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Feb 04 2012

How To Learn New Stuff Part Three

P113

Taking notes during class?
Studying one topic at a time?
Having the same place to study each day?

As it turns out, alll are exactly the opposite of the best strategies for learning.This time last year we looked at basic learning strategies (test erly test often) and the strategy known as Mindburning – controlled unforgeting.

http://whatilearnttoday.com.au/how-to-learn-new-stuff

http://whatilearnttoday.com.au/mind-burning-how-to-learn-new-stuff-part-2

Geek Dad recently blogged about his interview with Robert Bjork, the director of the UCLA Learning and Forgetting Lab, a distinguished professor of psychology, and a “massively renowned expert on packing things in your brain in a way that keeps them from leaking out.”

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/everything-about-learning/

“People tend to try to learn in blocks,” Bjork said. “Mastering one thing before moving on to the next.”

Instead of doing that Bjork recommends interleaving. The strategy suggest that instead of spending an hour working on your tennis serve, you mix in a range of skills like backhands, volleys, overhead smashes, and footwork.

Similarly, studying in only one location is great as long as you’ll only be required to recall the information in the same location. If you want information to be accessible outside your dorm room, or office, or nook on the second floor of the library, Bjork recommends varying your study location.

The third tip relates to the the spacing effect, which we discussed in the WILT post on mind burning.

“If you study and then you wait, tests show that the longer you wait, the more you will have forgotten,” Bjork said.”But here’s the cool part: If you study, wait, and then study again, the longer the wait, the more you’ll have learned after this second study session.

Bjork explains it this way: “When we access things from our memory, we do more than reveal it’s there. It’s not like a playback. What we retrieve becomes more retrievable in the future. Provided the retrieval succeeds, the more difficult and involved the retrieval, the more beneficial it is.”

“Bjork also recommends taking notes just after class, rather than during — forcing yourself to recall a lecture’s information is more effective than simply copying it from a blackboard. You have to work for it. The more you work, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the more awesome you can become.”

More details ar in Geek Dad’s blog on Wired.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/everything-about-learning/

So there you go Oliver and Harry – no excuse for forgetting anything during Year 12 this year.

What I Learnt On 4th February in other years

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Feb 03 2012

Rock, Paper, Scissors – Serving Decision Makers since 5000 BC

“To the beginner the choices are few, to the expert the choices are many.”

Wojek Smallsoa, as quoted in The Trio of Hands, 1962

World-rock-paper-scissor-society
The game of ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ has been used for dispute resolution for 7000 years. According to the World RPS Society. “Early Homo-sapiens used a proto-RPS gamea to resolve food and mating disputes.

Rock Paper Scissors is an exacting sport , with deep cultural and scientific roots. Although not yet accepted into the Olympic games, international competition is growing in popularity at a very rapid rate.
Rps

The World RPS Society sanctions the annual world championships, for which a prize of $10000 is up for grabs. There is also an offical Australian championships.

Fancy that winner’s cheque? Then you will need to learn some of the more advanced RPS skills. 

Before travelling to the championships, you may like to invest in the Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide, or the popular DVD documentary, and perhaps visit the online museum.
Officialrpsguide
Dvd

In addition, the society’s websites provide a number of playing guides, which range from basic to advanced startegies.

From the World RPS site, here are some tios on how to beat anyone.

Basically, there are two ways to win at RPS. First is to take one throw away from your opponent options. ie – If you can get your opponent to not play rock, then you can safely go with scissors as it will win against paper and stalemate against itself. Seems impossible right? Not if you know the subtle ways you can manipulate someone. The art is to not let them know you are eliminating one of their options. The second way is to force you opponent into making a predictable move. Obviously, the key is that it has to be done without them realizing that you are manipulating them.

Here are some tips – 

1 – Rock is for Rookies
In RPS circles a common mantra is “Rock is for Rookies” because males have a tendency to lead with Rock on their opening throw. It has a lot to do with idea that Rock is perceived as “strong” and forceful”, so guys tend to fall back on it. Use this knowledge to take an easy first win by playing Paper. This tactic is best done in pedestrian matches against someone who doesn’t play that much and generally won’t work in tournament play.

2 – The Double Run
When playing with someone who is not experienced at the RPS, look out for double runs or in other words, the same throw twice. When this happens you can safely eliminate that throw and guarantee yourself at worst a stalemate in the next game. So, when you see a two-Scissor run, you know their next move will be Rock or Paper, so Paper is your best move. Why does this work? People hate being predictable and the perceived hallmark of predictability is to come out with the same throw three times in row.

3 – Step Ahead Thinking
Don’t know what to do for your next throw? Try playing the throw that would have lost to your opponents last throw? Sounds weird  but it works more often than not, why? Inexperienced (or flustered) players will often subconsciously deliver the throw that beat their last one. Therefore, if your opponent played paper, they will very often play Scissors, so you go Rock. This is a good tactic in a stalemate situation or when your opponent lost their last game. It is not as successful after a player has won the last game as they are generally in a more confident state of mind which causes them to be more active in choosing their next throw.

4 – When All Else Fails Go With Paper
Haven’t a clue what to throw next? Then go with Paper. Why? Statistically, in competition play, it has been observed that scissors is thrown the least often. Specifically, it gets delivered 29.6% of the time, so it slightly under-indexes against the expected average of 33.33% by 3.73%. Obviously, knowing this only gives you a slight advantage, but in a situation where you just don’t know what to do, even a slight edge is better than none at all.

5 – Gain mastery of the Gambit
A Gambit is “a series of three successive moves made with strategic intention.”
The use of Gambits in competitive RPS has been one of the greatest and most enduring breakthroughs in RPS strategy. Selecting throws in advance helps prevent unconscious patterns from forming and can sometimes reduce the subconscious signals that give away the next throw, often called “tells”. Gambits are the focal point of beginner strategy and form the basis of many advanced strategies.

Although there are 27 possible combinations of three throws, some are of particular significance.
The Great Eight Gambits are those deemed to be the most historically significant and widely employed. They also happen to be the only eight Gambits where there is near unanimous consent upon the names.

Here are three of the most popular gambits
Bureaucrat2005web
Crescendo2005web
Denouement2005web

Should you or shouldn’t you.
Let’s decide – Best of three……..

Rps_characters

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Feb 01 2012

Awkward Moment : When the Dog is a Better Skateboarder than You Are

“Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.” – Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Tillman, the Skateboarding bulldog, in 2007, aged one.

Tillman has since improved his skateboarding and expanded into surfing and skiing.

Sorry, Murray, I think Tillman may be the coolest dog in the world.

What I Learnt On 1st February in other years

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Jan 31 2012

200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 minutes

Can you compress two hundred years of social and economic history into a 4 minute youtube video?

Yes, if you are Hans Rosling, The Jedi Master of Data Visualization, (and the Professor of International Health at the Karlinska Institute.)

Prof Rosling is also director of the Gapminder Foundation – ‘Unveiling the Beauty of Statistics for a Fact Based World’.

Gapminder is a non-profit foundation based in Stockholm. Our goal is to replace devastating myths with a fact-based worldview. Our method is to make data easy to understand. We are dedicated to innovate and spread new methods to make global development understandable, free of charge, without advertising. We want to let teachers, journalists and everyone else continue to freely use our tools, videos and presentations.

In the video below, life expectancy is plotted against income for every country since 1810. “Instead of studying history one year at the university, you can watch this video for less than five minutes”, according to Gapminder. 

(Australia is a small red circle that leads the world during the early 1900s and thereafter always orbits like a moon around the US)

This particular segment was made as part of a BBC Documentary, the Joy of Stats. You can experience your own joy at Gapminder World. (One for you, Laura)

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Jan 30 2012

23 and a half hours

What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

Stop smoking? Lower our cholesterol? Take Aspirin? Lose weight? Take vitamins?

There is one treatment that has been demonstrated in multiple studies to improve life expectancy (23%), decrease cardiovascular disease, prevent progression to diabetes (58%), prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s (50%), improve the pain and disability of arthritis (47%), prevent fracture in osteoporosis (41%), reduce the incidence of anxiety (48%) and depression (47%), reduce fatigue and increase overall quality of life.

And that treatment is……….

Over to you Professor Mike Evans.

 

What I Learnt On 30th January in other years

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