How did you learn your first language?

Merely glancing at a solution and thinking you truly know it yourself is one of the most common illusions of competence in learning. An ounce of understanding is worth a pound of knowledge.

My friend’s little daughter asked me how I learned to speak in my first language. I had to think for a moment to realize that there was very little teaching and more learning. I learned how to speak primarily by watching my family talk to me and to each other and their friends.

I caught up with my parents later when they confirmed that there wasn’t a deliberate curriculum that they used to teach me how to speak in my native tongue. But what they mentioned next was all the more interesting:

My parents got better at learning new languages, math, and science by teaching me and my sister. In other words, teaching is a wonderful way to learn but learning is more effective not when you’re only taught but by doing.

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How did I improve my effectiveness with learning?

1. In a previous article, I’ve shared how visual mind maps helped me feel better about learning:

The Opposite of Being Productive

2. A few years ago, I took Dr. Oakley’s course on Learning how to learn: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn?

I highly recommend her course (and it’s FREE).

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Here’s a summary of one of my favorite parts of the course - Chunking:

1. Chunks are compact packages of info that your mind can easily access.

2. Chunking is the mental leap that helps you unite bits of information together through meaning.

3. The new logical whole makes the chunk easier to remember, and also makes it easier to fit the chunk into the larger picture of what you're learning.

4. Chunks are pieces of information bound together through meaning or use.

Screenshot from Coursera’s Learning How to Learn course (Dr. Barbara Oakley on chunking)

How to make a chunk?

Get an initial sense of the pattern (grasp little bits of information), and then:

1. Focus your undivided attention on the information you want to chunk

2. Understand the basic idea you’re trying to chunk (concepts, seeing connections, grasping something, comprehending, synthesize the gist)

3. Review/try/do it yourself

4. Gain context (Not just how but when to use the chunk)

Screenshot from Coursera’s Learning How to Learn course (Dr. Barbara Oakley on chunking)

Until Next Time,

Keshav :)