Thinking and Learning

Reading some articles of Daniel Willingham (check out some of his work here), one incredible fact sticks out to me: the more you know, the more you can learn.  Think of any random joke that happens across your mind.  Take, for instance, if there's H2O on the inside of a fire hydrant, what's on the outside?  K9P

First of all, that's hilarious.

But think of all the previous knowledge you need to connect the punch line with the joke.  You need to know that the chemical makeup of water is two parts hydrogen (designated by an "H") and one part oxygen (the "O").  And there's a good chance you already knew the function of a fire hydrant so the assimilation of "H2O" and "hydrant" was already apparent in your mind.  As for the punch line, this may have a taken a second to understand (I know it took me a second) because it's not immediately applicable to all people to refer to a dog as a "K9".  As our mind was already focused on interpreting chemical formulas, it may have taken a second to change gears into a new route of thinking.  But that second was undoubtedly just a second.  The connection was swiftly made for "K9" = dog and "P" = urine, drawing on past experience that dogs are known to pee on fire hydrants.

And those connects were made in less than a second.  You undoubtedly didn't have to put any thought into understanding the joke at all, it just clicked.  This is because you already had those requisite concepts stored in your long-term memory, drew them out into your working memory and complied previous knowledge with new information to arrive at the conclusion that the joke is phenomenal.  Without any effort.

Now apply that to reading a book or magazine, following instructions, or having a conversation.  If you're already well-versed in (or at least knowledgeable of) the basics of the Vietnam War, having a cocktail party conversation with someone about the merits and validity of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, the Domino Effect, and proxy battles of the Cold War shouldn't be an issue.  However, knowing absolutely nothing about it may leave you blindly searching your memory for 10th grade history class to retrieve any useful tidbit to avoid standing there staring blankly.  But this ability to retrieve such information is made possible by the fact that you already knew about differences between capitalism vs. communism and understood the opposing view points.  And now, with this prior knowledge, you're able to better understand the delicate nature of the Vietnam War, the incursions into Cambodia, and the confrontation with China regarding proximity to their border.  You're able to understand how photography offered those back home a look at the harsh realities of war and helped turn popular opinion against the war.  You'll be better able to understand the ramifications of the draft, and apply that to a conversation as we ventured into Iraq in the early 2000's regarding another one.

Similarly, the more you know about computers (of which I am not nearly as informed!), each experience, each method, or each upgrade lays the foundation for future situations.  Perhaps not exactly the same issue, but the previous knowledge serves as a building block, a stepping stone to understanding this new situation.

The more you know, the more you can learn...

So really, regardless of WHAT you're learning, just get out there and learn something new today!