Why it is Crucial to Learn How to Learn

This is just a short series. Excuse the lack of in-depthness. I wanted to get this out there as soon as possible to avoid the paralysis by perfection. Therefore these articles will be about 500 - 1500 words long.

You don’t have to read beyond this point if you don’t want to

Who this series is for

This series is aimed at those who are students in a formal western education system studying math and science.

This series is also aimed at those who wish to study math and science but aren’t in a formal education. Maybe you want to study AP Physics C in high school but don’t have an AP Physics teacher and have to go at it all by yourself; Like I had to!

For those who are educators, administrators, or policy makers who influence education, you might get value out of this series in terms of structuring classes or programs.

I’m also writing this for myself, past, future, and present. I wish I had a guide like this in high school and college.

This series will be focused on STEM. That’s what my background is in, that’s where I scored best in, and that’s where I gravitate to. Now just because it is focused around STEM doesn’t mean the concepts don’t apply to other areas as well. I’m sure that if you are interested in psychology, political science, learning guitar, or coding, the tips and strategies will be applicable. Some more so than others.

Why I am writing this

Fredrich Nietzsche once stated that he who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how. Don’t worry, my life isn’t in danger but this written stream of consciousness is important to my life.

My goal with this series on knowledge acquisition is both personal, and ambitious. The central question that it revolves around is this: what actions can I take to make myself a genius and optimize my math and science learning?

What this means is going from being an average student to being at the top of the class. This means being able to get good grades in graduate, medical, or law school without headache inducing effort. This means being in the top 5% of people in a given field in a relatively short period of time, let’s say 1 - 2 years.

Even if you shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars, it’s literally miles better than being stuck on earth. What I mean is that even if you implement half of these techniques, my hope is that you’re better off from where you were.

I emphasize being able to do so quickly. It would be a lob toss to shoot for all the aforementioned goals in 50 years. I’m sure that given enough time, anyone could be a virtuoso. Time is limited, however, and there is so much to do in this life. In addition, the peaks are high when it comes to academic topics. It’s in your best interest to have the right equipment.

I wrote this series as a compilation of 50 short articles (this being the first one). You can go in any order you want.

I am using my own personal learning journey, my study of scientific journals and books, and the ideas of other learning/productivity gurus, and my own best practices in teaching students to inform these 50 ideas.

Furthermore you owe it to yourself, your community, and the world at large to be a smart and intelligent human being.

Let’s not forget the time senator James Inhofe brought in a snowball from outside of Congress to disprove global warming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E0a_60PMR8

Intelligence is not a panacea to all of life’s problems and must be tempered with wisdom and virtue as well. There are countless intelligent criminals throughout history.

I don’t expect everything to stick from these 50 articles. My hope is that you read through them, take the 25% you find the most helpful, and implement them into your life.