Author Topic: The Learning Myth of Sisyphus  (Read 483 times)

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Nation of One

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The Learning Myth of Sisyphus
« on: May 30, 2016, 07:28:05 pm »
It might be in our reach to embrace the struggle of learning ... like embracing confusion as a way of life ... and in this manner alleviate the anxiety and frustration we associate with the process of THINKING.

Knowing that the brain grows most by getting questions wrong (not right­­) can begin to change a person’s mindset.

From excerpts from The Learning Myth: Why I'll Never Tell My Son He's Smart.

I think I have found a clue as to why I feel like I learn more when I perceive myself as "fairly slow thinker" than were I to perceive myself as "quick witted."  This is the consequence of witnessing that many of my mistakes are from "carelessness" (arithmetic or even copying down the wrong initial conditions and constraints).  If I am more concerned with the goal of making progress, then I am not fully attentive, distracted by being more obsessed with proceeding mechanically through problem sets than calmly becoming engrossed in the tedious details of the task at hand.

Researchers have known for some time that the brain is like a muscle; that the more you use it, the more it grows. They’ve found that neural connections form and deepen most when we make mistakes doing difficult tasks rather than repeatedly having success with easy ones.

What this means is that our intelligence is not fixed, and the best way that we can grow our intelligence is to embrace tasks where we might struggle and fail.


Without being fully aware of the process, what I may be doing when I insist on allowing myself to become engaged in problems that are likely to force me to think, which has the paradoxical effect of making me feel like an idiot (brain dead), is that I am privately promoting a "growth" mindset.

The good news is that mindsets can be taught; they’re malleable. What’s really fascinating is that Dweck and others have developed techniques that they call “growth mindset interventions,” which have shown that even small changes in communication or seemingly innocuous comments can have fairly long­-lasting implications for a person’s mindset. For instance, praising someone’s process (“I really like how you struggled with that problem”) versus praising an innate trait or talent (“You’re so clever!”) is one way to reinforce a growth ­mindset with someone. Process­ praise acknowledges the effort; talent­ praise reinforces the notion that one only succeeds (or doesn’t) based on a fixed trait.

Put on the coffee, twist up a cigarette, and sharpen your pencils.  Here we go, jailbirds!

« Last Edit: May 30, 2016, 08:42:03 pm by Nobody »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

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Nation of One

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Re: The Learning Myth of Sisyphus
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2016, 08:44:53 pm »
I guess this is as good a thread as any to place a footnote on SLOW THINKING.

As a kind of prelude before committing myself to an encyclopedic Physics textbook, I have been going through Arnold Pickar's Preparing for General Physics: Math Skills Drills and Other Useful Help, Calculus Version ... and while I am moving relatively quickly through the exercises, I am finding more than a few errors in the solutions provided in the text.

I have noticed a pattern.   The solutions are squeezed into a small space with a minimal amount of explanatory details, and it seems like more errors are made in the last couple solutions on a page.

I know this is some petty comment to make here, but it is related to slow thinking. 

As has been my way for some time now, I am taking notes and working out the solutions myself in a notebook - then checking the solutions.   I leave myself plenty of space with detailed explanations, unlike the author or whoever filled in the solutions ...

I guess it is good for the confidence to be able to prove to oneself that a solution in a "textbook" contains errors.  I wonder why they were in such a rush to publish (in 1993) that they did not wait to check their work.   Also, the edition I have was printed in 2012 (restricted for sale in India ... I don't know how I got a copy off of Amazon (the last copy of that particular edition)) ... which means someone reprinted the errors.  They could have went through the text and made the necessary corrections.  I am not overly concerned about it, but it makes me wonder ... and it encourages me to continue at my careful turtle's pace.

Lately I have not been turning on the computer until later in the evening so as not to be too distracted. 

While reading Cioran's The Trouble With Being Born (late last night when I put the math books away), I came across two aphorisms I would like to type on this board and discuss.  I just have to figure out where to place them:  Trouble With Being Cioran

I will then catch up on reading the anti-superbowl rant, which is now up to PAGE 2.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2016, 09:20:45 pm by Nobody »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

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Re: The Learning Myth of Sisyphus
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2016, 03:04:29 pm »
Either (1) I am one of those rare individuals who is actually honest about how long it takes to get through problems in a physics textbook (and how daunting the sheer size of these books is) or (2) I am an extremely slow problem solver moving at a snail's pace in comparison to the authors' expectations.

It may be a combination of both.  Rather than becoming discouraged and saying "forget this," I will just have to be content on taking years as opposed to months ... and just hope some kind of disaster doesn't throw my life into a state of chaos.  I sometimes hear the laughter of the gods mocking my efforts. 
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~