Thank you for writing in support of passive or ambient or whatever-you-want-to-call it learning. I have been reading a lot lately about the downsides of anything other than active learning, and I have been frustrated, or worried that I have limited myself, since I enjoy learning things without summarizing and restating them in my own words and testing myself and worrying about spaced repetition. I have learned a lot about a lot of things over the years and I’m glad to see I am not the only one who values this approach.
Ooh I like the "ambient" learning framing! Not quite learning by osmosis but in that vein, and honestly equally valid in my opinion! A lot of people learn things just by paying attention to what is being modeled by the skill people around them -- certainly children learn a lot that way, and I see no particular reason to assume the adults don't!
I don't like calling the kind of learning you're talking about "passive". It's not a crazy term, since it's got a certain resemblance to passive income, for example, but I think calling it passive makes it seem like there's no effort or intention involved. Is a fisherman passive? It depends on when you're looking at them.
Apologies if that came across as abrupt or demanding! This is actually something I think about a lot (and argue about with colleagues) as an early childhood teacher. My classroom doesn't have nearly as much of what looks like "learning" as others, because I'm mostly trying to create a rich enough environment and encourage the students in developing a curious attention and joy of finding things out so that the learning happens on its own. I've yet to find a good way to succinctly express the idea, and am stuck with unsatisfactory metaphors like cultivating mental soil or hanging bat boxes in the garden.
Your journey from intense productivity reading to a more self-directed approach is relatable. It reminds me that efficiency is not synonymous with the soulless pursuit of productivity; it's about high ROI activities and avoiding decision paralysis. Know what you're optimising for and act accordingly, like choosing the right system to match your interests. I like the idea of proactive and passive learning; learning things before you need them can be a game-changer. Thanks for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
Oct 13, 2023·edited Oct 13, 2023Liked by Eleanor Konik
I didn't take courses on note taking. I barley understood that taking classes in collage. I have always avoided academia because of my suspicions about entrenched systems of thought. But that hasn't stopped me from a taking a class or two at a community college. Right now, the modeling your way of note taking is really important to me because I want to eventually learn how to write science fiction well. I can easily get bogged down by details so this info is golden to me. I have been thinking about how I can pop up some of these bits of knowledge while I am writing so I don't forget. Maybe an in Obsidian random quote generator. Im glad I found Obsidian. In many ways it has helped me improve my writing, but its has it's draw backs. Its easier to get side track now so I have to find ways to stay on target. I appreciate what you said at the end about writing "Generic Articles". That I want to avoid as well. The age of Language Models is making people think they can write well without any effort, and now we see a ton of stuff on the internet that's informative but lacks any depth.
ya know instead of obsesing about cataloging and storing and indexing everry precious thought just write go with thebflow, if it's important it will work its way out..
one can spend a lifetime preparing just the right atmosphere to write. and spend oodles on fancy index systems and moleskine notebooks.
Thank you for writing in support of passive or ambient or whatever-you-want-to-call it learning. I have been reading a lot lately about the downsides of anything other than active learning, and I have been frustrated, or worried that I have limited myself, since I enjoy learning things without summarizing and restating them in my own words and testing myself and worrying about spaced repetition. I have learned a lot about a lot of things over the years and I’m glad to see I am not the only one who values this approach.
Ooh I like the "ambient" learning framing! Not quite learning by osmosis but in that vein, and honestly equally valid in my opinion! A lot of people learn things just by paying attention to what is being modeled by the skill people around them -- certainly children learn a lot that way, and I see no particular reason to assume the adults don't!
I don't like calling the kind of learning you're talking about "passive". It's not a crazy term, since it's got a certain resemblance to passive income, for example, but I think calling it passive makes it seem like there's no effort or intention involved. Is a fisherman passive? It depends on when you're looking at them.
I'm definitely open to other phrasing! Maybe "idle learning"?
Apologies if that came across as abrupt or demanding! This is actually something I think about a lot (and argue about with colleagues) as an early childhood teacher. My classroom doesn't have nearly as much of what looks like "learning" as others, because I'm mostly trying to create a rich enough environment and encourage the students in developing a curious attention and joy of finding things out so that the learning happens on its own. I've yet to find a good way to succinctly express the idea, and am stuck with unsatisfactory metaphors like cultivating mental soil or hanging bat boxes in the garden.
I think Montessori has an idea like "the prepared environment" that I really like and might be relevant for you?
SAVED
Your journey from intense productivity reading to a more self-directed approach is relatable. It reminds me that efficiency is not synonymous with the soulless pursuit of productivity; it's about high ROI activities and avoiding decision paralysis. Know what you're optimising for and act accordingly, like choosing the right system to match your interests. I like the idea of proactive and passive learning; learning things before you need them can be a game-changer. Thanks for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
I didn't take courses on note taking. I barley understood that taking classes in collage. I have always avoided academia because of my suspicions about entrenched systems of thought. But that hasn't stopped me from a taking a class or two at a community college. Right now, the modeling your way of note taking is really important to me because I want to eventually learn how to write science fiction well. I can easily get bogged down by details so this info is golden to me. I have been thinking about how I can pop up some of these bits of knowledge while I am writing so I don't forget. Maybe an in Obsidian random quote generator. Im glad I found Obsidian. In many ways it has helped me improve my writing, but its has it's draw backs. Its easier to get side track now so I have to find ways to stay on target. I appreciate what you said at the end about writing "Generic Articles". That I want to avoid as well. The age of Language Models is making people think they can write well without any effort, and now we see a ton of stuff on the internet that's informative but lacks any depth.
ya know instead of obsesing about cataloging and storing and indexing everry precious thought just write go with thebflow, if it's important it will work its way out..
one can spend a lifetime preparing just the right atmosphere to write. and spend oodles on fancy index systems and moleskine notebooks.
real writers write.