Well, there are many sources describing variations in learning styles, kinds of intelligence, and preferred channels of data input. So on the surface, the answer would seem to be “no.” “Works well” may be the differentiating phrase.
That said, learning involves creation and maintenance of neural-neural synaptic connections that we ill-understand—yet. Research into brain function continues apace around the world. There are reports of multiple amputees learning to control prosthetic hands, for instance, with electrodes attached to their foreheads.
Early in life, right after birth, babies can’t even follow you with their eyes and they cannot speak a language. As the weeks and months and years go by, babies gather more and more physical and mental skills. From observation, emulation, and REPETITION.
SO, I offer that while it’s more difficult from one person to the next, REPETITION is on balance the learning system that works most deeply and most broadly across the world. People memorize the Koran, or poetry, or the Bible or parts in plays. They learn 800 moves in taekwondo or karate. They learn mathematics, history, etc. One time exposure usually doesn’t do much. Creating the neural-neural connections that we refer to as “knowledge,” “wisdom,” or “experience” takes time and REPETITION. The brain, however vast it is, tries to be efficient by letting go of synaptic connections not used and applying energy and resilience to connections that are used over and over again.
So, my answer is REPETITION. Malcolm Gladwell popularized the concept of 10,000 hours, even for geniuses like Mozart, of repetition to get really good at something. Eric Clapton would practice guitar as a youth until his fingers bled. (see his autobiography)
Doug Newburg and I in our book, Powered by Feel, note that one challenge is the love of something enough that one will do whatever it takes to get good. WIthout that love or desire, one will not have the STAMINA required to excel through repetition. Bruce Hornsby spent 18 months “shedding” learning to convey whatever he wanted on his keyboard—and that included crossing hands and going over and over again. That stamina was based on enjoying or liking or wanting or loving a thing so much that “practice” became a “want to” not a “have to” (choice vs. obligation)
So that, the desire or love of a thing/skill/knowledge is the underlying basis for repetition as the doorway through which one becomes an expert.
Where/how does one get that desire? It might come naturally, it might be imbued by parents, it might be internal desire, it might be a simple but powerful choice. The presence or absence of that choice pretty much defines who we will become—or not.
That said, learning involves creation and maintenance of neural-neural synaptic connections that we ill-understand—yet. Research into brain function continues apace around the world. There are reports of multiple amputees learning to control prosthetic hands, for instance, with electrodes attached to their foreheads.
Early in life, right after birth, babies can’t even follow you with their eyes and they cannot speak a language. As the weeks and months and years go by, babies gather more and more physical and mental skills. From observation, emulation, and REPETITION.
SO, I offer that while it’s more difficult from one person to the next, REPETITION is on balance the learning system that works most deeply and most broadly across the world. People memorize the Koran, or poetry, or the Bible or parts in plays. They learn 800 moves in taekwondo or karate. They learn mathematics, history, etc. One time exposure usually doesn’t do much. Creating the neural-neural connections that we refer to as “knowledge,” “wisdom,” or “experience” takes time and REPETITION. The brain, however vast it is, tries to be efficient by letting go of synaptic connections not used and applying energy and resilience to connections that are used over and over again.
So, my answer is REPETITION. Malcolm Gladwell popularized the concept of 10,000 hours, even for geniuses like Mozart, of repetition to get really good at something. Eric Clapton would practice guitar as a youth until his fingers bled. (see his autobiography)
Doug Newburg and I in our book, Powered by Feel, note that one challenge is the love of something enough that one will do whatever it takes to get good. WIthout that love or desire, one will not have the STAMINA required to excel through repetition. Bruce Hornsby spent 18 months “shedding” learning to convey whatever he wanted on his keyboard—and that included crossing hands and going over and over again. That stamina was based on enjoying or liking or wanting or loving a thing so much that “practice” became a “want to” not a “have to” (choice vs. obligation)
So that, the desire or love of a thing/skill/knowledge is the underlying basis for repetition as the doorway through which one becomes an expert.
Where/how does one get that desire? It might come naturally, it might be imbued by parents, it might be internal desire, it might be a simple but powerful choice. The presence or absence of that choice pretty much defines who we will become—or not.
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