understanding

Referred in

Actively working with information enables learning

Learning is really about actively working with the information/knowledge at hand, rather than passively consuming it (e.g. re-reading…

Associations between concepts is thinking

Thinking is determined associations between concepts. " Associations between concepts is thinking " - Anderson, Fast, 2020. And it shapes…

Brain matches sensory information to existing patterns

When we say that Understanding is shaped by all kinds of sensory information , it's not just having the information that creates…

Embodied cognition

Embodied cognition (or embodiment) is a view in cognitive science that says that body and mind are very much connected. That's in contrast…

Epistemic actions

There are two kinds of interactions: pragmatic: acting toward a desired goal) epistemic: acting toward understanding). Epistemic actions are…

External structures support thinking

Thinking cannot be only a purely internal mental process because of the limitations of the mind. External structures (like Zettelkasten…

Gestalt principles explain how people visually perceive relationships between objects

There are many principles from gestalt psychology that explain how people visually perceive relationships between objects. Similarity…

Interaction is part of thinking

We don't think, then act. We think by doing. Physical movement helps us to think. Interacting with the world around us the same, even more…

Learning best happens by making connections

Learning requires understanding. And understanding requires exploring the meaning of something and putting it to context. This is…

Metaphor usefulness declines with increased concept complexity

Metaphors work great for simple concepts. E.g. illustrating a relationship between two objects by the thickness of the connecting line. The…

Metaphors can be a double-edged sword

(Using a metaphor to describe a concept of metaphors, very meta.) Metaphors can greatly help with creating understanding because…

Placing objects in space reflects our understanding of a given concept

How we arrange/place/sort objects in space, reveals our understanding (internal representation, "mental model") of a given concept. This is…

Plurality of perspectives create better understanding

Any given metaphor/analogy/lens/perspective only trigger a certain, limited set of associations. It can be still useful, but using only one…

Preattentive visual property

Pre-attentive visual properties of objects are processed in our brain before we can consciously think about them. This usually happens in…

Stories are a powerful way of creating understanding

Stories grab our attention more than facts . (characters in stories grab the attention more than anything) They can influence our attitudes…

Thinking happens not only in our brains, but also bodies and environment

Anderson and Fast argue in their book that "understanding is a function of brain, body and environment". We don't think exclusively in the…

Understanding is about recognizing patterns

Our brains are pattern-recognition machines. And we know that Associations between concepts is thinking . Associations are triggered by…

Understanding is shaped by all kinds of sensory information

We use all kinds of sensory information (from vision through hearing to tactile) to learn and understand. Understanding is based on the…

Understanding requires more work than passive consumption of information

Access and consumption of information doesn't immediately lead to understanding. We must work with the information to create understanding…

Vision is the dominant sense

Vision dominates between people's senses. We register the most information through vision (orders of magnitude more than other senses…

Visual models are "Objects Placed into Territories"

"Objects Placed into Territories" is a universal pattern behind pretty much all visual models. This framework gives us the language to talk…

Visual models help with understanding abstract concepts

People are naturally good at sorting physical things (e.g. organising clothes into piles). But they struggle with abstract concepts. We can…

Visual representations trigger associations

How something is represented visually will influence what concepts we associate with it (e.g. thin vs. thick lines suggesting relationship…


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