Notes
At the start of the meeting, Ali Swaidan shared his reflection on Bloom’s Taxonomy and how helpful it would’ve been for him had he known about it when he was a university student to know that learning goes beyond just memorization.
As we got into our topic of the week, Mohammed shared with us that 10,000 hours are not enough to be an expert, we also need:
Repeated attempts with feedback
Maryam reflected on this by recalling how in school, feedback comes from exams, which are too late, hindering the students’ learning. As a remedy to that, Maryam, as well as Mina, got into study groups, much like the LLLC, which provided an environment for more immediate feedback.
We also talked about chunking, Mina shared that it is similar to grouping in 3D Software, which makes the software perform faster when individual objects are grouped together. Mujtaba shared the example of riding a bicycle and memorizing digit strings, and Marie shared the example of teaching children to read numbers by breaking up the lines forming the symbols into individual parts.
Valid environment We went over the same examples that were mentioned in the video and examined them.
Timely feedback Raheem added that receiving timely feedback is motivating. Maryam shared her experience of applying for a scholarship and getting rejected without receiving feedback explaining what she missed so she can improve her application in a future attempt.
Deliberate practice Mina & Raheem shared the story of driving on the opposite side in Malaysia and Indonesia and how that required extra concentration compared to regular driving and was uncomfortable, which made it improve the skill of driving.
Ali Swaidan questioned whether the idea of exiting the comfort zone is a Western construct and doesn’t work in the East. He also wondered what’s the point of leaving the comfort zone if it’s unpleasant? In response, Mina shared how her father has spent his life settling in his comfort zone, but when it comes to his work, he goes out of his comfort zone, which has made him an expert in his field. Mina also shared how she’s stepping out of her comfort zone by teaching ceramics, which has made her a better ceramist. Ali Swaidan then explained that we don’t always have to strive for growth; i.e. if we want to grow, we should step out of our comfort zone, and if we don’t want to go, it’s OK to enjoy being in our comfort zone. Finally, we examined Mihaly’s Flow state to gain a better understanding of how far out of the comfort zone to go.
After reflecting on the video, we shared some questions and finally we ended with the takeaways that each of us was leaving with. The one common takeaway we all shared was we’d all re-watch the video and observe what it’s like to watch it with a renewed understanding.