What are your preferred methods of learning?

[bigmike94]

TL;DR Summary: What has helped you the most learning new concepts

I recently came across this article

https://openlearning.mit.edu/mit-faculty/research-based-learning-findings/worked-and-faded-examples

I have studied 2 ways, one was using similar to the method above, theory followed but loads of worked examples and solutions, until I felt comfortable solving most problems about that topic.

The other method, which I have been using recently, is to read and study the material only solving the examples given in the text and not do any of the problems or study the solutions. (In the hope that this would be quicker meaning i can read more books about the same topic)

I’ll be honest the latter doesn’t seem to be serving me much when it comes to solving the problems, I reckon that article is absolutely bang on and to say MIT uses the same way to teach says a lot.

What are your experiences?

With books such as Schaums outlines and websites such as clegg and quizlet there is no shortage of quality worked out examples.

 

[Orodruin]

You can know everything about classical mechanics and how a bike works but without actually practicing you can’t just pick up a bike and make it work. Sure, you may be able to understand what happened when you failed and correct it more easily than if you did not have the theory background, but to ride a bike you must practice riding a bike.

 

[symbolipoint]

bigmike94,
Your way of understanding is the better way. Also one should not ignore DAILY study and practice.

 

[apostolosdt]

To paraphrase Feynman: "You can't solve the problems? You don't know nothing!"

 

[Mister T]

It's one of many strategies. The important part of them all is that they encourage learners to think about the processes they are going through to solve problems. It forces learners to make a map of their mental processes.

 

[gleem]

Physical principles are very often presented in their most obvious forms and laid bare for you to more easily understand them without any distractions. The real world rarely ever presents itself to you in this obvious form. In the real world, these principles are dressed in various disguises and so one must be able to see the principles through these disguises.

The lever is a simple machine easily understood but can you identify all the levers in a car?

The only way to become proficient is to practice on a variety of situations that use these principles.