{"id":59611,"date":"2022-02-10T23:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T03:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59611"},"modified":"2022-02-23T15:34:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T19:34:24","slug":"learning-how-to-learn-barbara-oakley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/learning-how-to-learn-barbara-oakley\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning How to Learn: Barbara Oakley’s Bestseller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Learning How to Learn<\/a><\/em> about? Can it help you learn anything effectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Learning How to Learn<\/em>, Barbara Oakley asserts that anyone can master any subject by applying good study techniques<\/a>. You don\u2019t have to be gifted or have natural abilities in a particular subject to excel at it. And Oakley should know: She failed math in high school, but later overcame her fear of numbers and eventually earned a doctorate degree in engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn more about this best-selling book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Learning How to Learn<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Learning How to Learn<\/em>, Barbara Oakley and co-author Terrence Sejnowski explain study tactics that you can use to excel in whatever you\u2019re learning. To make them immediately applicable, we\u2019ve organized our guide as a list of actionable study tips, and we\u2019ve cross-referenced the authors\u2019 advice with other sources, such as Why We Sleep<\/em>, which discusses the importance of sleep<\/a> to learning, and the work of psychologist Edward de Bono, who advises on how to alternate between modes of thinking<\/a> to get the most out of your learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakley attests to this based on personal experience. From childhood through her career in the US Army, she struggled with technical subjects. However, recognizing the benefits of technical competence, she set out to overcome her technophobia and eventually earned a doctorate in systems engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Learning How to Learn<\/em>, she teamed up with Dr. Terrence Sejnowski to dig into the neuroscience behind how you learn<\/a> and relate it to practical study techniques. In our book guide, we\u2019ve extracted their key study tips and techniques to make them even more accessible and grouped the tips according to the neurological concepts that they\u2019re based on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book was originally targeted at pre-teen students, but the authors\u2019 study tips, and the neuroscience behind them, are applicable to students of any age. We\u2019ve prepared our guide in a style suited to high school and college students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Learning How to Learn<\/em> is, in some ways, a follow-up to Oakley\u2019s earlier book A Mind for Numbers<\/em><\/a>. Learning How to Learn <\/em>covers a slightly narrower scope, but it goes into more detail about the neurological basis of learning. For example, in A Mind for Numbers<\/em>, Oakley discusses the concept of chunking<\/a> and the make-up of habits<\/a>, which she leaves out of Learning How to Learn<\/em>. But in A Mind for Numbers<\/em>, she doesn\u2019t discuss the growth of dendritic spines on neurons, which, as we explain, is an important concept in Learning How to Learn<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strengthen Your Learning by Strengthening Your Synapses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oakley and Sejnowski suggest a number of learning strategies<\/a> and tips that take advantage of the way information is stored in your brain. Oakley and Sejnowski\u2019s first tip for improving your learning by building more connections is to embrace multisensory learning<\/a> because the more senses you engage in learning something, the better you\u2019ll learn it. Regardless of your learning style, you\u2019ll learn it even better if you see it and hear it than if you only receive it in one style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another tip Oakley and Sejnowski provide is that you can more easily add things to your memory by relating them to things already in your memory through metaphors<\/strong>. First and foremost, they recommend you create mental pictures to represent the concept you\u2019re learning. The authors also note that you can use acronyms or mnemonics to create metaphors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As another tip, when you read a book (or an article, a chapter, or any other reading assignment), Oakley and Sejnowski recommend that you first skim through it, looking at headings and pictures to get a general sense of what it\u2019s about before you read<\/a> it in detail.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakley and Sejnowski\u2019s final tip on how to take advantage of your brain\u2019s information storage processes is to introduce variety into your studies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n