Learning as a Science
We’re living through the best of times and the worst of times for education.
Never before has there been more information available at everyone’s fingertips. Courses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, from the world’s top institutions, are available to anyone with a smartphone and internet access.
There are more learning-related videos on YouTube than there are books in the entire Library of Congress.
So why does it feel so hard to learn anything?
The answer to this is information overload. With such overwhelming options, it’s tough to get stuck into a long course or article without getting distracted or fatigued.
All the material is out there for us. The problem lies in how we choose to approach it. The question of how best to learn has never been more important.
A wealth of cognitive science exists to answer this question. This is the science of learning – and harnessing it is one of the most valuable superpowers you can develop in the information age.
Why Learning is a Superpower that Matters Today
So why bother learning about learning?
Well, it’s fascinating, for a start. But there are also 2 more pragmatic reasons that make the science of learning an essential area to study.
The first is that general knowledge is a lost art.
Modern education teaches people to specialize, but truly original thought requires interdisciplinary knowledge. It requires the ability to sense connections between different ideas, where others simply see unconnected data.
Achieving this kind of knowledge requires you to keep actively learning throughout your life. And that is what the science of learning will show you how to do.
The second reason is that adaptable learning is the most valuable skill you can have in a rapidly changing world.
As businessman and writer Alvin Toffler put it – ‘the illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn and relearn.’
Some Myth-Busting
There are some myths around learning that this pathway will prove wrong.
The most important one is about ‘styles of learners.’ All the neuroscience suggests that people aren’t born with a predisposition toward learning one way or another.
You might think of yourself as a visual learner, or a verbal learner, or an aural learner. But there’s no evidence at a neurological level that this is true.
Even worse, you might have internalized the idea that some people just have smarter brains than others.
These myths have a huge impact on how most of us think about learning. Somewhere along the line, we decided we weren’t logical enough to learn how to do calculus, or that we didn’t have the right kind of mind to write a poem.
This pathway will demonstrate to you why that isn’t the case – with the right approach and discipline, just about anyone can learn just about anything.
Why We Wrote This Pathway
Here at Kinnu, we believe that one of the greatest gifts you can ever receive is a good education. It should be easier than ever to do that, but, somehow, it isn’t.
It’s our aim to change that, by taking a science-led approach to learning.
We believe that the best way to help people learn is to understand the science behind all aspects of learning and to build a learning experience that foregrounds that science.
The science of learning remains a hotly contested area. This pathway explores the most prominent theories, and how they can fit together to create a superpowered learning experience.
We hope that, as you learn about learning, you’ll pick up valuable skills of your own, as well as getting a glimpse of just how excited we are to bring the superpower of learning into as many people’s lives as possible.
This is our obsession – and we’re always looking to learn ourselves. If there’s anything you’d add to this pathway – or if you just want to chat – please reach out to us through our website or Discord.
