Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens

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Best book notes:

"Brains are amazing. They’re the most sophisticated gadgets in the universe. They change their structure depending on what you do with them."

"Sometimes we need to lose concentration so we can think more clearly. Zoning out occasionally (not all the time) can be useful when you’re learning or problem solving."

"When you’re using your focused mode, it means that you’re paying attention."

"When you are trying to learn something new, you must first focus intently on it in order to “turn on” those parts of the brain and get the learning process started."

"Diffuse mode is when your mind is relaxed and free. You’re thinking about nothing in particular. You’re in diffuse mode when you’re daydreaming or doodling just for fun."

"In diffuse mode, you’re not thinking about anything in particular."

"The diffuse mode helps you make imaginative connections between ideas. Creativity often seems to pop out of using the diffuse mode."

"To be a successful problem solver, focus first. We get stuck in problem solving when we don’t first prepare our brain by focusing on the basics. Don’t just dive into problem solving without studying the explanations first. You need to lay some basic trails on the focused pinball table.
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"Take breaks to get new problem-solving perspectives. We can also get stuck on a difficult problem even when we’ve prepared properly."

"Procrastination means putting things off until later. It is a problem for many students (and adults!) and gets in the way of good learning."

"As you will learn later, time and practice work together to help you cement new ideas into your brain."

"When you even just think about something you don’t like, it activates a pain center of the brain called the insular cortex. This can lead to procrastination."

"the idea of multitasking is a mistake. Your focus can only be on one thing at a time. When you switch your attention, you waste mental energy, and you will perform worse."

"Metaphors allow you to connect what you already know to the new concept you’re learning. This helps you learn faster."

"Guang found that neurons do change. And the big change happens after we learn something and then go to sleep."

"The more you learn, practice, and sleep, the more you grow new dendritic spines and synaptic links. Stronger links plus more links."

"Recall is one of the most effective ways to boost your learning."

"Some people need more practice and repetition to get a concept than others. That’s perfectly okay!"

"Your memory is a lot better for pictures than it is for abstract facts."

"Turn whatever you’re memorizing into a picture that you can visualize in your mind’s eye."

"Find a way to relate the information to things you already know. Find an anchor. This allows you to put the pictures into your brain in places where you can easily retrieve them."

"Focus and memorization reinforce each other."

"Make up metaphors for the information you’re trying to remember."

"Information is stored in memory as two types—facts and pictures"

"five memory tips are: Focus on what you’re trying to remember. Practice remembering. Turn what you are trying to remember into a picture. Store the picture by connecting it to things you already know. Use active recall to make the idea stick."

"Memory palaces are useful, because they use your amazing visuospatial powers. Practice using your memory, and it will get easier and easier."

"Five other ways to help you remember are to: Use a song. Make up metaphors. Take good notes, preferably handwritten. Imagine you are the thing you’re trying to understand and remember. Share your ideas. Teach them to someone else."

"But just understanding a concept does not create a set of brain-links. You must practice a new concept to create the set of brain-links. Understanding and practice go together. The more you practice, the more you understand what you are learning."

"practice with programs like Smartick and Kumon can help build stronger sets of brain-links that reinforce understanding in a deep way."

"Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. It’s harder to move more stuff into working memory if you already have a lot going on there"

"When you’re learning anything new, your working memory can only hold so much in mind at once. This is why it’s so important to make strong, well-practiced sets of brain-links."

"A set of brain-links is a pathway of connected neurons in your long-term “locker” memory that is built through practice. A set of brain-links helps your working memory to process information more quickly."

"Brains are different. They’re much slower, and they work by doing lots of smaller things all at once. They’re like a team of billions of tiny computers working together. Each neuron is a tiny “computer.”"

"during sleep, information you’ve learned is transferred from the neurons in the hippocampus into the neurons of your cerebral cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain."

"Your cerebral cortex is the home of your long-term memory (locker). So sleep not only helps build new synaptic connections, it also clears out the hippocampus to make room for new learning."

"New neurons are born in the hippocampus every day."

"If you don’t learn anything new, the new neurons in your hippocampus will disappear not long after they are born."

"“BDNF” is really short for “brain-derived neurotrophic factor.”"

"BDNF makes your new neurons strong and healthy.3 It protects them from injury and makes them more likely to connect to other neurons. It also acts like a food for synapses and dendritic spines, making them grow larger."

"when you exercise, you’re looking after your brain, and obviously your body, too!"

"In fact, if you exercise and have a healthy diet, it has a big impact on your ability to learn and remember. Bigger than either exercise or healthy eating alone."

"Exercise is really good for your neurons, especially the new ones."

"Exercise helps create a chemical (BDNF) that is like food for your brain."

"Exercise releases chemicals that generate new ideas."

"Exercise is a great diffuse activity!"

"Every time you create a solid set of brain-links, it’s like connecting some pieces of a puzzle."

"Working memory is your brain’s temporary storage space."

"it’s good to change the place where you study."

"Sleep is the best thing you can do to retune yourself each day and keep yourself healthy."

"Everybody’s different. That’s why it’s important to become your own personal learning scientist."

"Action video games are great for focusing."

"Action video games can improve your ability to focus. They can also improve your vision. They can be especially useful for older people, to help keep their focus strong."

"Spatial video games can improve your ability to rotate objects mentally—an important skill in math and science."

"“Slow” thinkers can understand a subject or problem just as well as “fast” thinkers."

"Slow thinkers may need more time, but they can sometimes actually understand the subject better than fast thinkers."

"Doing the “hard-start” technique allows you to use your brain as a sort of double processor. Your diffuse mode can take over on the hard problem as soon as you drop your focus on it. While the focused mode is tackling the easier problem, the diffuse mode works in the background on the other, harder problem. If you wait until the end of your test session to focus on the hardest problems, your focus prevents the diffuse mode from going to work."

"recall is one of the best ways to learn"

"Use the Pomodoro Technique to build your ability to focus and relax. Just turn off all distractions, set the timer to 25 minutes, focus, and then reward yourself."

"Eat your frogs first. Start your most difficult work first. That way you can either finish it or take a break to let your diffuse mode help you."

"To be in focused mode means you are paying close attention to something."

"The diffuse mode is when your mind is wandering freely, not focusing on anything in particular. Your favorite diffuse mode activities are up to you!"

"On Google Maps: Zooming in is like focused mode. Zooming out is like diffuse mode."

"Procrastination means delaying or postponing something that you should be doing."

"The reward is the most important part of the Pomodoro process."

"During the break between Pomodoros, try to do something that uses a different part of your brain. If you’ve just been writing a report, don’t write a post on social media. The best breaks involve getting up and moving around."

"Sleep is important when it comes to learning because that’s when new dendritic spines and their synapse links really “pop” and grow larger. Sleep is also when the mind rehearses the information you’ve been learning. The electrical signals that arise while rehearsing during sleep are part of why the dendritic spines and their synapse links grow so rapidly."

"When you practice a new idea, the synapse involved becomes stronger."

"Your working memory is like a school bag because it’s close at hand but can hold only a limited amount of information."

"Your attentional octopus (your working memory) “lives” in your prefrontal cortex."

"People’s working memory can usually hold about four items of information."

"Your long-term memory is scattered around in different areas of your brain."

"To improve your long-term memory, you can use Nelson Dellis’s five memory tips (focus, practice, picture, store, and recall)."

"You can also use the memory palace technique, songs, metaphors, note taking, teaching others, or putting yourself in the shoes of something you’re trying to remember or understand."

"We store information in two ways in long-term memory. Facts are hard to store."

"Brain-links are important because they allow you to process information more quickly."

"The hippocampus is especially important in helping you remember facts and events."

"Loud music with words is likely to be a distraction in your studies. But some people find that quiet music without words can help. Different people like different kinds of music when they are studying, and some people don’t like music at all. It depends on you."

"When you go to sleep, your brain cells shrink. This allows cerebral fluids to wash away toxins in the brain."

"“Eat your frogs first” means trying to do the most difficult things first. This gives you the time to switch to other subjects temporarily if you get stuck and need a creative boost from the diffuse mode."

"Action and spatial video games help improve your thinking."

"The bad aspect of video games is that they can be addictive. So they should be used in moderation."

"Transfer is the ability to take an idea you’ve learned in one subject and use it to help you learn another subject. Metaphors can help with this process."

"Khan Academy. This is a terrific resource. The more active practice you do after watching each video, the better!"

"Smartick. This program provides a solid foundation in mathematics built on sound practice. If you are struggling with mathematics, this is a great resource. If you are doing well in math, this resource will help you do even better. https://www.smartickmethod.com"

"BrainHQ. One of the few “cognitive improvement” programs that has good science to back up their claims—particularly good for aging adults to help improve their concentration and focus. If your grandma or grandpa is complaining that they aren’t as sharp as they used to be, this program’s for them! https://www.brainhq.com/"

"The Queensland Brain Institute, This Institute has excellent features, podcast, and a magazine. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/"

"BrainFacts.org. An excellent website with all sorts of information about how your brain works. http://www.brainfacts.org/"

"“5 Memory Tips to Get You Started,” by Nelson Dellis. Four-time US Memory Champion Nelson Dellis has a wonderful series of memory tip videos—this is a good one to help you get started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEx60.... See also Nelson’s book Remember It! on p. 219."

"My First Book About the Brain, by Patricia J. Wynne and Donald M. Silver"

"The Brain: All About Our Nervous System and More!, by Seymour Simon"

"What Goes On in My Head?, by Robert Winston"

"The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, by James E. Zull"

"The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, by Josh Waitzkin"

"Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted Wor.."

"I Am Gifted, So Are You!, by Adam Khoo"

"Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel"

"Mind for Numbers: How to Succeed in Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley"

"Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, by Barbara Oakley"

"Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool"

"Remember It! The Names of People You Meet, All Your Passwords, Where You Left Your Keys, and Everything Else You Tend to Forget by Nelson Dellis"

"Anacker, C, and R Hen. “Adult hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive flexibility linking memory and mood.” Nature Reviews: Neuroscience 18, 6 (2017): 335–346."

"Anderson, ML. After Phrenology: Neural Reuse and the Interactive Brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. Anguera, JA, et al. “Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults.” Nature 501, 7465 (2013): 97–101."