I wish there was a name for this overall approach to studying, and that it was easier to describe. ‘Study tips’ and ‘active learning’ articles often give generic advice without actually helping you connect with your own mind, which is the real challenge.
Predictive learning might work.
I highly endorse the idea you’re pointing to. You can do the same thing with papers if you want to understand them. Read the abstract and try to predict the introduction. Predict further content from that. E.g. predict their definition of corrigibility based off the 4 desiderata they describe. Predict interesting results based off the definitions and motivation. Predict the formal statement of a theorem based off an informal description. You can practice all sorts of sub skills by doing this sort of thing.
Thanks for the suggestion! I took it to ChatGPT to explore alternatives, and “Guess-and-Check” hit the mark. “Predicive learning” was a good starting point.
Using this technique in scientific writing is a game-changer. It helps you approach a paper with a curious and critical mindset, asking questions like:
How did the authors likely design the experiment to achieve their goals?
How will they present their findings?
Will the results be crystal clear or a bit murky?
What kind of claims will they make?
Any red flags or limitations to keep an eye out for?
How does this paper fit in with others on the same topic?
And the big question… what surprising insights can I uncover?
Predictive learning might work.
I highly endorse the idea you’re pointing to. You can do the same thing with papers if you want to understand them. Read the abstract and try to predict the introduction. Predict further content from that. E.g. predict their definition of corrigibility based off the 4 desiderata they describe. Predict interesting results based off the definitions and motivation. Predict the formal statement of a theorem based off an informal description. You can practice all sorts of sub skills by doing this sort of thing.
Thanks for the suggestion! I took it to ChatGPT to explore alternatives, and “Guess-and-Check” hit the mark. “Predicive learning” was a good starting point.
Using this technique in scientific writing is a game-changer. It helps you approach a paper with a curious and critical mindset, asking questions like:
How did the authors likely design the experiment to achieve their goals?
How will they present their findings?
Will the results be crystal clear or a bit murky?
What kind of claims will they make?
Any red flags or limitations to keep an eye out for?
How does this paper fit in with others on the same topic?
And the big question… what surprising insights can I uncover?