Learning To Learn: Pencil, Then Ink

Loved reading your insights… I really agree with it too!

@BadRobot14: Awesome, glad to provide an outlet :).

@Ala’a: Thanks for the pointer, I’ll check it out.

@Nobody: Nice, I need to learn about Laplace transforms some day.

@uche9012: Awesome, really glad it’s helping! Good luck with your site – yes, physics is another one of those subjects where we tend to memorize things with rigor instead of understanding at an intuitive level. And the great irony is that physics is about the real world we live in!

@NewReader: Thanks!

Thanks for the thoughtful comment Eric. I had a similar experience which actually prompted the creation of this site. When studying my first semester in college, ideas that had confounded me all semester suddenly started to click. With the proper analogies, I didn’t have to “memorize” any facts, they just seemed self evident.

(I.e., we don’t “memorize” that a circle is round, that is just an intrinsic property of the element. If you are memorizing a fact like that, it means you’ve missed the point of a circle!)

The journey is what I want to share, far more than any specific nugget of knowledge. Just as you say, showing someone a photo of a mountain can be beautiful, and inspiring, perhaps… but’s not real. It doesn’t last. I want to help people experience ideas themselves (not just the conclusions!) and hopefully build enthusiasm for learning more (and for what they can teach me too).

Love the topic!

I’ve seen a few hints of a distinction I have long drawn between ‘learning’ and ‘discovery’. For me ‘learning’ is like seeing a beautiful picture of a valley from a mountain top. Yes, it’s impressive. You can appreciate the beauty of what you see. If you stop to consider it, then maybe you would also appreciate the work of whoever it was that did the work to get that picture.

‘Discovery’ is a completely different animal. It is hiking up the mountain yourself. This is a process which first takes training and conditioning or you won’t get very far. It is evident as a consistent and persistent reminder that much work is required. It soon becomes clear that the journey is at least as meaningful (and pleasurable) as the destination. Then, when you reach the summit and breathe in the air, smell the vegetation, feel the solid rock beneath your feet and the wind in your face, hear the tumult of beast and nature around you, and feel the blood coursing through your veins awash with adrenaline and endorphins, just then at that moment to take in the vista… how can that ever compare with just seeing the picture?

I would say respect your instructors; in so doing you show your virtue. Do your best to learn what they have to teach, but never stop discovering on your own.

I appreciate the lessons I have learned from my parents, elders at church and my instructors. But the greatest lessons I have ever learned have been those I discovered for myself.

If you would permit me a brief indulgence I will share one the two great discoveries I have made on my own (though it is not original in me as others have seen it before.) The precept in short is as follows: If there is a topic you wish to learn that seems to great or that you are just not smart enough to grasp, do not despair and so not give up. Rather, be willing to set it aside for a time, concentrate on what you can learn, and in time you will surprise yourself with how far you can reach.
Had someone taught this to me I may or may not have learned it, but I certainly remember when I discovered it. Through high school (class of '93) I worried that I was just not good enough to comprehend Einstein’s theories of Special and General Relativity. I did over the years pick up a number of other tools in learning mathematics and physics. Then there was one magical night. In Naval Nuclear Power School I began class at 6am and finished at 7pm with a 1/2 hour break each for lunch and dinner. Then it was back to class to study my notes, do homework and read the next chapter for the coming morning (a 6 year course compressed to 6 months is a tough course load). I was typically done between midnight and 1am, just to get up at 5 and start all over again. One day in sacrificing one of my 4 hours sleep to do laundry, I needed to decompress with a book while waiting for the machines. My choice to ‘decompress’ was The Evolution of Physics co-authored by Einstein and a colleague of his, Leopold Infeld. I was taken aback at just how simple his mind is when he expressed himself in his own words. Many of his ideas began to click for me, only because I had the conceptual tools to work with. Though I’m not in any way a master, I now understand much of this great theory that was once beyond my reach.

Had I learned this lesson from a self help guru or a stuffed shirt philosophy goober, I’m sure it would have been in one ear and out the other. But the act of Discovery is poignant. That night is indelible. It is mine and no one can take it from me, for it was not given.

“In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind” - Louis Pasteur
"All things be ready if our minds be so" - William Shakespere