From the Desk of Keith Hafner

The Right Way to Learn

I’m usually taking 2 or 3 college level classes at a time, through “The Teaching Company.”  Mostly humanities stuff.

Just finished a class on Leonardo DaVinci.  The course had 36 lectures.  I did one lecture per week for 36 weeks (Friday’s, 6:45 a.m.).

I could have done the course differently.  I could have done one lecture per day for 36 days.

Wouldn’t have been the same, though.  Even though I would have been “immersed,” the effect of the course would have been fugacious.

By choosing spaced repetition, I’ve stayed focused on Leonardo for a full nine months.

The lessons of the course are much more locked in than they would have been through immersion.

Consider how a young child learns to tie his shoes.  Mom or Dad begins to work on it…a little each day. They  instinctively know that it has to be fun.  And it is fun!  Kids enjoy learning new things.  Parents enjoy seeing their kids master new skills.

Weeks, maybe months, go by — and finally Junior can tie his shoes. Sort of.  Mom and Dad, beaming, filled with pride, trumpet even the sloppiest of results.

When it’s all said and done, maybe a dozen or more hours were spent in this effort. Spaced out, a few minutes each day.

But what if the folks had said, “I heard it takes about a dozen hours for a kid to learn to tie his shoes.  We’ll work on it four hours a day for the next three days!”

Everybody gets that this wouldn’t work.

Spaced repetition.  Teaspoon sized lessons.  Lots of patience, encouragement, fun.  That’s how learning works.  For kids of all ages…   Suppose also that, during shoe tying lessons, Mom or Dad is frustrated or impatient?  Points out (pounces on) all the mistakes?  Expresses, verbally or non-verbally, disappointment?

Wrecks the process, obviously.

And yet, somehow, with teenagers, committee members, employees…it seems to be the accepted method…?