BetterExplained | Learn Right, Not Rote. “Darwinian Psychologist” Straw Man’s Ass Kicked. Joe Quirk November 23, 2009 Mini-Me would sooner kick Mike Tyson in the shin than I would challenge Cory Doctorow to an intellectual bitchslapfest. But all my fellow fans of evolutionary psychology are emailing me saying, "Well, jokey boy? You gonna take that lying down? Where's yer yuks now? " Cory bestowed the Boingboing bump (see Resources) unto Anne Innis Dagg's book: 'Love of Shopping' Is Not A Gene: Problems with Darwinian Psychology, because she attacked what Cory calls "the cherished shibboleths of Darwinian Psychology.
" What are these? Good heavens. Are you back from looking up the definition of shibboleth? But at least I can keep it up for a page. That was the first of many double-takes that would give me whiplash by page fifty. At the bottom of the first page, Dagg makes herself clear: "Animals" and "human beings" are two different categories. By the time I turn to page two, I'm breathless at her brazenness. Do the critiqued even matter to Dagg? Ernt, ernt, and ernt! Marketing. References & Resources for LessWrong. A list of references and resources for LW Updated: 2011-05-24 F = Free E = Easy (adequate for a low educational background)M = Memetic Hazard (controversial ideas or works of fiction) Summary Do not flinch, most of LessWrong can be read and understood by people with a previous level of education less than secondary school.
(And Khan Academy followed by BetterExplained plus the help of Google and Wikipedia ought to be enough to let anyone read anything directed at the scientifically literate.) Nevertheless, as it says in the Twelve Virtues of Rationality, scholarship is a virtue, and in particular: It is especially important to eat math and science which impinges upon rationality: Evolutionary psychology, heuristics and biases, social psychology, probability theory, decision theory. Contents LessWrong.com This list is hosted on LessWrong.com, a community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality - the art of thinking.
Overview Why read Less Wrong? Artificial Intelligence General Basics. What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople? - books introduction. The Browser | Writing Worth Reading. The Best Textbooks on Every Subject. For years, my self-education was stupid and wasteful. I learned by consuming blog posts, Wikipedia articles, classic texts, podcast episodes, popular books, video lectures, peer-reviewed papers, Teaching Company courses, and Cliff's Notes. How inefficient! I've since discovered that textbooks are usually the quickest and best way to learn new material. That's what they are designed to be, after all.
But textbooks vary widely in quality. What if we could compile a list of the best textbooks on every subject? Let's do it. There have been other pages of recommended reading on Less Wrong before (and elsewhere), but this post is unique. Post the title of your favorite textbook on a given subject.You must have read at least two other textbooks on that same subject.You must briefly name the other books you've read on the subject and explain why you think your chosen textbook is superior to them.
I'll start the list with three of my own recommendations... Subject: History of Western Philosophy. Study Hacks » Tips: Notetaking. 4 Weeks to a 4.0: Streamline Your Notes April 6th, 2009 · 35 comments 4 Weeks to a 4.0 is a four-part series to help you transform into an efficient student. Each Monday between 3/30 and 4/20 I’ll post a new weekly assignment to aid your transformation. Welcome to Week 2 This is the second post in our four-part series 4 Weeks to a 4.0. Last week, I asked you to start an autopilot schedule and adopt a Sunday ritual.
Week 2 Assignment: Smart Notes This week we’re focusing on taking notes in class. Read more » The Art of Taking Science Notes February 27th, 2009 · 32 comments A Professor Speaks Earlier today I received an e-mail from David Hirsch, a professor of Geology at Western Washington University. As you might expect considering its source, the page is rich with powerful insights on topics from effective study groups to class attendance. It’s obvious, but it’s worth hearing. In this post, I want to highlight one tip in particular — Dave’s advice on note-taking in science classes. Read more » 10+ Dishes and Drinks Everyone Should Know How to Make At Home (Including You) Memorize.com - Learn and Remember. Find, share & upload documents. Get better grades | wePapers. Www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=readwrite. Awesome Education Technology.
Concept Maps. Your picture of how ideas relate to each other Also known as mind maps, these tools are simply a way to visualize a concept. Concept maps are diagrams that related different elements of a concept to each other and/or to the main idea. These diagrams can be simple or complex—depending on your own style of learning and what helps you understand the concept. One easy way of drawing a concept map is to draw a box with name of the concept: Then add boxes that help define or clarify or describe the concept: You can add as many layers as you need to fill out what you need to learn about the concept: Notice that the above map emphasizes only certain aspects of the concept of "anatomy. " As you can see, there are many styles of concept maps and different degrees of complexity.
Remember, both MAKING the map and STUDYING the map will help you learn. Here are just a few examples from the A&P Learning Outlines 1 & 2: More concept mapping tools Click image to enlarge it Having trouble getting started? Anatomy. 5 Stellar Time Management Tips. So you’re in college now, and maybe you’ve found that even without seven straight hours of class a day, it’s still hard to get things done. Maybe you’ve got other commitments that keep you busy, or maybe you just haven’t built effective habits and don’t have the motivation to start big tasks. On the other hand, maybe you think you’re moving along just fine – either way, you can benefit from these helpful time management tricks. Some are just tips, some are entire time management methods, and some are tools to help you out along the way. 1.
Get it out of your head The most essential part of good time management is to get your engagements out of your head and into a system that you have easy access to. A planner Paper planners were and are still a great way to keep a calender and a record of all you need to do. However, this is College Info Geek – we like to use a little more modern approach. Keep it online There are countless web apps out there offering time management systems. 2. 3. 4. 5. Study skills. Study skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. They are generally critical to success in school,[1] considered essential for acquiring good grades, and useful for learning throughout one's life. There are an array of study skills, which may tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They include mnemonics, which aid the retention of lists of information, effective reading, and concentration techniques,[2] as well as efficient notetaking.[3][dead link] While often left up to the student and their support network, study skills are increasingly taught in High School and at the University level.
More broadly, any skill which boosts a person's ability to study and pass exams can be termed a study skill, and this could include time management and motivational techniques. Study skills are discrete techniques that can be learned, usually in a short time, and applied to all or most fields of study. Geek to Live: Take study-worthy lecture notes. Studying And The Theory Of Constraints. If you’ve ever taken a management or accounting course, you may have heard of Eliyahu Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints. The gist of the theory is that the efficiency of systems and processes is always limited by a small number of constraints. In a factory, for example, the constraints could include the number of employees, the speed of the machinery being used, and time it takes for suppliers to deliver raw materials. The philosophy behind the Theory of Constraints (which I’ll now refer to as TOC) hinges on five “focusing” steps aimed at eliminating, or at least shoring up, constraints.
These steps include identifying a constraint, exploiting the most capacity out of it, aligning all the other processes in the system to support it, finding new ways to break the constraint, and finally moving onto the next constraint. Since we’re right in the middle of this semester’s first big round of exams, I got to thinking about how this theory could be applied to students personally. Time Textbooks.