MetaFilter posts tagged with learning

Intelligence Tests

kliuless — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0800

Is Psychometric g a Myth? - "As an online discussion about IQ or general intelligence grows longer, the probability of someone linking to statistician Cosma Shalizi's essay g, a Statistical Myth approaches 1. Usually the link is accompanied by an assertion to the effect that Shalizi offers a definitive refutation of the concept of general mental ability, or psychometric g." Myths, Sisyphus and g - "Over the years I have not encountered a single endorser of Shalizi's article who actually understands the relevant subject matter. His article is loved for its reassuring conclusions, not the strength of its arguments. I am sure many 'thinkers' resisted Darwinism, the abandonment of geocentrism, and even the notion that the Earth is a sphere, for similar psychological reasons." Nuthin' but a 'g' thang

So I've always had the intuitive hypothesis that there are different types of intelligence; that different people tend to process information in different ways, whether due to habit or nature. But then there are all those people who say that intelligence can be boiled down to a single factor, the mysterious "g" (which I assume stands for either "general intelligence" or "gangsta"). Since this went against years of casual observation, I was somewhat pleased to see the eminent Cosma Shalizi write an essay debunking the notion of "g". But then I saw this blog post defending the notion of "g", and claiming that Shalizi makes a bunch of errors. Basically, the disagreement revolves around the question of why most or all psychometric tests and tasks seem positively correlated with each other. Shalizi points out that this correlation structure will naturally lead to the emergence of a "g"-like factor, even if one doesn't really exist; his opponent points out that if no "g" exists, it should be possible to design uncorrelated psychometric tests, which so far has proven extremely difficult to do. The latter post, by a pseudonymous blogger calling himself "Dalliard", contains a bunch of references to psychometric research that I don't know about and have neither the time nor the will to evaluate, so I'm a bit stumped. Normally I'd leave the matter at that, shrug, and go read something else, but I realized that my intuitive hypothesis about intelligence didn't really seem to be explicitly stated in either of the posts. So I thought I'd explain my conjecture about how intelligence works. In a nutshell, it's this: What if there are multiple "g's"? ...just imagine several dozen hyperplanes, and project them all onto one hyperplane... Remember that psychometric tests are simple mental tasks, but most of the mental tasks we do are complex, like computer programming or chess or writing. And for those tasks, learning and practice matter as much as innate skill, or more (for example, see this study about the neurology of chess players). Therefore, everyone can be "smart" in some way, if "smart" means "good at some complex mental task".

also btw To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells (previously)

instaGrok

Balonious Assault — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:45:26 -0800

instaGrok is a website that presents information in a mindmap-style visual interface, which allows users to learn about topics by exploring the connections between concepts and facts.

Learn Korean Easy!

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:39:02 -0800

Learn Korean Easy!

"it's quite clear that there's tons of cultural transmission that's just strictly by observational learning."

the man of twists and turns — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:52:07 -0800

How Culture Drove Human Evolution

SPAUN of the living

kliuless — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:09:00 -0800

The simulated brain - "First computer model to produce complex behaviour performs almost as well as humans at simple number tasks." [1,2,3,4,5,etc.]

The Corporatization Of Higher Education

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:28:05 -0800

In 2003, only two colleges charged more than $40,000 a year for tuition, fees, room, and board. Six years later more than two hundred colleges charged that amount. What happened between 2003 and 2009 was the start of the recession. By driving down endowments and giving tax-starved states a reason to cut back their support for higher education, the recession put new pressure on colleges and universities to raise their price. When our current period of slow economic growth will end is anybody’s guess, but even when it does end, colleges and universities will certainly not be rolling back their prices. These days, it is not just the economic climate in which our colleges and universities find themselves that determines what they charge and how they operate; it is their increasing corporatization. If corporatization meant only that colleges and universities were finding ways to be less wasteful, it would be a welcome turn of events. But an altogether different process is going on

From Master Plan To No Plan: The Slow Death Of Public Higher Education: "The California student movement has a slogan that goes, “Behind every fee hike, a line of riot cops.”" Universities And The Urban Growth Machine

The “edifice complex” did not fade until the 1990s, and there have been at least two growth paradigms since then, both of them linked to the high-wage knowledge economy. One was the “creative city,” which Richard Florida popularized, and it revolved around recruitment of creative talent. This model was much cheaper than shelling out large subsidies for sports stadiums or to corporate investors—a few bike trails, some fair-trade coffee shops, and the semblance of an art scene (to attract the all-important gay population). But it did open up a new circuit of debt-financing for the urban growth machine–student loans. After all, student debt is what underpins the supply of the educated workforce in a “creative city.”

University of Chicago Works On Its Neighborhood - “It’s enlightened self-interest for us,” Mr. Greene said. “We’ve always been very competitive when it comes to providing a great intellectual community. But we found there was something missing when we looked at the quality of life for students and faculty who are used to the kinds of amenities you find in places New York, Boston and Palo Alto.” All in it together? The utility of universities to military, security and resilient activities

So, finance is a key problem in higher education because without it we cannot do high end research, advance knowledge, nor teach future minds. But we also cannot carve out the areas of highly competitive activity that puts us at an advantage as UK Plc against our rivals. Should universities retain their position as a state-sponsored skunkworks, and what level of control is required for that to work?

Could Dismantling the Submerged State Surrounding Student Debt Pay for Free Colleges? Why Subsidize College At All?, and a response to both: Liberal Metapaternalism And Higher Education Higher Education: Why Government Should Cut The Cord The Higher Education Bubble Isn't As Big As They Say

Often the solutions are bound to be worse than the problems. Here’s one reason why: The administrators themselves, full of models of excellence derived from business (encouraged by government when the Republicans are in power), schools of teacher education (which should be abolished or keep to themselves), and political correctness (encouraged by government when the Democrats are in power), demand quantitative, measurable, assessable solutions to tricky and often “goes with the territory” problems. A problem with techno-democracy is that it tends to harness everything to the imperatives of technology or “the measurable.” There’s more than some irony in addressing techno-democratic excesses with techno-democratic methods.

The Hole In Higher Education

Universities, particularly public research universities, have outstanding faculty. They usually have support staff to supplement those faculty members and to advise students and various other tasks. Universities also typically have highly respected Deans, Provosts and Presidents that are well published in their field and are not averse to asking for money from legislators and donors. What most public universities do not have, and they so desperately need at all levels, are business managers.

The Future Of Higher Education: Massive Online Open Disruption The Siege Of Academe

The ongoing carnage in the newspaper industry provides an object lesson of what can happen when a long-established, information-focused industry’s business model is challenged by low-price competitors online. The disruptive power of information technology may be our best hope for curing the chronic college cost disease that is driving a growing number of students into ruinous debt or out of higher education altogether. It may also be an existential threat to institutions that have long played a crucial role in American life.

Is my iPhone Changing my Brain?

Schadenfreudian — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:23:12 -0800

What's Wrong With Online Reading, a slide presentation by Randy Connolly, argues that the relatively recent and increasingly popular approach to reading and learning - on computers, tablets and smartphones instead of traditional print - influences what and how we read, research and think, with disturbing consequences.

The Chem Coach Carnival

Orange Pamplemousse — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 07:24:49 -0800

What do chemists do in a "work day"? What kind of schooling do they have? How does chemistry inform their work? Do chemists have any funny stories to tell? Last week chemist See Are Ohh* was wondering what a chemistry life coach would look like. So, he started a blog carnival in honour of Mole day, with fifty-nine chemists chiming in to share their experiences and offer advice to budding scientists. Announcement, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Wrapup. *CRO, contract research organization.

Answer on Back

netbros — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 14:57:48 -0800

Flash cards are an effective study aid because they are founded on the principles of rote and memorization. With Flashcard Exchange | Study Stack and Flashcard Machine, you can use web-based flashcard makers to create, share, export and print flashcards to assist your studying.

I want to learn

growabrain — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:03:13 -0800

"Learning to draw primarily comes from practice. Spend ten to twenty minutes every day sketching something new. Don't feel demotivated if you start off as a not-very-good artist." Want proof? Check out the dates of this conceptart.org thread: Over the next sixty pages and seven years of drawing, you'll see how Jonathan Hardesty was working a little bit every day and developing from a beginning hobby artist to an accomplished art teacher. This was found inside a detailed response to an 'AskReddit’ thread I want to learn something new. But what?

better to hold the interest and attention of the class

Miko — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:18:41 -0800

Blackboard Sketching by Frederick Whitney, Director of Art, State Normal School, Salem, MA, 1908. The interface at archive.org is nice too.

Typical Pentagon boondoggle

theodolite — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:27:39 -0800

The Global Language Online Support System (or GLOSS), produced by the Defense Language Institute in sunny Monterey, CA, offers over six thousand free lessons in 38 languages from Albanian to Uzbek, with particular emphasis on Chinese, Persian, Russian, Korean, and various types of Arabic. The lessons include both reading and listening components and are refreshingly based on real local materials (news articles, radio segments, etc.) rather than generic templates. Important note: level 1 is considered "low intermediate" and assumes a basic knowledge of the language. For more elementary lessons, or if you just prefer your US government-produced language courses with a groovy 1970s vibe, try the ever-popular FSI Language Courses.

For Lsson Plans, Study Help, or Quick Reference

netbros — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:47:25 -0800

Are you the type of person who, when flipping through a book or scanning a website, immediately searches for the diagrams or charts because you'd rather absorb the information visually than have to read a bunch of text? If so, then you are probably a visual learner and you may find Useful Charts helpful. The goal is to present useful information in the form of study charts so that students, teachers or simply those interested in increasing their general knowledge can absorb the information quickly and visually.

Making Math Fun

netbros — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:34:21 -0800

Is your elementary school youngster struggling with math? Are they a visual person? Would math games and videos help them learn? Enter Math Playground, to assist with problem solving and real world math. Try the enticing logic game Sugar, Sugar or beef up your math word problem skills. There are plenty of games to help educate while entertaining.

The Learning Bit

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 01:38:43 -0800

Recent developments in online learning have increasingly democratized the exchange of information in higher education: the launch of University of the People, a tuition-free online university; Khan Academy's acquisition of SmartHistory and its growing emphasis on humanities and liberal arts; the University of Reddit's crowd-sourced lessons being taught in real-world classrooms; Skillshare creating a community marketplace for teachers and students; Lore opening its doors to learners from all walks of life; major institutes in India putting every class lecture on YouTube in English; LectureFox collating together free university lectures from across the web. Of course not everyone is happy with the way things are going.

You Can Do Science Too

netbros — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:50:57 -0800

Citizen science refers to science conducted by average persons, e.g., people who are not full- or part-time professional scientists but nevertheless have a keen interest in scientific inquiry. Citizen Science Center is a resource for books, papers, discussions, and project listings related to citizen science that aims to convince you to get your hands dirty and do science now.

What is that? Is that a red pen? No, that's not a red pen. That's a rock.

The demon that lives in the air — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:20:24 -0800

Where Are Your Keys? (WAYK) is a language-learning game that starts with identifying a few simple objects and builds into a conversation dealing with abstract concepts — in the space of an hour or two, with minimal supplies. Here's an 80-minute video with WAYK creator Evan Gardner, going over the rules and playing the game in English and American Sign Language. WAYK doesn't require any setup beyond a teacher, a willing student and a few household objects. Because of this, many indigenous communities — who want to teach and learn their languages but are often strapped for cash — have adopted WAYK techniques to teach their endangered languages to young people. This brief documentary highlights a joint effort by WAYK and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon to revitalize the Numu (Paiute) language with WAYK-style games. This video shows WAYK games at work at the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival conference last October. You can find podcast episodes and updates from recent and upcoming WAYK events (mostly on the US West coast) at the WAYK blog.

Available online, 30 issues of Mangajin!

KokuRyu — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:04:41 -0800

Mangajin was created in the early 90's as a monthly English publication for students of the Japanese language. Unlike most text books that focused solely on teaching people Japanese through boring text, Mangajin was different in that it focused on showing readers a page of manga and then a page of English translations. As great of an idea that this sounds today, it didn't catch on in the 90's and Mangajin ended in 1996. Now manga in America is as popular as ever, which is why I have decided to put Mangajin onto this web site. Fans of Japanese manga and who are looking to learn Japanese will undoubtedly find Mangajin very useful!

I think I no how to make people or animals alive.

T.D. Strange — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:41:48 -0800

In June of 1973, spurred on by the recent discovery of a dying bird in his garden, 9-year-old Anthony Hollander wrote to the presenters of Blue Peter — the BBC's much-loved children's television show — and asked for assistance in his quest to "make people or animals alive."

The Earth goes around the Sun-- every day!

gwint — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:16:28 -0800

Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos is an 8 minute video by Derek Muller that offers some skepticism as to the usefulness of science videos that only teach the facts without investigating existing misconceptions. TL;DW? Here's a 1 minute 29 second version. Too brief? Here's his PhD thesis.

Kyle McDonald Explains FaceTracker

netbros — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:22:02 -0800

FaceTracker is an example of a complex technique that builds on top of a series of computer vision, image processing, and machine learning functions in order to achieve its result. Here's an interview with Kyle McDonald, artist and researcher in New York with a background in computer science and philosophy. He released FaceOSC, a tool for prototyping face-based interaction. Kyle has a growing body of work that uses face tracking in an artistic context, notably Face Substitution.

Specialization is for insects

blahblahblah — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:55:21 -0800

Ten desirable skills you can teach yourself is a nice round-up of terrific guides to teaching yourself new tricks including basic repair skills, learning a language (the Foreign Services Institute has a chart of how hard various languages are to learn), teaching yourself to code, building electronics (starting with soldering), getting yourself up to speed in photography, learning an instrument, developing a basic sense of design, the inevitable cooking tips, and even some starter self-defense moves. Also, a very nicely organized list of free online college courses.

Failing to succeed

unSane — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:10:25 -0800

The learning paradox is at the heart of “productive failure." While the model adopted by many teachers and employers when introducing others to new knowledge — providing lots of structure and guidance early on, until the students or workers show that they can do it on their own — makes intuitive sense, it may not be the best way to promote learning. With one group of students, the teacher provided strong “scaffolding” .... Meanwhile, a second group was directed to solve the same problems by collaborating with one another, absent any prompts from their instructor. These students weren’t able to complete the problems correctly. But in the course of trying to do so, they generated a lot of ideas about the nature of the problems and about what potential solutions would look like. And when the two groups were tested on what they’d learned, the second group “significantly outperformed” the first. Via. Paywalled paper. Bonus Feynman learning technique.

The world doesn't need another $150 Algebra One book

filthy light thief — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:34:35 -0800

The University of Minnesota recently announced that its College of Education and Human Development has created a searchable online catalog of "open textbooks" that are reviewed by U of M faculty. The books must be Openly Licensed, complete (not a draft version of the text, or a collection of lecture notes), suitable for use outside of the author's institution, and available in print for a reasonable price, generally less than $40 USD. This site differs from other collections of open textbooks in that it is developed and supported by a well known and respected university. University of Minnesota faculty will be paid $500 to write a review of an open-source textbook, the same amount they earn to adopt such a book in class. Related, previously: * Boundless Learning, an attempt at simulating required textbooks through various open texts, is being sued by 3 major publishers. * The Open College Textbook Act of 2009, which went nowhere.

Coursera

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:44:50 -0800

Coursera - free, online, introductory- to upper-undergraduate level classes in a wide variety of subjects, led by instructors from Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of Pennsylvania