Perhaps I am overthinking this, but when it comes to applying your knowledge gained through spaced repetition, is there a difference in how effectively you can apply it in these two situations?
You spend time memorizing what a function is. A function comes up in a problem in a very similar format to how it looked on your Anki card. You are able to understand it because the prompt of the function in the problem causes you to recall your understanding from studying and then apply it.
You spend time memorizing what a function is. A problem comes up that can be solved by using functions. However, the problem doesn’t explicitly mention functions like in #1; it’s up to you to recall your understanding of functions and recognize that this is a time to use them without seeing the prompt that you studied with.
In case this example is too weird or confusing, you can think of the using Anki for memorizing cognitive biases; you’ll be able to recall the definition of them, but how much will spaced repetition help you recognize when cognitive biases pop up in your life (so that you can employ whatever counter-measures you see fit)?
I don’t think spaced repetition runs into the failure mode of #2 if you do it competently. Good spaced repetition prompts you to think about the concepts on a spaced, expanding basis, not to recite the magic words on the back of the card. When I study a card, I’m trying to train urge to understand concept in prompt → concepts on back of card, not words in prompt → words on back of card.
For example, when I learned French with Anki, I translated entire sentences English-to-French (and vice versa). I learned vocab words by just finding sentences where I already knew how to say everything except the new word. By learning sentences containing the word for e.g. “swamp”, I learned how to say “swamp” in normal, fluent conversation, without having to remember the exact sentence I used for Anki (as #2′s model might suggest).
I don’t see any real difference in quality between normal study and Anki study, if you make your cards well.
Perhaps I am overthinking this, but when it comes to applying your knowledge gained through spaced repetition, is there a difference in how effectively you can apply it in these two situations?
You spend time memorizing what a function is. A function comes up in a problem in a very similar format to how it looked on your Anki card. You are able to understand it because the prompt of the function in the problem causes you to recall your understanding from studying and then apply it.
You spend time memorizing what a function is. A problem comes up that can be solved by using functions. However, the problem doesn’t explicitly mention functions like in #1; it’s up to you to recall your understanding of functions and recognize that this is a time to use them without seeing the prompt that you studied with.
In case this example is too weird or confusing, you can think of the using Anki for memorizing cognitive biases; you’ll be able to recall the definition of them, but how much will spaced repetition help you recognize when cognitive biases pop up in your life (so that you can employ whatever counter-measures you see fit)?
I don’t think spaced repetition runs into the failure mode of #2 if you do it competently. Good spaced repetition prompts you to think about the concepts on a spaced, expanding basis, not to recite the magic words on the back of the card. When I study a card, I’m trying to train urge to understand concept in prompt → concepts on back of card, not words in prompt → words on back of card.
For example, when I learned French with Anki, I translated entire sentences English-to-French (and vice versa). I learned vocab words by just finding sentences where I already knew how to say everything except the new word. By learning sentences containing the word for e.g. “swamp”, I learned how to say “swamp” in normal, fluent conversation, without having to remember the exact sentence I used for Anki (as #2′s model might suggest).
I don’t see any real difference in quality between normal study and Anki study, if you make your cards well.