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Study Basics Course
Last revision date: 5Jan92
Table of contents
ChecksheetA study checksheet is a list of the materials you need to study and the practical demonstrations, drills, exercises, and essays you need to do. They are given in the order that they should be done in. The checksheet is laid out to provide the most optimum path through the subject. Theory is interspersed with practical parts to present the subject in a balanced manner. Please go through the checksheet in the suggested order. As you go through the checksheet you should write your initials and the date on each item you finish. Some practical items require a check-out from the course instructor or a fellow student and in that case they would initial that point. The course is intended to be studied in a course room where an instructor is available to guide you through the materials. If there is any part that you need clarified or you wish to discuss the instructor is there for you.
Why study?Study is to look at something to learn more about it. The purpose of study is to get to understand something and to be able to use what one has learned. The final objective when studying is to apply what one has learned. The study is successful to the degree that one can apply what one has learned. Studying without application is meaningless. Studying is different from reading. One might read something for varying reasons. Maybe to be entertained, to pass time, or to take one's attention off other things. This should not be confused with studying. A student is an individual who is studying a subject to be able to apply it. He performs the act of studying over a period of time. So, one studies to learn something. Learning something means that one gains an understanding about something and an ability to do something in the area. The reason for studying is just that and nothing else. If one doesn't wish to understand and apply the materials there is no point in studying. The best studying is when one accomplishes understanding and application with the least possible effort.
Pre-requisites to studyBefore you can start studying something you must recognize that there is something you don't know. You must be able to see that there is a gap in your knowledge that you wish to fill. If you don't notice it or if you don't wish to fill it you won't get very far. So, first realize that you don't know. Get a feel for what it is that you don't know and what you plan to do about it. That might or might not be easy to do, but it has to be done. No subject can be successfully studied from a viewpoint of "knowing it all". You are not likely to learn if you think you already know it. If you already knew it all there would be no point in studying. If you already know a lot, that is fine, but in studying you would concentrate on what you don't know. To start studying one must recognize that there is something there to be studied. There is a subject there. The subject matter must be somewhat real to you before you start. You must ascertain for yourself that the subject exists. Study requires that you confront the subject. You must be able and willing to stand up to it, look it in the eyes, and tackle it. Next you must intend to learn the subject. You must have a self-propelled drive to get through the subject. You must intend to succeed in the subject. You must want and desire to learn. Your own desire to learn the subject is what allows you to make your own choices as you progress through the subject. Don't study for anybody else's sake, study for you. To summarize: 1. Realize that there is a subject there 2. Realize that you don't know everything about it. 3. Confront the actual subject 4. Intend to learn about it. These points need to be maintained throughout one's study. However simple they are, they are the foundation
on which your progress is based.
Myths about retentionTraditional study techniques are often centered around the idea of an acceptable percentage of retention. It goes like this: You retain a certain percentage of what you have read after first reading it, let's say 70%. After a week your retention has dropped to something like 50%. After a year you retain maybe 30% of what you studied and that is what you have learned. It is usually implied that the retained 30% is what is expected and that it is acceptable. Various improved techniques of study increase the percentage of retention or the speed of study. Speed reading is one such example. The problem with all of this is that the purpose of studying is left out. Studying is regarded as reading: an activity where you go through a certain amount of words and some of them stick and you achieve a desirable benefit from that. Unfortunately understanding and application aren't understanding and application when they are less than 100%. Either you understand or you don't understand. Either you do it or you don't do it. There are of course degrees of perfection in doing that, but they have very little to do with the retention in reading. When you do a certain activity and somebody gives you a direction you need to understand the direction. "Press the red button" means "Press the red button", not "Push the blue lever". "Service the brakes" means "Service the brakes", not "Rotate the tires". If you don't understand the subject you won't last long in any practical field. Some subjects are more forgiving and will allow you to be an imposter without anybody noticing. That doesn't change the fact that understanding is either there or not there. Application works the same way. You won't have success as a plumber if you can't do plumbing. If you only fix
people's plumbing 50% you will have many unsatisfied customers.
Affinity, Reality, CommunicationThere are three aspects of life that are very basic to understanding it and improving it. They are Affinity, Reality and Communication. Affinity is the degree of closeness or of liking someone or something. Reality is the degree of agreement about how things are, the shared beliefs. Communication is interchange of ideas or particles. Affinity, Reality and Communication are components of any relationship. Relationships between individuals, groups, countries, between people and objects, subjects or concepts, etc. Anywhere where you find several independent units in some proximity to each other you are going to find a degree of Affinity, Reality and Communication between them. Affinity, Reality and Communication add up to Understanding. When we have a large amount of each we have a high degree of understanding. If we we have little of each there is a low degree of understanding. We describe the relationship between affinity, reality and communication as a triangle. The three corners represent (A)ffinity, (R)eality and (C)ommunication respectively. Therefore we call it the ARC Triangle. The total triangle represents (U)nderstanding. A+R+C=U.
The reason we use a triangle to represent A, R and C is that there is a connection between them. You will find that it is very difficult to have one without having the other. And if you improve or diminish one of the three the other two will follow. You will find that you are more in agreement (R) and can talk better (C) with people you really like (A) compared with people you don't like very much (low A). And if you share many ideas (R) with a person it is much easier to have a conversation (C) and you probably like (A) the person. If you have a lot of interaction (C) with a person you are likely to get more common reality (R) and are likely to be closer (A) to the person. Now, the connection between A, R and C gives us a way of improving them. If you improve one corner of the triangle you will also improve the other two. In other words, if we want to improve a specific aspect we can do it by improving one of the other two. We can lift the whole triangle by lifting one of the corners. Let us say you would want a specific person to like you better. If you were working exclusively on that, by trying to appear more likeable and so forth, you might have a hard time at it. However, with a little knowledge of ARC we can take different approaches. The easiest entry point into the triangle is communication. The more you communicate with someone the closer they get to you (A). Likewise, the more real (R) you are to someone the higher the ARC is. If you choose a subject they have some agreement with (R) you stand a much better chance of getting to talk with them (C) and having them like you (A). The most important of the three corners is Communication. It is the easiest and most direct way of increasing or decreasing understanding. By communicating you can increase A, R and U. But any of the three corners is able to lift up the triangle. Let us look a little more at what the three concepts really encompass. Affinity is best described as the willingness to be close to. That is often manifested as a high degree of liking or love. However, it can also have more negative connotations There is a whole scale of emotional possibilities. Affinity is best measured by the intensity of emotion, not by the type of emotion. Two people who hate each other and who right now are having a fight actually have a high A at that point. And incidentally they have a solid agreement (R) about fighting. And they are probably exchanging a lot of blows, insults and various flying objects, that is C.
You have low affinity for people you aren't willing to be around, people with very foreign ideas, people you couldn't imagine interacting with. You have high affinity for the people you want to be with. Friends and associates you have picked yourself, subjects you are interested in, that signifies high affinity. Reality is the degree of agreement. In this regard we are more interested in people's considerations about things than how things "really" are. The physical reality is really just what most people agree on, anyway. If two people use a very similar frame of reference they have high R. Two physicists can discuss physical phenomena with a high degree of reality. Either one of them might have trouble discussing the same phenomena with a ballet dancer. Now, high reality between two people doesn't necessarily mean that they fully agree on what they are talking about. If they totally agreed there wouldn't be much point in talking about it. It is rather that they agree on the context. Their picture of the world is similar, they can see the same things. They are willing to explore the other person's ideas. As mentioned, high reality doesn't have to have anything to do with what is generally accepted as true. Two patients in a mental institution might agree thoroughly (R) that the Martians just landed on the front lawn, and they might get along very well (A) and talk lengthily about it (C). The judgment of others has nothing to do with the degree of reality between two people. So, Reality is agreement on context, the degree to which people live in the same world. Somebody who has very different beliefs will seem unreal to you. Communication is the interchange of particles. In the ARC triangle C is the quantity of communication. The communication can also have different quality characteristics, that is the particles can be anything from ideas or feelings, to solid objects.
Part of the formula of communication is also a certain distance between the communicating parties. That goes hand in hand with affinity. Actually the greater the perceived distance, the lower the affinity is. Also communication isn't possible unless there are at least some common ground rules. That is reality. The recipient of communication must at least agree that he can be communicated to. And the communicator must agree that there is somebody there to communicate to. Also, communication is successful to the degree that it is duplicated (received as it was sent), which is again reality. Understanding is a combination of affinity, reality and communication. It is agreement of closeness and interchange. It is close interchange with someone you share ideas with. It is willingness to be with people who make some sense to you so you can talk with them. To understand a person or a subject you need to have the three component parts in balance. If one part is left out there won't be any understanding. As an example, let's say you wanted to understand how it is to be an auto mechanic. The best approach would be to get close to some auto mechanics. So, you could go to a garage, that will improve A. Now, you could talk to the mechanics there (C) and find out what they are doing and what they think about it (R). By gradually increasing each of the three corners of the ARC triangle you could end up understanding auto mechanics very well. On the other hand, if you had started out by deciding that you didn't like auto mechanics because they have dirty hands and curse a lot, you probably wouldn't get very far. Even if you tried to drop out just one corner of the triangle you wouldn't make it. Say you went to the garage and talked a lot with the mechanics about the weather and became quite friendly with them. However, you decided that car repair isn't something you would be able to know about, and you didn't understand the terms they were using. You used A and C, but you put a block on R. You wouldn't get to understand what they were doing. If any part of the ARC triangle is cut off we have what is called an ARC Break. In human relations that is commonly known as an upset. If you are used to being in ARC with someone or something, and then suddenly one of the elements drop out, you are likely to feel upset. Identifying which part of the ARC triangle was broken will tend to remedy the situation somewhat. To deal effectively with situations in life, knowledge about ARC is vital. The principles of ARC are always in action in any part of life in this universe. If you know about and use these simple principles you have a much better chance of success in what you do. If you attempt to have maximum ARC and minimum ARC Breaks with people around you, you are likely to accomplish a lot. So, how do you get into ARC with a new person you haven't met before? Well, you can start out by allowing the person to be there. If you grant the person the right to exist, to be the way he is, and to be in your vicinity you have laid the foundation for affinity. Said differently, if you start out with a positive interest in the person you will get further. Before engaging a stranger you might give some thought to possible common reality. Which subjects could you talk about that would be acceptable to both of you. You wouldn't want to overwhelm the person with unreal concepts. Your appearance is also part of the reality. If your way of dressing or your haircut is unreal to the person it will take longer to accomplish understanding. Now, most importantly, you need to talk with the person. That must go both ways: you tell him something, and he tells you something. And you have to be willing to hear his viewpoints and to convey your viewpoint to him. By continued interchange one will naturally achieve more understanding. The things to avoid would be rejecting the person, enforcing one's own reality, compulsive talking and so forth. They would be likely to lead to ARC breaks. So, use the simple principles of the ARC triangle and life will be easier.
Now, ARC has a lot to do with study also. Since A, R, and C form Understanding we can assume that one needs to have Affinity, Reality, and Communication with a subject one wants to understand. You have to be close to the subject and you have to have a degree of likingness towards it, that is affinity. You can't learn about something you have no exposure to or that you don't want to have any exposure to. You must communicate with the subject. That means you must interact with it, learn about it, try to do something with it, and so forth. You must allow the subject to communicate to you in order to learn something about it. You need to establish some reality with the subject. To start out you need to have some agreement on what the frame of reference is. Where does this subject fit in, what class of subject is it. As you continue studying it you will increase your reality on what it is and you will most likely be more in agreement with its existence and its data. Through the application of affinity, reality, and communication you gradually gain the understanding you are
seeking. During the course of your learning communication is the part you will emphasize. The actual learning takes
place by interacting with the subject.
Relative importancesData have different importances. Some things are more important than others. One of the major mistakes you can make in studying is to assign everything the same importance. The importance is how central the datum is to the subject, how much other data build on it, and how indispensable it is. The importances are in most subjects relatively few and buried in large amounts of less important data. Some subjects have a higher concentration of importances, such as law. Evaluating the relative importance of individual data is essential when studying. Assigning a uniform importance to all data is not workable and will not lead to understanding and application. It is advisable when studying to continuously evaluate the importance of what you study. What does each datum really mean to the subject, how central is it, what class of datum is it. We can divide any subject into elements of varying importance: Basic Principles:The underlying essentials of the subject. The invariable axioms. These must be known and fully understood. Doingness:What one must be able to do in the subject. The actions, skills, activities, and methods involved. These must be learned and mastered. Explanations:Further discussion of the principles and doingnesses. That is necessary and useful to understand the subject. They must be understood in order to fully understand the essentials. Beyond that they have less importance. Examples:Examples might illustrate what is being taught and give you a more full conceptual understanding. However, they aren't the material itself. They can be useful for future reference. Opinion:The writer might have opinions about things. These might be interesting, but aren't necessarily important compared to the data being taught. Filler:Study materials might include any other data that have no relevance to the subject. It might be small talk, casual remarks, elaborate embellishments, or such. These are not important.
There is a drastic difference in importance between basic principles and opinions about unrelated subjects. However, they might be in the same print in the text and they might not be given different emphasis. It is often up to you to place the emphasis where it is due. You can make your own divisions of elements in the specific subject you are studying. You just need some system to sort out the importance of each datum. This sort of division of elements gives you an idea of what you need to master fully and what you don't have to worry so much about. Basic Principles and Doingnesses have to be understood and mastered 100%. You have to know and retain these things fully. If you don't know them you can't apply the material. Anything but basic principles and doingnesses is there to help you understand the subject better while you are studying it. The purpose of explanations, examples, opinions, and filler is served when you are done with your study. As long as you understand those parts when you study them 100% retention of them is not necessary. So, in studying be sure to evaluate the relative importances of data. The data that are important, learn them 100%. And the data that are less important they are, well, less important. Understand them, but don't take them too seriously. ï Compare data with each other. ï Compare data with other data you know. ï Establish which type of data you deal with. ï Place them at the right level of importance. ï Learn the data as thoroughly as the level of importance indicates.
IntelligenceIntelligence is the ability to evaluate relative similarities and differences. Stupidity is the lack of the ability to ascertain similarities and differences. It is the erroneous assignment of difference to data that are similar, and the erroneous equation of data with each other when they are really different.
A biologist can be very intelligent about observing animals because he has studied which classes they fall into. He knows their similarities and he knows how each species differ from the other. To evaluate a datum you need to have something to compare it to. You wouldn't know what to do with it unless you relate it to something else. You need at least one datum of similar type and comparable magnitude. If you have other data in a similar class you can then observe the similarities and differences. That allows you to categorize the datum correctly and to learn from it.
Barriers to StudyThere are three major barriers that one is likely to run into in studying. They are: ï Mis-understood Words ï Skipped Gradients ï Lack of Mass
The majority of all study problems fall in one of these categories. The first and most important barrier is the mis-understood word. If in studying you go past a word you don't fully understand, if you notice it or not, subsequent parts of the text will blank out on you. Your memory of what you have studied will have holes in it and you will have a feeling of emptiness concerning the subject.
The second barrier to study is the skipped gradient. If you get in over your head, that is without having gone through all the steps required, you will end up with a feeling of confusion. You attempted too steep a gradient of learning, you got too much data you couldn't digest, and you got confused. The solution to a skipped gradient is to go back to the point where the material wasn't confusing and go through it more gradually. The third barrier to study is lack of mass. The mass is the subject matter we are studying, the thing itself, the physical objects etc. If you study without having enough exposure to the actual mass you will end up feeling squashed or dizzy. To fix a lack of mass we must bring the student into contact with the subject matter or with a suitable substitute for the subject matter. Each study barrier has some very definite symptoms and some very exact methods of remedy.
Mis-understood wordsA mis-understood word is a bypassed definition. It is a word you don't fully understand the meaning of. The phenomena of the mis-understood word is quite obvious but remarkably overlooked. It basically comes down to: you don't understand what you study if you don't understand what you study. It doesn't depend on percentages. Just because you understand 95% of the words doesn't mean that you understand 95% of the materials. Even 1% of mis-understood words can destroy 99% of your understanding. The effect of a mis-understood word goes far beyond the word itself. If you go past a word that isn't fully understood your attention will sub-consciously stick to that word. You are likely to not notice what you are reading right after that point. Blank spots will follow from mis-understood words. Your memory will have holes concerning the material. You might feel blank or empty about what you studied. And it is unlikely that you will be able to understand and apply the materials to amount to much. A mis-understood is not necessarily obvious. The words you clearly know that you don't understand are not the worst. Much more insidious are the words you have an imperfect understanding of. You might have the wrong definition, a partial definition, an uncertain understanding, or whatever. Simple words are particularly dangerous. Very often one has never bothered to fully understand them. They are taken for granted. An incomplete understanding of a word like "for" or "the" can wreck havoc on one's understanding of a subject. If in studying a text you start to feel blank, nervous, upset, or you start to yawn - it is time to look for a mis-understood word. The solution is to go back to the end of the part where you were not having trouble. The mis-understood word will be found right after that. There is a word there that needs to be defined correctly. When you find a possible mis-understood word you need to look it up. You find it in a good dictionary and you get it fully defined. You must understand its definition fully and you must understand the use of the word in the text at hand. If you are aware of mis-understood words and if you locate them and define them as soon as (or before) you get the symptoms you can feel bright and comprehending about any subject you study. If you continuously go past mis-understood words the symptoms will compound. You will not only feel blank and washed-out, you will start disliking the subject. It is not really fun anymore, it bores you or upsets you. If you continue any further you will start complaining and blaming the subject or others for your trouble. And eventually you will leave, you will drop the subject and not want to come back to it. If you are forced to keep studying you might develop ways of memorizing the material and even pass tests. But, you are no longer with it, and you won't be able to apply it. A mis-understood is known for short as an M.U.
The Symptoms of Mis-Understood Words:A blank feeling, A washed-out feeling, A not-there feeling, A nervous hysteria, Yawning, Tiredness.
GradientsGradients are when you move ahead one step at a time. You can accomplish anything if you can lay out the steps from where you are to where you want to go and then follow the steps one by one.
This applies mostly to actions and practical skills, but also to theoretical study. If you want to learn to swim it really works the same way as if you want to master nuclear physics. If you are going to learn to swim you would start by looking at some water, maybe dip a toe in it, stand in water to your knees, gradually put your whole body in the water, move a bit around in shallow water, try to float, practice swimming strokes, start swimming, and sooner or later you can swim. If you study a more theoretical subject you would probably wish to start with some of the basics explained in simple terms, some examples of the use of this subject, some basic definitions, some pictures, and you would gradually work into more and more advanced presentations of the subject. Unfortunately subjects aren't always presented that way. Some textbooks seem to assume that you already know the subject and overwhelm you with information without regard to the order of presenting them. Also, materials might be missing that you really need. Nevertheless the same mechanisms are at work. If you study something at too steep a gradient you will be hit by confusion and overwhelm.
If you have a choice in the matter you can make things much easier for yourself by selecting a study route that is built on a manageable gradient of steps. No matter which study program you are following you are still subject to the phenomenon of the skipped gradient. You might without noticing go on to the next step without mastering the one before it. Skipped gradient is recognized by a confused feeling, reelingness, a mixed-up feeling. Often one will attribute all one's trouble to the step one is at. But, if we are talking skipped gradient it is the step before that needs to be looked at. The last step where one was doing well before one started to be confused. The solution to skipped gradients is to go back and find the missed gradient and to fully master that one before
one goes on.
ConfusionsA confusion is a collection of unpredictable randomly moving particles. Everything is moving, nothing is standing still. If you are in the middle of a traffic jam in a foreign country where you don't know the traffic rules, that would adequately illustrate a confusion.
A stable datum is an predictable datum or particle. Something that remains stable and predictable while other things are moving. In the traffic jam, if you knew some of the rules by which the car moved you could probably sort out the confusion. Or if you used one car as reference point and worked out what the other cars did in relation to it, it would be less confusing. Confusions can be resolved by stable data. If you start somewhere, anywhere, and you get to know something stable about one part or one particle then you have a starting point. Then you can relate other parts to that and pretty soon you have more stable data. If you keep doing that you will eventually know all about the confusion and it will no longer be confusing.
In studying you are building up a structure of stable data about the subject. With that structure of stable data you will become more and more able to handle confusions in that area. It is wise to evaluate data well before one assumes them as stable data. The best stable data you can have in a subject are the actual basic principles it is built on. If your stable data are shaken the feeling of confusion will return. You will stay confused until you re-establish your stable data or assume new ones. For example, if you based your study of airplanes on the datum that they fly because they have engines and propellers, you might feel confused if somebody shows you a glider plane. So, if you run into a confusion the reason might be: 1. You went too fast into a subject you don't have enough stable data about yet. 2. Some of your existing stable data were shaken. As mentioned, you will fare best if you choose your stable data carefully. Sometimes you will be forced to re-evaluate existing stable data. That is not necessarily comfortable, it might
include a temporary state of confusion. But if you have previously chosen false information as your stable data
it will be necessary. Changing them might feel like taking one step back, but it would be followed by two steps
forward.
MassIn study the mass is the actual subject matter. It is the physical places, objects, and activities that it is about. If you study auto mechanics then the mass is the actual cars, engines, and parts.
Studying will work best if you are exposed as much as possible to the mass. If you have the subject matter available for you to interact with you won't lose track of what it is about. This is not just to help you understand better. There is an actual physical phenomenon connected to it. Studying without mass will give you physical reactions. If you study with too little mass available you will feel squashed, dizzy, bored, or exasperated. You might even get sick. The greatest incidence of suicides is likely in a field of study where the mass is absent. The remedy to lack of mass is to supply the mass. The best mass to provide is the actual thing. But, if that is not always practical there are suitable substitutes: ï pictures ï movies or video ï models ï drawings ï demonstrations
Written materials do not constitute mass. The written word is significance. What we are trying to accomplish is a balance between mass and significance. In lack of adequate study materials the student can produce his own representations for mass. Making drawings at certain intervals while studying is quite useful. You can demonstrate for yourself what you have studied and you can introduce at least a shadow of application by making drawings and diagrams. Demonstrations is another very useful method of getting more mass. As you study you can demonstrate the use
of the materials with random items at hand. You can show yourself or others how principles word with rubber bands
or paper clips. Or you can make clay models that illustrate what you are studying. More on that later.
DemonstrationsYou can bring yourself some mass and verify your understanding of the materials by doing demonstrations with little random objects you have at hand.
ï you can do it anywhere ï you will check your understanding ï you can simulate application.
You should have a little demo kit that you keep close to your study area. It can contain various objects that you can make demonstrations with. The subjects shouldn't have much significance to them, they don't have to look like what you study. Paper clips, rubber bands, screws, batteries, keys, beer caps, or whatever. Now, showing principles of your subjects with paper clips put you to a certain test. You have to understand what you studied in simple terms, and you have to divorce your understanding from the words used about it. You have to show it actually in the physical universe, not just explain it in significance. For example, say you were supposed to show the law of supply and demand. You could say that these paper clips here are cars that are driving around and they need gasoline, and this rubber band over here is an oil company and the beer caps are gasoline they are producing. You can show they are exchanging gasoline by moving the beer caps from the rubber band over to the paper clips. And now if we add more cars (paper clips) we need more gasoline (beer caps) and you would show that. You can only do that if you have grasped some degree of simplicity about the subject. And you might realize while you try to show it that you hadn't really translated it to reality before. What mentally appears to be understood might reveal some flaws when you have to show it. When you do a demo you make the demo items show what you are talking about. You move them around as appropriate to illustrate the matter. If you do it for somebody else you would explain what each item illustrates. However, it is not acceptable to do it by significance only. Putting two rubber bands on the table and saying "This is the supply and this is demand" is not enough. Once you get the hang of it you will realize that is quite a useful way of making sure you can translate the studied significance into physical action. You will catch yourself in parts you didn't fully get and you can maintain a better feeling about what you study. The actual mass of the subject is always best, but demonstrations are a practical and convenient substitute.
Clay demosThere is a more elaborate method of doing demonstrations for the principles you really have to grasp. To establish that you know and can use the basic principles of the subject you can do clay demos. A clay demo is done with clay, model wax, or play-doh. You make the clay show what you are trying to illustrate. You would put labels on each part saying what it is. For example, if you needed to show "a policeman" you could make a figure out of one color clay, attach a little piece of paper with "policeman" written on it, make a blob of another color into a hat and write "hat" on the label, and make a "gun" out of another piece of clay.
You make something out of the clay, and then immediately you put on a label. The clay must show the thing, so no involved explanations on the label. "Student" might be acceptable to put on a clay body, but "tired student" wouldn't be. You would have to get the clay to show a tired student, if that was the job at hand. When you are done with a full clay demo you make a big label for the whole thing saying what it is supposed to be, and you turn it upside down. If you are doing this as part of a course the instructor would then examine your clay demo. He looks at the clay and tells you what he sees. If that matches the purpose of the demo it is a "pass". If not you need to work more at it to make the clay really show it. A clay demo is mostly for the student's benefit. It will also provide a method for the instructor of checking the student, but that is only secondary. The main purpose is for the student to achieve a higher degree of understanding and application concerning a certain subject. Clay demos aren't meant to be easy, they are expected to be a challenge. What you will be asked to demonstrate will not be "policeman". It will be more involved subjects, such as "What is study?" or "A mis-understood word". If you have to show that in clay so that somebody else can see it you must get down to the simplicities of the matter. You might not know how to show it when you start out, but after working with the clay for a while you will. In trying to make a clay demo you might realize that you didn't really understand that part. In that case you
would go back and re-study it, and then try the clay demo again later.
Conceptual understandingThe understanding we are after in study is not literal and it is not complex. If you really understand something it is simple for you. You don't have to walk around remembering many complex rules. You have conceptual understanding of the basis for the rules, so you could make them up when necessary. Conceptual understanding is not words. It is the clear idea of what we are talking about, beyond mere language. You might have to study a lot of words and complexities to reach conceptual understanding of something. It is not what you start out with, you've got to work at it. But the eventual test is that everything becomes simple and intuitive. A true expert in any field has conceptual understanding of his subject. He can express it to others in simple or complex terms as he chooses. He can think with it and work with it and develop it further. He is not dependent on text books or other authorities. He knows the subject. There is a distinction between "knowing" and "knowing about". A student is learning about
something and getting to know about data in the subject. An expert knows without having to refer much to
specific data. Knowing is conceptual. Knowing about is more mechanical.
TruthWhat is true for you is true for you. Truth is what you observe and find to be true and workable for you. Nobody can really tell you what is true or false. They can present their data and suggestions. However, you need to evaluate them for yourself. Absolute truth is unattainable. What is available is workable truth. What applies to you and is useful for you is a workable truth. As you learn more and become more experienced you can adjust your truth as necessary. Data need to be evaluated. Just because some text book tells you something doesn't mean that you should accept it. It might still be blatantly false, it might have nothing to do with you, or you might need to adjust the datum for your own use. Evaluating how data apply to you is also an excellent tool for increased understanding. If you look at how each piece of information relates to your situation you have a realistic way of grasping it. You can fit it into your frame of reference as you go along. Studying materials that don't have any relation to you is one of the flaws in the traditional education system. Why would you study it if it has nothing to do with you? Study of data without relation to anything or anybody has been made into an art by the academic community. If you make it sufficiently complex and you leave out most references to application nobody might notice for a while. You are the closest person to decide what is true.
Types of mis-understood wordsThe term "mis-understood" covers any error or omission in comprehending a word, concept, or symbol. There are several different sub-divisions of mis-understood words, depending on what the status is of their definition: 1. A no-definition: there is no definition available for the word. It has never been looked up or defined. That is the easiest type of mis-understood to diagnose.
E.g. deciding that an "officer" is somebody who has an office might appear to constitute a useful definition, but isn't the right one. 4. An mistaken definition:the definition is not right, but might relate to something in a similar category. E.g. defining a "carburetor" as "an engine part that transports oil" is in the right neighborhood, but isn't correct. 5. An incomplete definition:Only an inadequate part of the definition of the word is known. E.g. defining a store as a "house" might be partially correct but doesn't cover it fully enough. 6. An unsuitable definition:a definition that is correct but doesn't fit into the context where it is currently used. E.g. knowing that "fall" is when something drops down is one correct definition. However if the word is used meaning "autumn" the first definition would be incorrect. 7. a homonymic definition:homonyms are words with the same sound or spelling but totally different meanings. E.g. "bore" and "boar" are two different words but sound the same. 8. a substitute definition:when a synonym is used as the definition of a word. A synonym has a similar meaning as the word, but it in no way constitutes a definition. E.g. you might define "chauffeur" as "driver" but that doesn't define it fully. 9. an omitted definition:the person has some definitions for the word, but not in the meaning it is used with in the text. It might or might not be missing from the dictionary. E.g. it might not be known that "bad" will sometimes mean "good" when used in slang. The dictionary probably won't give any clue on that. 10. a rejected definition:a definition the person refuses to accept even though it is made available. The definition might somehow be disturbing to the person. E.g. a person might reject the dictionary definition of "reincarnation" for religious reasons.
How to look up wordsThis is the full procedure for looking up a word: 1. Find the word in a good dictionary. 2. Read through the definitions and find the one that applies to the context at hand. 3. Study that definition. 4. Clear up any words within the definition that you don't understand. 5. Use the word in a few sentences in that exact meaning until you feel confident in its use. 6. Go through each of the other common definitions of the word. Make sentences as necessary. 7. Clear up the derivation of the word.
Example: The student reads the sentence: "Joe fell flat on his face" and realizes that he doesn't know what "flat" means there. 1. We find "flat" in the dictionary and see that there are a lot of definitions. 2. The word seems to be used as an adverb, so we look under the adv. definitions. One of them seems to apply here. 3. "in a prone or supine position". The student knows that "prone" means lying or leaning with the face down. He doesn't know what "supine" means. 4. We look up "supine" and find that it means "lying on the back, face upwards". 5. We now know that "flat" can mean that something happens in a lying down manner face upwards or downwards. A few sentences makes the student more comfortable with the word: "I'm lying flat under the car" "He crawled flat on the floor" "He fell flat on the carpet" He keeps making sentences until he feels the word is his and he can use it. 6. Then he goes through the other definitions, clears them up and makes sentences as necessary. This word has quite a few different definitions that should be understood. It also has some special purpose definitions that don't necessarily have to be cleared. 7. Finally we look at the derivation of the word. It comes from old English and Greek words meaning "broad", "wide", or interestingly "floor".
DictionariesCare must be taken in selecting an appropriate dictionary. All dictionaries aren't created equal. Some are too big, some are too small, some don't define words at all. You want a dictionary that gives all the common definitions of the words, and not too many obscure definitions. You want one that actually defines the words instead of just giving synonyms. And one that defines things in simple terms, so you don't have to look up additional terms too often. A dictionary that includes derivations of the words is preferable. Watch out for small abridged dictionaries that try to get away with synonyms as definitions and that doesn't define small words. However, dictionaries for kids is not always a bad idea. There are some that are careful at defining words that would otherwise be taken for granted. A college level dictionary is usually quite appropriate. Watch out for foreign language dictionaries. They usually just provide a literal translation of a word from one language to the other. That is not a definition. Dictionaries have differences in terminology and layout. There are, however, certain elements that are common for most dictionaries. This is the definition of the word "student" in "Webster's New World Dictionary": __ __ stuïdent (stood'nt, styood'-) n. [ME. studiante, studente < OFr. & L.: OFr. estudiant < L. studens, prp. of studere, to STUDY] 1. a person who studies, or investigates [ a student of human behavior] 2. a person who is enrolled for study at a school, college, etc. ñSYN. see PUPIL
A number of different special characters and type styles are used for different purposes. These things are usually described in the beginning of the dictionary. It is recommended that you study that part of the dictionary you are using. In the definition above the ï in the middle of stuïdent indicates that the word would be divided there at the end of a line. __ __ (stood'nt, styood'-) is a guide to pronunciation. Special characters are used that are usually described by example at the bottom of the page or every second page. This word has two correct ways of pronouncing it. n. means that the word is a noun. Other common types of words are: vt.transitive verb vi.intransitive verb adj.adjective adv.adverb prep.preposition conj.conjunction pron.pronoun interj.interjection [ME. studiante, studente < OFr. & L.: OFr. estudiant < L. studens, prp. of studere, to STUDY] is the derivation. That is the origin of the word, which languages it has developed through, and what it originally meant. The symbol < means "derived from". Here we can see that "student" is from Middle English "studiante" or "studente" that is derived from Old French and Latin. And we can see that Old French "estudiant" is derived from Latin "studens" which is Present Participle of "studere" which means "to study". The actual definitions are numbered. Each number represents a different meaning of the word. 1. a person who studies, or investigates [ a student of human behavior ] The first definition tells us that a student in general is a person who studies or investigates. It gives an example of using the word. 2. a person who is enrolled for study at a school, college, etc. The other definition tells us that it is more specifically somebody who is enrolled in a place of study. An example was apparently not deemed necessary there. ñSYN. see PUPIL Finally there is a synonym. "Pupil" has a similar meaning as "student". Be sure that you understand the elements of the definition when you look up a word. Don't take anything for
granted or regard it as unimportant. Mis-understoods in the dictionary will also hinder the study of your text.
Word clearing methodsExcept for the routine actions done by the student himself while studying there are several other ways of finding words that need to be cleared. Word clearing can be done by the student himself, by a course instructor, by a professional word clearer, or by a clearing practitioner in a clearing session. Some of these methods require the use of a so-called Clearing Biofeedback Meter. That is an electronic device that can pick up mental phenomena slightly below the level of awareness. Reads on the meter can be used for locating misunderstood words that the person is only sub-consciously aware of. Use of the meter requires special training. However, anybody can receive word clearing on meter without much instruction. These are the main methods of word clearing: WC1:Done by meter in a formal clearing session. The practitioner assesses lists of many subjects. On subjects that read on the meter the practitioner locates chains of words in the subject and in earlier subjects. That is continued until all the subjects have been cleared up. WC2:By meter in the course room. The word clearer lets the student read the text aloud while on the meter. Each reading word is cleared up. WC3:Verbal in course room. The student has trouble with the materials. The instructor asks him to look earlier in the text for a mis-understood word which is then looked up. This is also what the student would do by himself while studying. WC4:Done by meter in the course room. The word clearer puts the student's attention on part of the text studied and probes for mis-understoods. When an area is clean, they move on to the next. WC5:Material word clearing. The word clearer calls words to the student and have him define each. WC6:Key word clearing. The word clearer reads words from a prepared list of key words in a certain area. The student defines each. WC7:Used for children, foreign-language students, or semi-literates. The student reads aloud from the text. Whenever he omits or changes a word or hesitates it is taken up at once. The word clearer explains the definition of the mis-understood word to the student. WC8:Used when one seeks full grasp of a subject. An alphabetical list of all words used in the full text is used. The student looks up each and every word and uses it in sentences until he has the meaning conceptually. WC9:The student reads the text aloud for the word clearer. Any hesitation or physical or verbal manifestation is taken up and a mis-understood is looked for. Each mis-understood word is looked up in a dictionary. WC10:Crashing mis-understood finding. The word clearer fishes for a major mis-understood that has caused an inability to apply the subject.
Most of these methods require additional training in the necessary skills.
DuplicationDuplication is the action and ability to make an exact copy of something. If somebody tells you something ideal communication requires that you make an exact mental duplicate of what is being conveyed. Your ability to understand depends on your ability in duplicating ideas being directed at you. Likewise in study you need to be able to duplicate exactly what the materials tell you. The ability to do that depend on several things: ï mental clarity ï study technique ï mis-understood words ï willingness to duplicate
The Learning DrillThere is a drill that can increase your ability to duplicate and understand what you read. It is called the Learning Drill: Part 1 - Duplication The student and the coach sit across each other by a table. The coach gives the student three colors or numbers and then asks him what he said. That is done with different combinations until the student feels he can duplicate what is being said. Example: Coach:I will now give you three colors. Yellow, Green, Blue. What did I say? Student:Yellow, Green, Blue. Coach:All right, now can you remember what I said? Student:Yellow, Green, Blue Coach:Good. Here are three other colors. Red, white, black. What did I say? ... Part 2 - Reject or Accept Now, the coach gives the student statements that are clearly true or false. He lets the student repeat it. Then he asks the student to decide if it is true or false. This is continued until the student has the idea that he can doubt what the coach says and he can accept or reject it. Example: Coach:Elephants have green ears. What did I say? Student:Elephants have green ears. Coach:Good. Did we say the same thing? Student:Yes. Coach:OK. Now, is it true that elephants have green ears? Student:No. Coach:Good ... Part 3 - Evaluate Next, the coach gives the student actual statements that are part of the materials he is trying to learn. He gets the student to duplicate the statement, to evaluate it, to modify it if necessary, and to give examples of it. The purpose of this drill is to get the student to think about the data, give arguments for or against, and to evaluate what is true. Example: Coach:All materials must be retained 100%. What did I say? Student:All materials must be retained 100%. Coach:OK. Is that true? Student:Well, not always. Coach:Can you give me an example of that? Student:The footnotes in the book don't matter too much. Coach:OK, so can you modify the statement. Student:The important parts must be understood 100% Coach:OK, is that true? Student:Yes
GlibnessA "glib" student is one who can recite the materials but who can't apply them. This is the student who can get high grades at exams, who apparently duplicates the materials very well, but who don't translate them into application in the physical universe. This student might do very well in academic studies. The teachers might regard him as an "A" student. His actual learning might not be tested before he ventures out into society and tries to do something with the data. At that point it is too late. The glib student has developed ways of loading study materials into his mind and of giving them back on demand. He is unable to get conceptual understanding and application of what he studied. Glibness is discovered by asking for demonstration or application. When asked to demonstrate a principle or by doing something with it the glib student's study circuits break down. He will hesitate, make mistakes, complain, or refuse. Glib students can be caught early and reformed by consistently asking for demonstration and application of what is being studied. Glibness means significance without mass. Unfortunately traditional study tends to reward glibness and not catch it. It is the norm rather than the exception. There is a communication lag (comm lag for short) when somebody is asked a question. That is the time it takes to produce the answer. A glib student might have a very short communication lag when asked a theoretical question. However, he will have a long communication lag when asked to do something. An actual good student will have very short comm lags both in theory and practical areas. Lack of application or long comm lags indicate faulty studying.
Check-outsA check-out is a way of verifying the quality of study. Somebody else than the student will test him in the materials at hand. A theory check-out is typically done like this: 1. The instructor asks the student to define a few words in the text. Not just the obvious "difficult" words, but also simple common words. If the student has more than a short comm lag or he has to think about it, he fails the check-out. 2. The student is asked one or more questions about the text, and he is asked to give examples. 3. Finally the instructor asks the student to demonstrate with demo kit something from the text.
Any hesitation, errors, or lack of application results in a failed check-out. The instructor tells the student what he did wrong and asks him to clear it up and to re-study the text. Another check-out will be done after that. The student passes the check-out if he can define words without hesitation, can answer questions about the text and give examples, and he can demonstrate the principles taught. A properly done check-out might seem tough and unreasonable. That is because it is tough and unreasonable.
Bad study habits are not something to take lightly. They can destroy a person's future professional career, so
they better be caught early.
CoachingCoaching is the act of training a student intensively in theory or practice. A coach is working individually with the student to get him through a certain part. Students might take turns coaching each other through materials. Coaching can be the action of helping a student understand a piece of theory, demonstrating the principles, or doing a drill or exercise. In drills the coach will often simulate real life situations that the student needs to handle. There are several ground rules of coaching: ï Coach with the purpose and intention that the student can do the drill or understand the theory. ï Coach with reality. Use real life examples, and make the materials real for the student. ï Coach on a gradient. Give the student a challenge he can overcome. Don't make it too easy or too hard. Allow the student to get wins.
The coach should let the student know clearly if he doesn't pass the drill. He must tell him exactly what needs
to be improved and then help him improve it. When the student passes the drill he should be commended for that.
There are no "buts" if the drill is passed, either he passes or he doesn't pass.
Tape StudyStudy using audio or video tapes necessarily has a different feel to it based on the medium. However, the same principles apply as for any other type of study. You need to watch out for mis-understood words, lack of mass, and skipped gradients. When studying a tape you don't have the same overview of a whole page or section as you do with written materials. You are only presented with one part at a time and you can't directly see the whole context. That, unfortunately, makes it easier to miss a word or a concept. It is a very good idea to take notes while studying a tape. Stop the tape once in a while and write down the important parts. That checks your duplication, forces you to think, and enters a bit of application. Also, you can and should demonstrate important principles using a demo kit, or by drawings, or whatever. This ensures that you keep a balance of mass and significance. While studying a tape you need to be on the lookout for the symptoms of the three study barriers, particularly for mis-understood word phenomena. When you find yourself yawning, getting bored, feeling blank, not knowing what the tape is talking about, stop the tape immediately. Don't decide that "it probably wasn't important", "it will get more interesting later", or anything like that. You have passed a mis-understood word, and you need to find it. Rewind the tape to a point BEFORE you started feeling blank. Listen to it from there and find the word(s) you didn't quite understand. Continue listening again to the part you didn't get before. You might have to go over the same section several times before you find all the MUs and it becomes clear to you. Maybe you didn't go far enough back the first time and you need to rewind the tape further. Get into the habit of stopping the tape immediately and rewinding it as soon as you notice the symptoms. Before you start studying with a tape player, be sure you know how to operate the device. Study the controls and be sure you know how to load tapes, start, stop, pause, adjust volume, and whatever else you need. If written transsripts of the tapes being studied are available, use them. For one thing they might clarify
words that it is hard to hear on the tape. But also, the combination of the two will bring you the material both
visually and auditorily. More different types of presentation tends to produce better learning.
LecturesLive lectures are of course also a form of study. A live lecture might make the material more alive for you. The lecturer can make his presentation more personal, he can make diagrams, he can gesticulate with his hands, etc. But, a live lecture imposes several other problems, studywise. The lecturer is probably addressing more people than just you. You might have no say over his speed of delivery. And worse than that, you might not be able to stop him if you don't get something. He is going to keep talking even if you passed by a mis-understood word. Lectures in academic settings are probably one of the key contributing factors to the proliferation of bad study practices. You are being trained to sit through monotonous presentations about things you might not understand, and there is nothing you can do about it. Do that for a few years, without having any knowledge of study technique, and you will be used to going through life without noticing that you don't know what is going on. Since you can't stop the lecturer you must be more inventive to avoid the study barriers. You can prepare for the lecture by orienting yourself in terms of the material that probably will be presented, and the key phrases that you might expect. Bring a note pad for any lecture. As much as possible, evaluate the presented data in terms of category and importance. You can make notes and diagrams in different colored pens, or whatever, depending on what you evaluate. You should note down any words and concepts that you don't immediately get so that you can look them up later. When given the choice, it is often preferable to study a tape of a lecture compared to attending the lecture
itself. It is much easier to apply correct study technique to a tape. There are of course other non-study related
factors that might make a live lecture more desirable.
Relaxation and studyThe success of study has nothing to do with how many pages one has read or how much one has worked on learning something. All that counts is how well you can apply what you retained. There are factors that will increase the degree of learning without increasing the amount of hard work. As a matter of fact, learning is better the less hard it is. A student will learn better if he is attentive, but relaxed. The more stressed he is, the less effective his learning will be. The best student is the one who is well fed and rested, who currently is physically relaxed, who is in a pleasant environment, and who is presented with material in a non-stressful way. To learn quickly one doesn't have to have one's mind working at very high speed, thinking and figuring things out. One would learn better by relaxing with the material. Experiments have shown that genius level thinkers or exceptionally fast learners don't increase their mind activity when they learn or when they solve problems. They actually relax more both mentally and physically when they are presented with a problem to solve. When you really need to learn something, don't pressure yourself through it in a stressful way. Make sure that you are relaxed and comfortable, and that your daily worries are out of the way. Relax physically and mentally, remember your study technique, and work with the material. Relaxing doesn't mean being sleepy or absent minded here. The state of attentative relaxation is what we are
after. Aware, but not under pressure.
Improved study presentationThe retention and application of material can be improved by combinations of presentation methods. If several senses can be combined the retention is usually much higher. If visual, auditory, and maybe kinesthetic presentations can be combined the learning is vastly improved. Text itself might tell you what you are supposed to learn, but it only engages certain parts of your mind. If we can engage more parts we can embed the data much more thoroughly. Text can be enhanced with underlining, boxing, colors, and more. If important parts of the text are being emphasized, they will be noticed better. If different segments are in different color they will be remembered better. There is sort of more to remember them by. Pictures will greatly enhance and illustrate text. As it is said, a picture is worth a thousand words. But also it is a different method. A picture is processed differently by the mind than written words are. Sound will enhance learning. If the materials are spoken as well as written they will be received better. Also, music can enhance learning. Certain types of music will promote an attentive relaxed state useful for learning. Application and movement will of course also improve the learning. If the student is required to physically do some actions, they are going to stick much better with him than if he just read about them. Different people might be oriented predominantly visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. That is they respond best to what they see, hear, or feel. If nothing else for that reason, it is necessary to present material in different ways to ensure maximum benefit for any recipient. Repetition of material will improve retention. The more times one has received a datum, the better one will notice it. Repeating the data in different ways will accomplish the purpose without wearyness. Switching the flow and requiring students to explain the materials or to question other students about them, is another effective way of improving learning. The students will take more responsibility for the materials and will look at it in ways that might otherwise have been missed. Existing presentations rarely have an ideal combination of the factors that will allow you to learn best. But, knowing about these elements, you can maximize your benefit from the study materials at hand. If you can get the material in several different ways, visual as well as auditory, do it those ways. If you can get different versions of the materials you can get repetition. If you can get hold of pictures, diagrams or movies, you get another angle. If you can highlight your materials in different colors, all the better. If you can find somebody to lecture about the materials you are learning, do it.
Presentation methods that can improve learning: ï Pictures ï Different colors of text ï Movies ï Speech ï Music ï Exercises, where one has to do something ï Teaching the subject to somebody else ï Relaxation ï Repetition in different ways ï Emphasizing importances in any way
Language and meaningA common mistake in communication and in study is to confuse the words and the meaning or the concepts. The word ISN'T the thing or concept. It is just a way of discussing the thing or concept. Concepts are what they are. They are by their very nature beyond language. If you understand something you understand it. It doesn't have anything to do with the words attached to it. Language is an integral part of human life. Communication would be very difficult without it at this point. However, language will never be more than symbols and representations of the real thing. Don't confuse them with what they represent. Language often introduces similarities and differences that aren't necessarily there. It is practical to take a large class of objects and call them "cars". That makes it much easier to talk about them. You don't have to say "that silvery metal thing there with the glass windows and the rubber things it is standing on". You just say "car" and everybody knows what you mean. But what when one day you see a thing like that that has only 3 wheels, or one that flies. Is it still a "car"? You might get into a big discussion with somebody about if it is a car or not. Go ahead and discuss it, but be aware that the thing is what it is. Whatever term we apply to it is never more than a term. In order to talk about the workings of a human being we might postulate that he has a "mind" that he uses to think with. And we might divide that "mind" into "conscious mind" and "sub-conscious mind", or into "analytical" and "reactive mind", or into "intuitive", "logical", "emotional" parts of the mind. Through such divisions we can explain a lot of things about a human and we can discuss matters at great length. That is all quite useful. But, don't forget that we introduced these divisions in language in order to talk about what is there. Going in the other direction is not necessarily fruitful. Don't think that you can necessarily isolate and study a "sub-conscious mind" in real life. Just because the word exists doesn't mean that reality is going to accommodate it. Discussing subjects based exclusively on the words they contain borders on insanity. Academia contains a lot of this particular type of insanity. You might get so involved in academic discussions about an abstract subject that you completely lose sight of reality. The word isn't the thing.
Undefinable termsWhen you look up a word in a dictionary it is defined with other words. A very poor dictionary will just substitute another word. Such as "street" meaning "road". That teaches very bad habits of studying and thinking. Just identifying one word with another is sabotaging the language. A better dictionary might define "street" as "a public, paved road in a town or city, with buildings and sidewalks on one or both sides." That is much better, the student is more likely to form the concept of what we are talking about. However, even the better definition contained only other words. If you systematically examined the whole dictionary you would realize that all the words are defined by each other. A dictionary is one big circular reference. Everything in it is being defined by something else in the book that is defined by something else in the book. Ultimately we are going in ring, or we end up in the same place. A dictionary in itself doesn't really give you the concepts of what it is really talking about. YOU form the concepts when you study the dictionary. It is the concepts that you form that are important, not the words that express them. The words in themselves are a dead end. You have to make the mental leap to comprehending a thing as it is, NOT as it is described. As an exercise, you can ask another person to define some element of life for you, for example "happiness" or "the mind". Insist that he defines all his terms as he goes along. When he starts going in rings, insist that that is not ok, he can't define terms by themselves. Eventually you will have cornered him. He hasn't fully defined everything and he can't get any further. He will probably claim that "that's just the way it is" or some such defense. If you try to define with words exactly what you are talking about you will end up either going in ring, or you will end up with some un-definable terms. You will have to make a conceptual jump and assimilate something without use of words. There is nothing particularly wrong with ending up with some un-definable terms. It teaches you a lesson. It just shows that the finite language can't in itself encompass the infiniteness of things and concepts. The word isn't the thing. Language is created when somebody puts a word on something that previously wasn't named. A Neanderthal picks up something from the ground and calls it "stone". He doesn't need to supply a lengthy definition referring to many other words. It is a "stone" because he says so. By all means, look up the definitions of all the words you run into. But don't think that they can be finitely and conclusively defined. It is the conceptual understanding we are after.
ï Language is only an incomplete representation of reality. ï Any thorough definition will end up with a concept that has to be understood as a concept and not just
as words.
False DataBe aware that all data aren't true. Data have varying degrees of truth for you, and some data are completely false. Previously false data that have been accepted can block the study of new data in the area. The new data might conflict with the old false data and might therefore be rejected or misplaced. Part of the evaluation process during study is to rearrange old data as necessary. One might realize that one built one's understanding of a subject on erroneous ideas and one might adopt new ones. Past false data that have been accepted might be difficult to discover and the student might be very reluctant to let go of them. There is a procedure that the word clearer can use on students to find and re-evaluate false data. However,
the student can do a lot himself by being aware of the phenomenon.
The pyramid of knowledge
The top of the pyramid contains the simplest, most general, most wide ranging, most abstract data in the subject. The further down we go in the pyramid the more specific, complex, limited, and practical the data gets. The practical data at the bottom of the pyramid build on the abstract principles found further up in the pyramid. The general principles at the top can be explored and illustrated by the manifestations and examples found further down. Any conflict between specifics low in the pyramid are resolved by moving one or more steps up and inspecting the general principle the specifics are based on. The process of developing lower parts of the pyramid is called deduction. It is the construction of specifics by the application of general rules. General laws can be combined logically to establish and predict practical data. Engineering is an example of this. The matematical formulas for bridge building are known, they just have to be applied to the conditions at hand. The process of working out the top parts when only the bottom parts are known is called induction. One can guess at theories that will explain the maximum number of observed specifics. The theory or fact that explains the most is the best candidate for a high position. Science usually uses this approach. The theory of evolution was developed like that. A theory is thought up and then one checks if reality fits the theory. Any subject has a structure like this, no matter if it is being presented like this or not. It is the duty of the student in the field to structure his own understanding and to get the relative importances and seniorities right. The higher the datum is placed in the pyramid of knowledge the more important it is to know it 100%. Lower data can always be developed if the higher are known. However, it might not be possible to have conceptual understanding of wide spanning, abstract data unless a sufficient number of specifics and examples have been understood and evaluated. In the subject of physics you can predict a lot of things if you know the laws of gravity. They are placed very high in the hierarchy. If you know that things in general fall down according to certain principles you don't have to walk around remembering that apples fall down, stones fall down, coffee cups fall down, etc. You might develop your conceptual understanding of the subject by observing a lot of things falling down, but once you understand the rule the specifics have much less importance. But they have their place. It is useful to remember directly that stones usually fall down, but balloons usually fall up, without resorting to mathematical calculations. Any confusion or question about the specifics can be sorted out by referring to the general rule. Here is another example. If we are studying the categorization of birds we might at a high level have the simple datum: ï Birds are feathered and winged animals that lay eggs.
Further down we add more detail: ï Birds are feathered warmblooded vertebraes with beaks ï There are birds that fly and birds that don't fly ï Birds seem to have developed evolutionary from the reptiles
And further down more specifics and more exact detail, e.g.: ï A gull is a web-footed, long-winged sea fowl of the genus Larus. It has feathers of gray, white, and black. In the larger species, the upper part of the beak is bent downward at the point.
Structuring learningThere are many ways of sorting and evaluating what you are studying. One was given in the section about relative importance. Here is another one. While you are studying you can divide the data into three different categories:
Purpose is the whys of the material. Why are you studying it, what is the reason for the subject, what are you trying to accomplish. Method is the hows. What are we actually doing, and how do we do it. Result is the phenomena that happen. What comes out of it, what do we look for. One can make a diagram and fill data into it as one goes along in the study.
When one reads a datum one evaluates which category it falls into and writes it into that section. One can use a different color pen for each section. This sort of technique enforces one's evaluation of the data and makes it more clear what one is studying. As mentioned, any method of organizing the data is good. You can make your own system. The main thing here is
that if you evaluate and categorize the data you will make it more your own and more applicable.
Outpoints and PluspointsIn evaluating the truth and usefulness of studied data it can be practical to notice out-points and plus-points in it. An out-point is something that is wrong with a datum. Something doesn't add up right. An out-point doesn't mean that the data presented are false, but the outnesses have to be taken into consideration.
Out-points:
Example: The statement "The mayor of San Francisco voiced concern about the water shortage problem in Los Angeles" might contain several outpoints. First there seems to be a wrong source. The mayor in San Francisco is the wrong person to say anything about the situation in Los Angeles. And we might maybe find that the statement was made 10 years ago and therefore has dropped time. We might find other out-points by checking the data further. Plus-points are indicators that data are in good order, there is something right about them.
Example: "I received a phone call from Mr.Smith at January 2nd, 2:15PM while I was home" contains several plus-points, such as correct source, time, place, and event. The more plus-points you find in your study materials and the less out-points the more potential usefulness will they have for you. You study to find the truth in the area and to be able to apply what you learn. If you can evaluate the quality
of the data you stand a much better chance.
Double SpeakDouble-speak is written or spoken information that means something else than what it pretends to say. It is very common in advertising, in politics, in legal small print, and in academic education. The attempt in double-speak is to make things look better than they are and to hide the truth. The truth can be hidden away in difficult words or elaborate sentence constructions. It can be embellished by empty adjectives or false comparisons. Language is often used to deceive. The solution is to understand what it really means. If a company has "redundancies in the human resources area" it means that somebody will get fired. And if it has a "negative cash-flow" it means it is broke. "Building super intendant" undeniably sounds better than "janitor", and "access controller" sounds better than "door man". A "natural chocolate flavored" cookie might contain artificial flavors and no chocolate. "Enriched bread" isn't really enriched with anything but chemicals. You get the idea. Statements don't always say what they seem to say. Double-speak signifies non-responsibility. It is carefully constructed to appear to communicate. There are four main categories of double-speak: 1. Euphemism:An inoffensive or positive word or phrase used to avoid an unpleasant reality. Often used for noble reasons, but just as often just to cover things up. E.g. "passed away" instead of "dead", "rest room" instead of "toilet". 2. Jargon:Specialized language of a trade or profession. E.g. an "involuntary conversion of property" is when someone steals or destroys something of yours. 3. Bureaucratese: Also known as gobbledygook. This is a piling on of words to overwhelm the audience with words. E.g. "It is a tricky problem to find the particular calibration in timing that would be appropriate to stem the acceleration in risk premiums created by falling incomes without prematurely aborting the decline in the inflation-generated risk premiums", spoken by Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman. 4. Inflated language: Designed to have anything ordinary seem impressive. E.g. calling an auto mechanic an "automotive internist".
A good way of discovering double-speak is to take the statement at hand and .. 1. write down what it implies, which impression it is trying to leave. 2. write down what it actually means. Be sure that you understand all the words.
If you get two different results you are looking at double-speak. Just remember that even though you understand a text you still need to evaluate it. What is being said might or might not be true, it might try to deceive you, it might or might not have anything to do with you. Make sure you know both what the text pretends to say and what it actually says. Make your own judgements.
Other study techniquesThere are many methods in existence that are intended to improve the quality or quantity of learning. Some are useful, some are not. Evaluate any additional study methods carefully before you use them. Speed-reading is a common technique attempted to improve study. It can quite impressively improve the quantity of material read, and even the apparent retention of the material. Unfortunately it teaches you to be a glib student. You are trained into the habit of reading everything at a uniform speed without stopping to clear things up or evaluate what you read. The ability to understand and apply what you read is much senior to the speed with which you do it. You will
find that if what you read is clearly understood then your speed will take off. Trying to create the speed
before the understanding is not conducive to actual understanding and application.
The Importances of Study
ï Realize that there is a subject there to learn. ï Intend to learn to understand and apply the subject. ï Study it by gradient steps. Go a step back if you skip a gradient. ï Have the mass available. If you are lacking mass, get some. ï Don't go past any word you don't fully understand. ï If you get the symptoms of mis-understood words, find and clear them. ï Evaluate the relative importance of anything you study. ï Learn the essentials 100%. ï Study for application.
Glossary
End of the Study Basics Course |
