first layer coursera learning how to learn

7/24/2019 First Layer Coursera Learning How to Learn

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Print this activity out at home or in the library. Be sure to complete each section before the due date.


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1. Select which methods can help when trying to learn something new.

Metaphor

Use focused and diffused modes at the same time

Bash your brain against the wall

Get stressed

Analogy

2. In the __________ mode, the brain makes random connections in a relaxed fashion.

3. Select the following true statements regarding procrastination.

When you don't want to work on something, a sense of neural discomfort arises. However,

researchers have found that not long after you might start working on something that you find

unpleasant, that neural discomfort disappears. So an important aspect of tackling procrastination isto just get yourself through that initial period of discomfort. The Pomodoro technique helps you do

that.

When you feel neural discomfort about something you don't want to do, switching your attention

to something more pleasant can help you feel better--temporarily.

Procrastination is a rare problem.

Procrastination seems to involve an attempt to switch your mental attention away from

something that you find slightly painful.

4. One of the first videos described the difference between the focused mode and the diffuse

mode. According to this video, the focusedmode is affiliated with (check all that apply to the

concept of focusedmode only):

The type of intense concentration you need to work through a problem, step-by-step.

Ideas, concepts, and problem-solving techniques that are at least somewhat familiar to you--

your previous knowledge lays a sort of underlying neural pathway that you tend to follow.

A way of pretending to understand used by Shakespearean actors, as one of the videos

discussed in detail.

A way of drawing upside down in order to focus on the details, as one of the videos discussed in

detail.


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5. Select the following true statements about sleep, according to this week's videos.

Too little sleep over too long a time is associated with all sorts of nasty conditions, including

headaches, depression, heart disease, diabetes, and just plain dying earlier.

Sleep has been shown to make a remarkable difference in your ability to figure out difficult

problems and to understand what you are trying to learn.

Sleep is designed to allow for snoring, which clears your sinuses but makes you sound like an

asthmatic banshee.

Dreaming about something doesn't improve your ability to understand it.

6.

Which of the following sentences do you think is the best advice for someone who is

struggling to learn abstract concepts, such as mathematical ideas?

You should use the diffuse mode of thinking, as the diffuse mode is the one that processes

abstract ideas.

You should practice regularly, as practice strengthens the neural connections you make during

the learning process. The concepts you are studying might seem abstract, but strong neural

connections are real and concrete.

If you are not naturally good at mathematics, you should consider studying something more in

line with your natural abilities. People should only do what they are naturally good at.

You should study very intensively for one day a week, as this is the best way to create strong

neural connections. After a very intense session of study you will have already learned that concept,

and you won't need to study it again

7. Check the activities below that would be more apt to arouse the diffuse(rather than

focused) mode:

Getting some form of exercise while not concentrating on anything in particular.

Working a familiar type of multiplication problem.

Tag along in the passenger seat of a car, looking absently out the window while someone else is

driving.


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8. Select the true statements about the human brain.

Sleep makes it easier to learn new things and solve problems.

Adult brains can't form new synapses.

Learning changes the structure of the brain.

Once brain connectivity is set, it can't change.

9. Select the statements that explain why math and science might sometimes be more

challenging.

Math is not so directly related to emotions that we can feel.

Concepts in math and science are closely related to our emotions.

Math and science often involve more abstract, rather than concrete, ideas.

Math and science generally involve concrete, not abstract, ideas.

10.

The __________ mode involves a direct approach to solving problems using rational,

sequential, analytical approaches. It is associated with the concentrating abilities of the

brains prefrontal cortex, located right behind your forehead.

In accordance with the Class Honor Code, I _____________ certify that the answers here are my own work.

first layer coursera learning how to learn

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