Weekly thoughts to consider about learning, thinking and academics that will continue to be updated throughout the year.
1. Getting an answer correct doesn’t mean you understand something, getting an answer wrong doesn’t mean that you don’t understand something
2. Our goal in discussion is not for 1 of you to say the right answer or give the correct explanation. Our goals are to have as many of you think and have as many of you communicate your thinking as possible.
3. Trying to do a problem you don’t know how to solve is one of the best ways to learn new information for retention and understanding. Mimicking a sample problem removes much of the learning opportunities for new problems.
4. Your grade in chemistry class should reflect how much chemistry you understand, how well you can communicate your understanding and nothing else.
5. Chunking is the difference between smart and not smart, being able to chunk more information makes you able to learn more and faster. If you feel not smart, start trying to accumulate more and more chunks.
6. Don’t try to achieve a lot by scamming your way through life, it’s unhealthy, learn and be awesome as much as possible
7. 2 concrete examples help analyze and learn abstract ideas. Good students produce the second example when the teacher omits it.
