Learning Scientist Answers Questions from Reddit

Got questions about learning? I got answers.

In this video, I take six questions about learning from Reddit and do my best to answer them.

00:00 How do you learn from lectures?
03:45 Is it possible for young people to learn complex skills on their own?
06:53 Is reading books for 30 minutes a day enough to learn anything?
09:06 Is watching videos a legitimate way to learn something?
13:43 Which apps or games can help improve cognitive function?
16:26 Does the brain of a 14-year-old learn faster?

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For an interesting comparison of brain training to video games, check out:    • The best brain training app is NOT the one...  . There’s references in the description for further reading.

For videos on learning complex skills, take a look at:    • What People Get Wrong About Deliberate Pra...   and    • Practice More Efficiently | Deliberate Pra...  

The testing effect (retrieval practice) is largely why I recommend the kind of review that I do. Check out this video for more on that:    • Tests Are Magic | The Testing Effect  . Plenty of good references in the link to that video.



For the research on the relative ineffectiveness of lectures, see: Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415. (currently at https://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8...)

This isn’t the best reference on cognitive differences among different age groups, but it’s a good read: Brashier, N. M., & Schacter, D. L. (2020). Aging in an era of fake news. Current directions in psychological science, 29(3), 316-323. (currently at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...)

Image of the horse brain by katja Pixabay. Thanks, katja!