection between structures The use of expressways can establish new structures in the field of professional intersection. The highway encourages you to connect different knowledge, which greatly stimulates creativity. This is somewhat similar to the multidisciplinary integration advocated by Charlie Munger.

The holistic learning method conforms to the principle of our memory and storage of knowledge. It attaches great importance to understanding and internalization, emphasizes understanding new knowledge with existing knowledge structure, and helps us understand and integrate new knowledge and connections with existing familiar models.

In short, the holistic learning method requires us to create a knowledge structure, refine knowledge models, and create a highway of knowledge between different disciplines/fields.

02 Order of holistic learning

After understanding the principle of holistic learning, let's take a look at the learning process. The author divides learning into six steps: Acquire, understand, expand, correct, apply, test 。 You can go back and forth between steps and jump. By learning in this way, we can integrate new knowledge faster, truly understand what we have learned, and apply knowledge more flexibly.

Let's take a look at these six steps.

obtain

Let knowledge enter the brain through listening and reading. The goal of the acquisition phase is to obtain accurate information and compress the amount of information as much as possible. Access to information should be simple (find out important information), capacity (get as much information as possible) and fast.

understand

Understand the surface meaning of information and put it in context. In the understanding stage, we need to know not only the meaning of each symbol of the formula, but also how this formula was obtained, its relationship with other formulas, and how to use it to solve various problems in the outside world.

expand

Contact information with other information. Apply models to simplify and expand your structure, as well as expand your understanding of information. This step is also the most laborious and critical part in the learning process, and the highway between knowledge is also in this step. There are three ways to expand:

• Deep expansion: explore the background of knowledge and create connections within knowledge;
• Horizontal expansion: explore the relationship between knowledge, establish models, and establish links between models and knowledge, such as horizontal comparison between China and foreign countries;
• Vertical expansion: establish a high-speed channel between structures, flexibly apply metaphor and internalization, and explore knowledge from the perspective of other structures.

error correction

Error correction is to prune the whole knowledge network, add some special examples, and delete some links that do not exist in reality. There are many ways to correct errors, including reading books that are contrary to your views, and putting the conclusions into the real world.

application

Applying knowledge to practice is the last link and ultimate goal of holistic learning.

test

Test and inspect the above five stages.

According to the above learning links, we can self examine which link is more likely to cause problems, and make targeted improvements, Optimize parts to improve the overall learning ability 。 For example, poor understanding ability can slow down the speed, and poor expansion ability can make more connections. If what you learn is particularly boring, you can make more connections to your favorite subjects.

03 Skills of holistic learning

After understanding the strategy and process of holistic learning, how can we connect ideas, establish structures, apply models and highways to understand different types of knowledge? We followed the author to share specific learning skills.

Active Reading

When reading, take a more active reading style. It is not necessary to read every knowledge point actively, but Only for the content that you need to understand and remember difficultly. When you finish reading, ask yourself a few questions:

1) What are the main points? 2) How to remember the main points? 3) How to expand and apply?

This kind of active reading method, with more active understanding and mastering of knowledge points, will be more efficient than reading the whole book passively and comprehensively.

Notestream

The key to note flow is the identification of key information. When making a note stream, first write down the main ideas and try to use phrases instead of sentences. Find connections between key points, and use arrows and lines to form a network (much like what we introduced earlier Concept Map In the same way).

1) Record key content in class (use keywords instead of sentences)

2) Find connections between ideas and expand them

Figurative method

In the expansion stage, the flexible application of metaphor and internalization can help you establish more fast channels between knowledge. Metaphor is to build a bridge between unfamiliar knowledge and familiar knowledge. When applying metaphor, there are the following steps:

1) Make sure you understand and remember information in depth

2) Look for something similar to the information part in personal experience (for example, CPU in computer is equivalent to brain, motherboard is equivalent to bone, circuit is equivalent to blood vessel...)

3) Optimize and test your metaphor

Internalization method

Internalization refers to not only the appearance of images in the mind, but also sound, touch and emotion. It is to transform information from a type you are not familiar with into a way you can easily understand and contact. When applying the internalization method, there are the following steps:

1) Define the concept you want to internalize

2) Create an image in your mind

3) Add other sensory experiences

4) Keep repeating and optimizing the image until you can quickly recall knowledge when you think of it

Graphic method

Visualize knowledge, and draw concepts and ideas with flow charts, concept maps, image sketches and other concrete methods (drawing tools such as XMind can be used).

No matter what subject books or courses you read, you can use XMind to sort out the main content, grasp the main structure, refine and simplify the structure, form a model, and then expand and apply it to build various highways.

Feynman learning method

Take teaching as learning, verify whether you really master a knowledge, and see whether you can explain complex and profound problems and knowledge clearly in plain language.

The specific application methods are as follows:

1) Explain a topic to people who are not familiar with it, and explain it to them in the way they can understand and in the simplest language; 2) Find and record the places that you cannot understand or simply explain a topic; 3) Look back at the source of information and study your weaknesses until you can explain them in simple words; 4) Repeat the previous three steps until you can specialize in this topic.

In the process of explanation, try to simplify the concept, and use metaphors and examples to make your sharing easier to understand. If you can't explain something simply, you haven't understood it yet.

The book also introduces many very practical and effective ways to improve efficiency. Due to the length problem, we will not expand here. We attach the relevant summary mind map to see if there are any suitable ones for us.

Although this book has a lot of content, it is quite operable. In general, the holistic learning method and the way of mind mapping work are highly consistent. Both emphasize the establishment of knowledge networks, the establishment of connections, and understanding and internalization. therefore Multi use mind mapping is actually practicing the holistic learning method ~(Mark the key points and hit the blackboard)

The mind map of the whole book is attached

Improving learning efficiency is not an overnight thing, and it needs continuous improvement. All kinds of big exams are coming at the end of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you, and let's go duck!

reference material:

Learn More Study Less in English

Chinese version《 How to learn effectively 》