Don’t Get Stuck In A ‘Cumulative Learning’ Pothole

Last week, I spent my evenings watching a “Electronics For Complete Beginners” course; resistors, capacitors, inductors, transformers, transistors… little tools I use every day but know nothing about.

One lecture explained Op Amp internal circuitry, which is highly confusing for those without electrical engineering experience…

After a slow, dramatic inhale, the instructor ended the lesson;

“But, you don’t need to worry about this. For all practical purposes, you can think of an Op Amp as a magical black box that does lots of wonderful things!”

Thank. Goodness.

Much of learning is cumulative, meaning that new understanding requires understanding of the preceding information.

But often, it is better to continue without understanding.

Otherwise, each lecture is a potential minefield, a road full of potholes just waiting to blow off a tire, leaving you stranded, trying to understand for hours.

Total understanding is, of course, best. But making total understanding a requirement to continue is too great a liability. Every minute you spend trying to understand something that doesn’t make sense is a minute you are not seeing new material you may understand immediately, and be able to put to good use!

Better than requiring cumulative understanding point-by-point, sweep through information more like a radar. A radar doesn’t stop if it detects an unidentified ‘bogey’. It keeps sweeping in order to see the full picture.

I once had a teacher who told me “Read the material 3 times and you’ll understand 80%” and you know that reading a novel’s last chapter makes the middle predictable to the point of boredom.

After seeing the territory you can then decide which information (if any) should be re-visited and understood, rather than spending this time everywhere.