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Comment by infinet | Hacker News Reader

I have a gut feeling that human as a creature learns better when looking at the information from several different angles, both physically and mentally. Been physically I mean looking at the same concept on screen and on hard copy books, perhaps taking notes and mark relevent sentences with a highlighter. Similarly, seeing a concept on physical book and write some short code snippet is viewing the concept from different mental angles. Though I don't have a proof for that and have yet to find a formal research on this topic.

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The pedagogy suggests that you retain more when you also have a spatial element to what you are reading - eg you recall not only what the text was but where exactly on the page you read it, and perhaps also how far through the book it was.

Textbook designers know this and use images, callout boxes and insets with case studies/graphs to break up text on pages so that your brain gets extra context to map 'what' to 'where'.

This is (imo) why infinite scroll and mixed order algorithm feeds are such brainrot (even if you are looking at educational content). You try to recall something you read but it was in an ephemeral location in an always changing stream of content.

The solution explorer from Visual Studio flashes into my mind when I think about the codebases I'm most familiar with, and thinking about the code makes the code file come to mind like it's a big piece of paper and it's all represented physically in some form in my mind. I wonder if the way this happens acts like something of an exploit to get those physical textbook benefits.

This is true: a way to remember things is to construct a “memory palace” in a place you know well, where different pieces of information correspond to different locations inside the building.

> I have a gut feeling that human as a creature learns better when looking at the information from several different angles

Ever write a piece of code, pore over each line, test the hell out of it, and only when you actually submit the PR and see the diff rendered in your review tool that you spot some totally bone-headed thing you've done?

Viewing a familiar concept in a new context gives you new insights with surprising frequency. Context shifts the priors in the mind. That's why, yes, combining reference/LLMs/tutorials and comprehesive pedagogic tours on rails gives you the best perspective on a new domain.

(BTW: it's due to this effect that company offsites and retreats are good investments, not wastes of money.)

Absolutely. Whenever I learn a new thing I'll always approach it from different angles - sources from people with varying skill levels (it can be useful to know how another beginner dealt with something!), video form, written text, reading the theory, seeing the applications, trying it yourself in various forms, different constraints etc. For example, since we're on hn - writing some data structure or algorithm you're learning in a few different languages. Doing all this helps massively with building up to true understanding.

(cooking - when learning a new recipe, I'll always find a few versions from reliable sources to compare, see what they have in common, and try to understand the reasoning behind differences)

I learn the same way but there are different people who learn in different ways. Also some people come with some concepts already understood from past experience or education, it’s easier for to pick things up without needing various angles.

The brain is a large network and humans learn best when an information doesn't life in isolation but can be integrated within.

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