Lately, I’ve hit on another new technique for learning and scholarship. I call it “study chatter.” It’s simple to describe, but worth explaining why it works, and how it compares to other techniques.
Study chatter means that you write, think, or talk to yourself, in an open-ended way, about the topic you’re trying to study. Whatever comes to mind is fine. Here’s how this might work in practice (just to give you a flavor):
In Quantitative Cell Biology, we’re learning a lot about ways to analyze proteins and cells—lots of methods. This is important. If we want to cure disease, create longevity, or understand how our bodies work, we need to have tools that let us put all the biochemical parts into categories and count them. We need to know what’s there. What cells make up a tumor? What proteins are highly expressed in each of two cell types?
A biomedical engineer needs to know at least the basic mechanisms and functions of a whole suite of measurement tools. It’s like having your garage full of tools. Having tools available, that you know how to use, makes you think about what you can build with them. Likewise, knowing how all these different ways of measuring biological samples work will make you a better scientist and engineer. That’s why you need to learn this stuff.
We covered several different types of electrophoresis and immunostaining techniques. Gel electorphoresis, western blots, SDS-PAGE, and 2D chromatography come to mind. The key principle is separation by charge and mass. But in 2D chromatography, we also exploit the isoelectric point. Then we switch to separation by mass to get high resolution separation between proteins...”
This can go on as long as you want it to.
There are a few points to doing this. First, it can be motivating. A lot of this is about rehearsing why we care about what we’re learning, rather than the specific facts we’re trying to learn. If akrasia is a barrier to adequate study, then this can help overcome that problem.
Second, for me at least, it’s a better way to jog my memory. Instead of the constant background anxiety of trying to remember a specific fact for a flashcard, I can remember large numbers of facts—whatever comes most easily to mind. The longer I go on for, the more facts I remember, and the more tied together they all become. I think that I build stronger memories, and of more facts, by employing this technique than I would by doing targeted flashcards.
Third, it builds a habit of mental rehearsal. You can do this anywhere and anytime that you have downtime. It lets you become the kind of person who keeps such thoughts at the top of your mind. That’s a good recipe for true mastery of your subject, rather than of just learning and forgetting it after the exam.
It’s not a fancy technique, but I think it’s underdiscussed and underused. I find it powerful, and recommend others try it more.
Study Chatter
Lately, I’ve hit on another new technique for learning and scholarship. I call it “study chatter.” It’s simple to describe, but worth explaining why it works, and how it compares to other techniques.
Study chatter means that you write, think, or talk to yourself, in an open-ended way, about the topic you’re trying to study. Whatever comes to mind is fine. Here’s how this might work in practice (just to give you a flavor):
This can go on as long as you want it to.
There are a few points to doing this. First, it can be motivating. A lot of this is about rehearsing why we care about what we’re learning, rather than the specific facts we’re trying to learn. If akrasia is a barrier to adequate study, then this can help overcome that problem.
Second, for me at least, it’s a better way to jog my memory. Instead of the constant background anxiety of trying to remember a specific fact for a flashcard, I can remember large numbers of facts—whatever comes most easily to mind. The longer I go on for, the more facts I remember, and the more tied together they all become. I think that I build stronger memories, and of more facts, by employing this technique than I would by doing targeted flashcards.
Third, it builds a habit of mental rehearsal. You can do this anywhere and anytime that you have downtime. It lets you become the kind of person who keeps such thoughts at the top of your mind. That’s a good recipe for true mastery of your subject, rather than of just learning and forgetting it after the exam.
It’s not a fancy technique, but I think it’s underdiscussed and underused. I find it powerful, and recommend others try it more.