Are You Forgetting What You Study?

Are you forgetting what you read? Is learning something new taking too much time or feels like a struggle for you? Would you like to remember more of that tutorial you watched with so much effort? Then follow this tip: skip all the steps at the bottom and go straight into the top of the pyramid!

Today I'll write about "Bloom's Taxonomy", and the way I found out this idea works best. I was always a big fan of meta-cognition, a fancy way of saying "learning about learning", of knowing what's going on under-the-hood of your own biological computer as much of your other plain laptop/desktop one.

<\ The Bloom's Taxonomy The Wrong and Right Way />

Some people interpret it as a step-by-step process: you first remember, then try to understand, then you apply what you learned and as you go deeper into the subject matter you can "analyze pros and cons", make comparisons and evaluate what's best, and ultimately, and only at the end, are you able to create something original, a new product, software, idea, or solve the problem you are facing.

This all makes sense, but it's not the most effective way. This is what you do instead: right at the moment you see, read, watch a new idea, or procedure or set of instructions, go ahead and put it all into practice! Right away. If you make a mistake much better, it makes you recalculate. If you don't, fine then, but it means you can push yourself a little further.

<\ This is Why />

Don't try to remember: you don't understand the subject yet so you are relying on your short-term-memory, which is small and... forgetful... most of the effort in remembering something too new and complex as the usual stuff we try to learn as developers will be wasted.

Don't try to understand: when something is fairly new, you do need more and more details and examples to fully make sense of it, and in any case, you and I both know that you truly understand something once you've experienced it, so let's move on...

<\ What You Do Instead: CREATE />

Now when we come to the Apply, Analyze and Evaluate steps, we are better off, since they lead right into CREATING, though whenever possible go ahead and skip them.

When you create something of your own (regardless if it's original for others), you put your whole being into it, and the more senses and the more of yourself you involve with it, the better you grasp it. What's interesting here is as you do this, you are actually pulling the rest of the pyramid steps with you.

As you gradually make the effort to produce, you are coming to an understanding by living the subject matter through your own skin. You are applying, analyzing and evaluating as you focus on creating this which is yet not entirely clear but it becomes so as you get closer and the fog disperses, and this is what produces the REMEMBERING effect, what makes it stick!

<\ Rouding Off: Some Examples />

• You are watching a tutorial and everything seems so obvious (big trap!), so you just keep watching (for 30 more minutes...). Don't do this, instead pause as soon as you see a new command, instruction or idea, go type code and fail. Then check the docs briefly, try something of your own again, then go back to the tutorial and repeat this process.
• You are on a language course, don't wait for the whole chapter to finish, go attempt a few phrases and write or record to someone you know right away, as soon as you learn it, don't even wait for that lesson to finish, don't even practice it "on your own" a few times, don't even wait to hear it a second time, go and use it.
• You are reading a recipe and since you realize you are missing some of the "essential" ingredients you just keep reading, maybe the same recipe, or you check another one. Most likely the same will happen, missing ingredients, you leave the book in frustration, and go cook the same old dish. Instead, try the recipe anyways, see what you can use to replace those missing ingredients, or just check what happens without them anyways, you'll be surprised.
• You are going through the documentation for a technology you are learning. Don't read the whole page (for gosh's sake!), go ahead and experiment with code, even just after reading the syntax, even if you are almost sure it won't work. Then go back to the docs, read the examples, go back to coding and refine.

You don't acquire a skill forcing yourself into remembering, memorizing, or understanding. You do it by focusing on CREATING something of your own, which makes you evaluate, analyze and apply. This way remembering takes place, and understanding follows.

What are some other examples you could share? Post in the comments below. Now I wonder... what did YOU learn today?