This is part of how we improve and learn. Taking patterns we have seen before, we proceed to use them. The more accurate and well applied they are the better we do. There are many ways to help this process in education and video games, by guiding the process.
The faster we build quality subconscious thinking schemes, the faster we gain mastery of a topic. For this reason it is important to game designing and education to understand how to help people build these ways of thinking.
Before continuing, I'd like to mention something else about this topic. Each person's mind is like a different operating system. Communication between different operating systems is complicated and full of potential errors. So, rather than depend on a single method, or program, that supposedly is compatible for all, it is better to help people build their own accurate mental models that work well with how they think.
Subliminal Messaging:
It's not brain washing, it's supplying patterns to the subconscious. Better yet, it's simple to put up related content that people see, but don't consciously see, without getting in trouble. If somebody consciously notices their surroundings they are called observant, while if they didn't they may get a feeling or hunch relating to the same information.
This was shown in a video from a blog post I read recently, and couldn't find the link. So, if somebody would help me find the blog post with harp playing bears messing with the heads of marketers making a poster and slogan for a fictional taxidermy shop, that would be really nice.
While this isn't a big thing, it can be used to help. Surroundings conducive to learning have been discussed for a long time, and this is one thing to consider. Images related to the content being taught could help. In games this would be called a hint or clue. Sometimes it might even be called a breadcrumb.
I constantly see seemingly random science posters in science rooms. What if they were on topic? Backgrounds to resource pages could work in a similar way. Posters of math rules made by graphic design students could be a boost to resumes and learning environments alike. Graphical representations of ideas can be placed in areas based on relation to the topic.
Memorizing and visualizing are such major parts of the learning process that we should try to make them easier.
Nurture Connections:
Situated knowledge is information with meaningful connections. We all perform thousands of content searches each day based on the connections of each piece of information. Without these connections, the knowledge is not seen as related or meaningful, so they are less likely to come up in those searches you normally perform.
There is another, deeper, search method using the equivalent of tags. However this is slower and requires more conscious thought than the connections method. More effort to get the same result is not efficient. So it is best to have the connections.
Nurturing connections really isn't hard. Proximity in time, location, context and other measurements is a big part. So, have the ideas close by several measurements, not necessarily at the same time, and you're on the right track. The other part is mostly repetition, that's reinforcing the connection.
Branching Pathways:
With thousands of possible connections between concepts, reaching the goal should be the intent, not limiting the path to that goal. If the goal is deep understanding and being able to properly use the information, we should support several ways to understand the concepts.
An example from games is how different kinds of characters might tackle the same
task. These different strategies are supported by the game mechanics and content.
Applying this to education depends on the mechanics and content supporting the effort. The content is the easier part at the moment because it merely has to be created. Ya, "merely". Okay so it also has to be organized and made available, but that's a part of the mechanics to support the direction.
Timely Freetime:
Freetime is a chance to explore on your own, take a break or get ready for more, so if you have freetime at the right times it increases the productivity of your actions.
Recently there was a blog post, or article, I read about two professors and how they dealt with the so-so results of their video lectures. One broke up the content into 25 minute sections with a five or ten minute break of nonsense. This approach made his lectures far more effective, because his students were tuning out at about 25 minutes into the lectures. If I could find a link to it I would put it here, and will if somebody supplies it.
In the longer college classes there is a break or two during the classes. If nothing else, it's a great chance to wake up the people who fell asleep and weren't snoring. This works in the same way as the breaks during the video lectures.
In games this would be a break from the action. It's necessary for pacing if you don't want to stay keyed up the whole time. Yet, even then there is a break between tries.
The Basic Idea:
Since we have limited mental abilities, we should have our methods accommodate for it. This is one way is to make it easier to learn the information we need to know, for whatever it is we are doing. I know I'd prefer to have more effective learning environments as a student.
Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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