Learning at the speed of light
Aditya Jhunjhunwala
Entrepreneurship Education || Innovation || Business Strategy || Playful Leadership || Teal Organisations
Why do some people learn faster than others?
As a business leader, entrepreneur, teacher, training, manager or even as a parent, this question is bound to have given you at least some sleepless nights. We all want our people to learn fast. We have dreams for them. We know their potential. "Why isn't he using his brains?" we catch ourselves asking.
The answer lies in the basic psychology of learning. Understand that, and you can learn to set the conditions right for learning to happen at the speed of light.
I believe that human beings are not wired to learn for the sake of learning. Human beings are wired to solve. That is why they say “necessity is the mother of invention". We are natural born solution seekers.?Give us a problem (and a few right conditions), and we'll solve it.
If you want to help someone learn deep and fast, here are three things to try.
1 - Challenges motivate more than rewards
I threw my 6 year old Lego fanatic son a challenge.
“Can you make a Lego Dinosaur with only 6 pieces?", I asked. He looked at me.
“Thats not possible, Papa".
“Not possible, or difficult?"
“Difficult. Very difficult" came the reply.
I left the room to fill his water bottle.?
When I returned, he had constructed his own Philosoraptor using 9 lego blocks. He made it, as he likes to say “from my imagination", i.e. his own design without referring to any manuals! He used not six, but nine pieces. But, that’s ok. I saw delight on his face!
2 - Constraints spark creativity more than abundance
A few years ago, we were facilitating a workshop called “Learning to learn" with 56 managers at an electronics company. We grouped them in teams and challenged them to each make their own short film. None of them had ever held a video camera before, forget about script writing and film editing.?
But we challenged them. To top it, we asked them to make the entire film on ZERO budget. They stared at us in disbelief, or maybe even sympathy, thinking we have gone off our rockers.
But, after six weeks of efforts and a little bit of encouragement, they had done it. All the teams managed without spending a single rupee.?
They approached friends and family for help. They even walked up to strangers and asked them to be actors for an hour. They found freely available software to help them edit and publish their videos. They found videos on youtube to learn how to do storyboarding, lighting, sound engineering and editing.
The constraints made them come alive with new ways of thinking. It made them search for solutions which otherwise the mind would not have considered.
3 - Reflection is more helpful than actually helping!
“Papa, can you help. I can’t do this!" said my 7 year old son.
“I don’t know how to use editing software. I can’t do this!" said the managers at the workshop.
“Ohhh… what shall we do?" I followed up with “What do you think might work?" and “Who can we ask for help". I empathised with their struggle, but gave them no answers. Because then it would have been my solution, not theirs. All I did was listen, listen and listen more. Every now and then I added a “Do you want to try asking so and so?" or “Would it help to try and…"
They found the answers and got the job done. They just needed someone to be there as a soft cushion when they hit a hard wall. They needed someone to help them not give up. A few reflective questions helped them to refresh their perspective. That’s all.
Human beings are wired to solve.
We need an education system that challenges us.?
And then it lets us be.?
We need mentors who don’t push us or keep asking us for updates. They support when support is really needed. And crucially, they know when to let us struggle and when to hold our hand.
Give them a real problem.?
Throw them a friendly challenge.?
Let there be some constraints.?
And then, back-off! Allow them to make some mistakes.?
Don’t spoon-feed them with solutions!?
Just hang around to watch the fun and throw in some reflective questions.?
You will see deep learning happens right before your eyes. There is little warning though, there may be some chaos and it will need tremendous patience on your part! But, it will be worth it.
Vice President, Digital Engineering
3 年Totally agree with "Constraints spark creativity more than abundance"! This specially true in Indian context where we see many "Jugaads" or innovations inspired due to scarcity of resources using some ingenious ideas! And learning by problem solving is part of our inherent nature which comes from our ancestors' quest of hunting and gathering for thousands of years. Humans learnt about animals, plants, navigation using stars, shelters, tools etc. because they were solving the key problem of hunting for the food and protection from predators. In this process, they became good at understanding animal movements, weather patterns, star alignments and so. Human learning stems from these basic problem solving needs which then developed into many areas.
Management Consulting Growth Catalyst
3 年Excellent, Aditya
The Stepping Stone School, Pune
3 年Hi Adi, What a reflective read, and the beautiful way of making connections with the lifelong yearning of humanity with the experiential learning. The curriculum that we all had been learning during our formal education largely follows the Bloom’s Taxonomy which is in tandem with the real-time learning. There are 6 layers of the hierarchical structure that have to be followed in the correct order as : 1). Gaining Knowledge 2). Understanding the Concepts 3). Applying the gained knowledge to our environment 4). Analysing and Researching 5). Evaluating our learning to find the scope of improvement 6). Creating Solutions and Inventing In this regard, I wish to present a different perspective that though the ideal way of learning is what you have mentioned or how the Taxonomy refers to, however, the practical situations sometimes twists the very fabric of learning in this fast-pacing instant result-oriented world, where the Gen Z depends majorly on the count of likes one gets on the post, the sales pitch decides the market value of someone instantly et al. In reference to your opening quote, I might unquote that Human Being is not only a problem solver, rather a lifelong learner.
Associate Director at Mahratta Chamber Of Commerce Industries and Agriculture
3 年Fantastic read Aditya. We all need that challenge and push in life to understand our own potential. When challenged we bounce and go for it. We do need mentors, listeners, and coaches to guide us. But I think it is our own potential that helps solve the problem, whether with six pieces of lego blocks or nine.
Head Transaction Banking Product at RBL Bank
3 年Great piece! I love the notion of challenging across age groups and situations. Need real patience to handle the frustration when the learner is only looking for a solution and not how to solve the problem