How a Polymath Mastered Math-and So Can You - WSJ - 0 views
www.wsj.com/...-mathand-so-can-you-1494622700
polymath math knowledge learning mindshift psychology education
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How do you strengthen your mind as you age?
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Physical exercise helps encourage neuron growth. Some forms of meditation improve creativity, while others sharpen focus. In one study, “reading a book for around 3½ hours a week was shown to extend the lifespan . . . by something like two to three years.” Learning a foreign language “gives a workout to the very centers of the brain that are most affected by the aging process, so it’s super healthy.”
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“Action videogames are incredibly helpful in keeping you sharp,” Ms. Oakley says. “They’ve been shown by research—top-notch research—to make a big difference in your attentional centers.”
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By trial and error, Ms. Oakley had learned how to learn: “The higher I went, it started to gradually make more and more sense.”
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“The way you learn intensively for a language is very similar to learning well in math and science,”
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“In learning math and science through K-12, it’s long been held that practice and repetition will kill your creativity,” she says. “One mistake we make in the school system is we emphasize understanding. But if you don’t build those neural circuits with practice, it’ll all slip away. You can understand out the wazoo, but it’ll just disappear if you’re not practicing with it.”
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In places like China and India, “practice and repetition and rote and memorization are really important parts of education.” She sees value in both methods: “There are real benefits for Western approaches—that it really does help with creativity. And there are also real benefits to Asian approaches—that it builds a solid foundation in the most difficult disciplines, math and science.
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She defines a “mindshift” as “a change in your outlook that occurs through intensive learning”—such as her own mastery of math and engineering.
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The book is filled with advice for people who are considering a career change or who seek to develop “an attitude of lifelong learning,” even in retirement.
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Her progression from desultory student to respected scholar led her to a sideline in the study of learning itself. She’s published two books on the subject, “A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even if You Flunked Algebra)” (2014) and the new “Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential.
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they developed a massive open online course, “Learning How to Learn,” which by some measures is the world’s most popular MOOC