The mind’s primary strength lies in its passionate pursuit of patterns. Pattern recognition is the basis for forming the categories in the brain that we call concepts. Concepts are formed through a process of logical justification that involves both inductive and deductive reasoning. Concept construction is the crucial prerequisite to all lasting learning.

Our inability to remember events from our first two or three years of life clarifies the basis for durable learning of anything.

A willingness to regularly explore new knowledge can be a source of delight as you invigorate your suppressed curiosity. Who knows? Exploration may even lead to solutions to your most difficult cognitive puzzles!

Focused exploration is using exploration to encounter additional ideas when you are trying to answer a question. The question proscribes the search.

This season we’re exploring how to develop a series of dispositions that lead to Learner’s Mind. Attention is the first manifestation of curiosity, but attention should lead inexorably to perception—an awareness of the nature of the thing.

The first disposition required for clear thinking is attention. The brain ignores the vast majority of sensory inputs but learning presupposes basic awareness. Attention devotes brain resources to an intentional selection of particular inputs. Attention is about taking the lid off your brain to allow more inputs, not focusing more intently on the task at hand.

The 7 C’s of Cognition reflect a logical sequence of processes that the brain is designed for. Learn how to extract patterns and formulate concepts even when presented with facts.

Conscious conceptualization as important as it is, is only the tip of the iceberg. Many of our cognitive breakthroughs occur through consolidation while we are asleep.

Most learning limitations are due to defective learning strategies which either overload or under-load the working memory. Learning tasks need to be purposefully crafted to optimize the use of working memory through unpacking complex learning tasks.

The stringent limit of working memory forces us to use chunking as our dominant cognitive strategy.

Durable memory is the fruit of cognitive wrestling that has achieved understanding. There are no shortcuts to lasting memory. Memory is dynamic, however, and selectively forgets.

Concepts do not exist in isolation from other concepts. Elaborate and unexpected linkages exist between many seemingly disparate concepts. The universe is full of surprises!

The human brain is a powerful pattern maker. It relentlessly queries its environment and its experiences in search of patterns. These patterns are the concepts (ideas) with which we make meaning.

There is nothing more fundamental to learning than curiosity. Learning occurs in proportion to your curiosity.

Efficient learning must respect the way the brain learns.

When there are disagreements we often hear this: “my opinion is just as valid as yours.” Everyone has an opinion and nothing more. Expertise deserves no special respect or deference. Experts are elitist.

Information retrieval is an exceedingly low bar for learning, but it is where much of the educational establishment sets the bar.

The standard for knowing for two thousand years has been “Justified True Belief.” This view of knowing is being modeled before our eyes in the current pandemic.

Data, Information, and Knowledge are not synonymous. Understanding the difference is crucial for deep learning.

The democratic nature of the web means there are no real filters on the information it presents. As a result, there is as least as much misinformation as reliable information unearthed by a Google search. There is no substitute for personal discernment.