
How we learn - sqwerty
http://www.born-to-learn.org/
======
kghose
I've only seen the introduction video.

The video's claim is that we get bored because we have very specialized work.
And it contrasts with the wonderful life we had 300 years ago when we lived in
tiny communities doing non-specialized work.

I don't see why I should agree. Firstly, I don't know people were not bored
with their work 300 years ago. Secondly, I don't know that most people are
bored with their work now.

One difference I do see between now and 300 years ago is that we have it much
easier physically. We have lots of machines to do a lot of work for us. Some
of us do not have the discipline to utilize such "excess time" for betterment
(I'm one of them :( )

It's not got so much to do with "how we learn" but with what motivates us.

If an activity is not vital for my survival I tend not to take it so
seriously. That's why I'm bored. My life is not being constantly challenged.

~~~
rajanaresh
While I agree with most of what you say you really can take away something
from the video.

When I was growing up I always had questions about how everything I was
learning had any relation with all the amazing things (sending rockets,
experiments in science museums etc.) the world was doing. Needless to say I
thought I would understand in higher grades and after high school I thought
may be I can connect the dots in college.

It did help in college but some of the little things I still connect. I have a
degree in CS and I am pursuing my masters now. It's amazing how even now I
connect those little dots and get my aha moments. What is surprising is that
I’ve come to realize that with a little help I could've made such simple
connections even when I was 10 (when I first learnt the concept of Light) or
in high school (when Bayes theorem was nothing but a magical formula) rather I
was shunned by saying “you have a long way to go”.

I always wished someone saw the passion I had for solving geometric problems
(i was helping higher grade students solve cirlces theorems when I was 12) and
gave me a direction. Heck I bumped into Euclid’s Elements like a year ago. In
fact, I remember people suggesting me to leave geometry coz it’s useless.
Everything starting from computational geometry, probability to number theory
I do today is aided by those geometrical figures I played with.

I really got carried away there, but coming back to the video, I think the
video captures one of the essential elements of education which is to make
that connection from time to time with simple examples. It all boils down to
people who can do that, who has a liking to the workings of all things around
them, who have open and inquisitive mind, who likes to see students realize
those aha moments, who are true teachers.

~~~
tutysara
Nice summary of the present education system in many places and why it needs a
change. This is exactly the situation in many schools/colleges, they have
turned it into a business. Students are not given much scope to expand their
knowledge, they are seen as just scoring machines. I am going a bit tangential
- some colleges even employ their previous batch passed outs who couldn't get
into industry due to poor performance as teachers, the reasons are obvious.
Certainly we need a change.

------
jdietrich
[citation needed]

If you're claiming that the basic underpinnings of society are at odds with
human nature, you need to do better than the old "studies show" handwaving. I
can't find anything on born-to-learn.org or 21learn.org that cites anything
with even a vague resemblance to data. There are a few citations in the FAQ,
but they're mainly to articles in the popular press or PopSci books.

Shame on everyone who upvoted - if the linked site had made an argument that
ran counter to our prejudices as hackers, we would have rightly deplored it as
pseudo-scientific demagoguery. We should condemn anyone who uses vague
references to "science" as an appeal to authority, regardless of whether we
agree on their conclusions.

------
startupfounder
I love the idea of this site because it is aligned with my experience of
learning.

I graduated high school early and worked in the film industry because school
was so boring. Over the next year I worked "hands-on-deck" on a schooner, 18
hour days making $250/wk, but loved it. I then spent the next 6 months
hitchhiking around NZ and OZ and had the time of my life. This is when I
really felt like I was learning about people, how to make friends quickly and
read people so I could get safe rides to my daily destinations.

In college I studied and wrote my thesis on offshore wind farms, which was
boring, and wanted to get hands on experience to really understand wind
energy. Over the next 3 years I traveled the world leading teams using big
wall rock climbing techniques to inspect wind turbine blades (aka repelling
with ropes). This was an amazing experience because I really learned from many
different angles and could tell you more about the realities of wind energy in
the real world and energy in general then people who do one specific job.

I now am attacking energy from the consumer side with a company called
<http://wa.tt>, using all of my previous knowledge of the energy industry. I
am learning more by doing then I ever did by listening.

I follow the saying, "Don't let school get in the way of your education."

(PS I don't know about the specifics of these videos, but I think the
education space is blowing up in a very positive and productive way. I would
really love to truly learn how to learn.)

------
polyfractal
Meh. Have these people actually worked on a farm before? Hoeing the ground or
driving a tractor is just as boring as working in a factory.

I understand (and even agree!) with some of their points about education - but
those videos are just horrifically ignorant in places.

~~~
jonsen
I guess it made a difference back when your own food supply until next harvest
was at stake.

~~~
polyfractal
Importance is not mutually exclusive with tedium.

------
MengYuanLong
Watched the videos but I can't say I particularly enjoyed them.

I doubt most teachers gain some sort of satisfaction from boring their
students and not connecting with them.

But, I think you would be hard pressed as a middle/high school teacher to
meaningfully connect each lesson in an engaging way to your students...all
210+. The videos practically screams that we all have different learning
styles so it seems futile to promote this idea that teachers fail because they
don't know that education should be about motivating and engaging.

Perhaps better funding, availability of apprenticeship/mentorship programs,
and a more flexible curriculum (for upper tier students) would help improve
the situation.

------
perfunctory
Maybe for us programmers it's hard to imagine but most jobs are indeed
hopelessly boring. Hell, even most programming jobs are incredibly boring.

~~~
tete
It's why open source and in general community projects work. It's why you in
school or even when you are doing home work it is "meh... 300 words", while
you write thousands of words to you friends not even noticing it. It's also
why you hate to read books for school, even if you spend days and nights
reading books or Wikipedia.

In job you often do stuff because to have to (earn money) and in your free
time you work on things that you are passionate about.

~~~
perfunctory
Indeed. We just have to figure out how to earn living from things we are
passionate about. Sadly, this is not how mainstream economy works at the
moment.

------
zeynalov
Does anyone know how to make videos like these? I have a nice talent drawing
caricatures, but don't know how to animate them. There are some stop motion
softwares but they lack some of features Flash has, like moving objects
without drawing each 24 pictures separately. Please share if you know any
software for this on Mac.

~~~
winstonsmith
<http://imgur.com/wgxXN>

I made the above in a couple of minutes using the Gimp. (1)Create path.
(2)Stoke path. (3)Modify path. (4)Create new layer. (5)Stroke path in new
layer. (6)Goto (3).

~~~
zeynalov
Yes I know, it's very easy making cartoons with frames, for example I made
this video in just 1-2 minutes - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk6wc2MS6Qw>
What I am asking, if there any software for Mac making cartoons, without doing
every effects by drawing every frame one by one. For example: \- slowly
disappearing one layer (without making tons of layers with different
transparencies ) \- slowly moving from place a to place b on a defined vector
(without making layers with different locations ) Some special effects to
simplfy the flow, for example flash does it, but it's very complex for me.

------
yariang
The sort of animations intended to teach remind me of the RSA animation which
are excellent and I highly recommend them:
<http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg>

------
perfunctory
I don't understand the comments here. Has anybody actually watched all the
videos.

------
dutchmanx86
What is this? Einstein didn't leave school at 15 and never look back...

------
aman_tul
excellent video!

------
georgieporgie
Light on facts and heavy on statements like, "all the latest studies show..."

I agree that school is boring and that we don't teach big-picture or
connectivity enough. I believe this is because our teachers don't understand
the domain they're teaching well enough. I've known a few teachers and their
qualification courses to teach a given subject seem to be absolutely minimal.
How can you teach how concepts are connected when your command of a subject
goes no further than the current textbook?

