

Getting it Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn - yarapavan
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-it-wrong

======
10ren
Guessing before you know the answer creates suspense: a cognitive receptacle
for the answer + emotional engagement. When the answer comes along, you grab
it, like an enzyme grabs one of its raw materials, because it _fits_. And it's
a relief.

When studying at uni, I took a past exam paper under exam conditions, before
doing any study: it wonderfully concentrated the mind on what I needed to
learn. (I got the top mark, with a big gap to the next person).

When teaching at uni, I presented a puzzle at the start of the class, that
didn't make sense until the material in that lecture had been heard. The
entire class came up to me at the end to check what the answer was.

------
hegemonicon
Learning through trial and error is so damn useful because that's how our
brain is designed to learn.

Whenever we make a prediction, dopamine neurons in our brain start to fire,
triggering a feeling of expectation. If we predict right, we get a surge of
dopamine and some positive reinforcement. If we get it wrong, the dopamine
neurons stop firing which, aside from making us feel like crap, serves as a
signal that the prediction needs to be revised. Normal learning operates by
consciously acquiring information and hoping it eventually filters down into
the subconscious. Trial and error, on the other hand, puts a direct line into
our subconscious - it's much more efficient.

------
anateus
Sometimes I wish educators studied some Machine Learning and similar things.

Not to detract from the interesting finding, but it sounds to me like someone
discovered that in supervised learning it is advisable to use a negative
corpus as well :)

------
papersmith
This seems to reflect the advice often given by hackers to roll your own
framework as a learning experience.

~~~
Tamerlin
Not only that, but making mistakes is often the best way to learn how to do
something correctly.

People who don't make very many mistakes are usuall also people who don't try
to do anything new, so they're not giving themselves a chance to learn to
begin with. Learning to make and accept mistakes is one of the best lessons
anyone can learn; it helps you to keep your mind open so that you CAN learn.

------
learnalist
Learning by mistakes is a good way to learn im sure of it. But this article on
page 1 covers more about learning where you have a teacher who already knows
the material, it would be far harder to use this failing technique if you are
creating the material to begin with.

Minus the above I can relate to learning by failing.

For those who use the command line in unix. I hardly can ever remember the
command if I grabbed it off google. When I attempt, fail, look it up knowing
what I am after I always find myself more often than not still with the
correct knowledge.

I do feel this knowledge is sort of common knowledge or more like "yes, that
is what i would have said if i ever put it in words". Needless to say it is
good to read these types of obvious thoughts as it just aids the life learning
process.

------
teeja
"In fact, they found, learning becomes better if conditions are arranged so
that students make errors."

Well, then, there's no better learning environment than computer programming!

"People remember things better, longer, if they are given ... tests at which
they are bound to fail."

No pain, no gain.

I used to wonder why a damaged body part is painful for so long after it has
'made it's point'. After I'd lived long enough to forget several painful
lessons, I understood: the longer the pain lasts, the longer the memory lasts.

Makes me think scars are evolution's way of helping us to remember.

------
Estragon
The approach they outline is nothing new. It's how I developed mathematical
proficiency 20 years ago, following the advice in _Mistakes and how to find
them before the teacher does_.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z4-JbH0Cf0IC&dq=misteak...](http://books.google.com/books?id=Z4-JbH0Cf0IC&dq=misteaks+and+how+to+spot+them+before+your+teacher+does&source=gbs_navlinks_s)

------
RyanMcGreal
In his wonderful book _The End of Education_ , Neil Postman recommended error-
detection as a powerful teaching/learning method.

