2 entries for Tuesday, June 16, 2020

[Efficient knowledge can be accessed quickly and applied to recurring contexts, but it can impede seeing all possibilities when prior knowledge no longer applies.]

[Encourage cultivating adaptive knowledge by: 1) minimizing consequences for sub-optimal performance, 2) creating sufficient variation in each situation, 3) encourage understanding and experimenting over short-term performance.]

[Rather than separate courses for efficient knowledge and adaptive thinking, integrate or alternate between the two approaches in the same process of learning, preferably starting with discovery and innovation as a way to set the stage for existing efficient solutions.]

[Innovation activities can let learners: explore structure and variation in the domain; understand problems that need solving and why; participate in an error-tolerant, playful, low-risk environment; learn to hold hypotheses lightly and seek feedback; develop can-do attitudes that encourage adapting and innovating.]

[Later learning, even a few minutes after, can emphasize efficient knowledge: learning about optimized solutions; understanding why something works; practicing towards increased efficiency; re-engaging with slight variations while understanding why the principle stays the same; seeking feedback to refine execution; feeling the reward of being able to do something well.]

[Try to have experiences that give a sense of the problem before confronting the learning material. The lecture often provides the 'then' without the 'if', resulting in a weak ability to apply the knowledge. Experiential activities can prepare for future learning.]

[A debriefing serves the significant purpose of connecting experience to larger ideas. Without the experience, the explanation is abstract. Without the explanation, the experience becomes falls into the collection of indistinguishable memories. Both together produce usable knowledge.]