EP 19 - How We Learn Like A Scout: Critically Thinking About Critical Thinking

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

2:15 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 18 - Making Progress Better from September 20218:36 - AP English Language and Composition (College Board)12:23 - The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't by Julia Galef12:26 - How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...for Now by Stanislas Dehaene12:53 - See an outline of The Scout Mindset (Effective Altruism Forum)13:41 - See the “hyperreality” Wikipedia entry and read “On Exactitude in Science” by Jorge Luis Borges14:27 - See “Soldier Mindset / Scout Mindset” comparison table21:08 - See “Carol Dweck: A Summary of Growth and Fixed Mindsets” (fs Blog)21:58 - See the “testing effect” Wikipedia entry and “The Ultimate Learning Machine”, a summary of an interview with Stanislas Dehaene: “One of the most surprising insights coming from current research is that we learn more from regular testing than we do from extra lesson time. Testing doesn’t necessarily entail doing a formal exam, it’s more about brief, daily testing during class and can involve doing an exercise, using flashcards or having the teacher ask questions after introducing a new concept. The best is to alternate teaching and testing, even within a single lesson. “Teachers think that evaluation is for them to get an idea of what the kids are doing, but according to the recent science, testing is really for the learner,” Dehaene says. “It’s an essential part of the learning algorithm. You learn when you test yourself.” In this sense, testing and evaluation are misunderstood by teachers, he believes.”22:58 - See “Bloom’s Taxonomy” (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching) and the “Bloom’s taxonomy” Wikipdedia entry34:58 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 202035:10 - Difficult Conversations by by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen39:09 - For a nice summary of Dehaene’s 4 pillars see ”Did neuroscience find the secrets of learning?” (Article by Stanislas Dehaene, Paris Innovation Review, 2013) and  “Science: These are the 4 Pillars of Learning” (Daniel Gogek)40:59 - See an outline of The Scout Mindset (Effective Altruism Forum)41:00 - Watch Julia Galef’s TED Talk “Why you think you're right — even if you're wrong”43:51 - See “What are Book Clubs?” (Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Blog)57:36 - Listen to Brain Science Episode 167 - Stanislas Dehaene on “How We Learn” from February 20201:02:50 - See Metacognition (Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching) and the “Metacognition” Wikipdedia entry

This episode was recorded in August 2021

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti