The hottest Learning methods Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Your Review: Alpha School

Astral Codex Ten β€’ 37923 implied HN points β€’ 27 Jun 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Alpha School promotes a unique learning model where students spend only two hours on academics and are said to learn faster. This has raised curiosity and skepticism about its efficacy compared to traditional schooling.
  2. The school uses a technology platform for personalized learning. However, the teaching staff, called guides, play a significant role in supporting students, making it more of a blended model than a fully tech-driven approach.
  3. Incentives are a key part of Alpha's strategy, rewarding students for completing lessons and meeting goals, which helps motivate them and encourage a love for learning.

Your Review: School

Astral Codex Ten β€’ 25190 implied HN points β€’ 04 Jul 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Schools focus more on keeping kids motivated rather than maximizing learning. This means that while kids might not always be eager to learn, the way schools are set up tries to engage as many students as possible.
  2. Personalized learning hasn't worked out as many hoped. Most students benefit from structured learning environments where everyone is learning at the same pace, rather than trying to learn individually.
  3. Age-graded classrooms are still the most effective way we've found to teach a large number of students. Even if they aren't perfect, they help organize education in a way that works for the majority.

Fulfill Yourself

Polymathic Being β€’ 54 implied HN points β€’ 15 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Learning methods
  1. Across many cultures the ideal was to be well-rounded, learning music, science, craft, and philosophy so knowledge felt like a unified whole.
  2. Modern specialization prized depth and efficiency but often fragments thinking and makes it harder to solve complex problems; connecting fields breeds the most creative insights.
  3. You can cultivate polymathy by following curiosity, retaining and linking what you learn, practicing varied skills, and forcing cross-domain collisions, which builds personal fulfillment, resilience, and coherence.

Can automation help make the humanities more human?

Res Obscura β€’ 3732 implied HN points β€’ 06 Nov 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Automation can free people from boring tasks, allowing more time for creative and thoughtful activities. This means we can focus on what makes us human, like art and philosophy.
  2. Generative AI can help in research by organizing and analyzing data that humans might find tedious, but it shouldn't replace personal thinking and creativity. It's important to use it to enhance learning, not to avoid it.
  3. In education, especially for younger students, facing difficult challenges is crucial for real learning. It's vital to encourage critical thinking and creativity instead of letting machines do the work for us.

On Alpha School

Don't Worry About the Vase β€’ 2912 implied HN points β€’ 07 Jul 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Alpha School uses a unique teaching method that combines effective techniques like spaced repetition and immediate feedback. This helps students learn better and faster compared to traditional education.
  2. The school has a rewards system called AlphaBucks that incentivizes students to complete their lessons. This gamification makes learning feel more fun and engaging for kids.
  3. While Alpha School's methods focus on individualized learning, they may not suit every student. It's important to consider each child's needs and how they learn best.
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The BIG GUIDE to teaching LITTLE PEOPLE how to sound out words

The Intrinsic Perspective β€’ 7162 implied HN points β€’ 05 Dec 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Teaching kids to read can be done much faster at home than in traditional schools. A few minutes of one-on-one tutoring each day can help them start reading within a year.
  2. Many current reading methods are too complicated for young kids. It’s better to make learning fun and game-like instead of following strict rules and lessons.
  3. The process of teaching reading should begin with simple sounds and slowly progress to full sentences, focusing on what interests the child. This makes reading enjoyable and engaging.

The Most Compelling Argument Against Tech in Schools

After Babel β€’ 2022 implied HN points β€’ 27 Feb 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Too much screen time is hurting kids' learning and development. It's taking their focus away from teachers and each other, making them more anxious and isolated.
  2. Studies show that using too much technology in schools isn't helping students. In fact, it can make their learning worse and even affect their mental health.
  3. We need to rethink how much tech kids use in school. Instead of relying on screens, we should promote reading books and spending time with teachers to help kids learn better.

The EdTech Revolution Has Failed

After Babel β€’ 2486 implied HN points β€’ 12 Nov 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Using too many digital devices in schools doesn't seem to help students learn better. In fact, it might be making their test scores worse.
  2. Students often get distracted by things like social media when they're supposed to be learning, which can hurt their ability to focus and remember what they've learned.
  3. Some schools are starting to move away from using devices in the classroom and focus more on traditional teaching methods, which might lead to better outcomes for students.

overeducating the midwits

bad cattitude β€’ 284 implied HN points β€’ 24 Jul 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Education has changed to be less about critical thinking and more about memorization, leading many to believe they are smarter than they really are.
  2. People who think they are educated but aren't can become very defensive when their ideas are challenged, which makes them resistant to new information.
  3. The current education system tends to promote mediocrity by giving degrees to those who cannot think critically, and we may need to rethink or even dismantle it to improve learning.

What if societies were (deliberately) built to learn? (part one)

Brain Pizza β€’ 794 implied HN points β€’ 10 Dec 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. An 'experimenting society' uses real-life experiments to solve social problems. Instead of guessing solutions, we can test ideas to see what really works.
  2. Complex issues like poverty and health don’t have easy answers. We often need deep expertise and careful study to find effective solutions instead of relying on common sense.
  3. Learning from mistakes is important. If societies are built to learn, they can adapt and improve over time by evaluating what strategies succeed or fail.

Academia & MAMLMs: The Seven Labors of the Academic East-African Plains Ape

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality β€’ 215 implied HN points β€’ 01 Jul 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Higher education has always aimed to help people become effective thinkers and communicators. This means teaching students how to research, analyze, and share their knowledge.
  2. New technologies like AI are not a threat to education but rather another change in how we learn. History has shown that every new tool can enhance our learning process instead of replacing it.
  3. The main focus in education should remain on guiding students through the learning process while adapting to new teaching tools. This can lead to a more engaging and fun learning experience.

They Have Different DNA

Outlandish Claims β€’ 79 implied HN points β€’ 11 Apr 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Children often struggle to learn in traditional school settings compared to other environments where they excel.
  2. John Holt's book 'How Children Fail' discusses the challenges of traditional education and the impact on students' learning processes.
  3. School structures, fear of failure, and boredom can hinder children's intrinsic motivation to learn and impact their long-term relationship with education.

In Data Science for Non-STEM Majors, Is Learning-by-Watching Live Calculating Possible? Likely? Reasonable to Expect?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality β€’ 238 implied HN points β€’ 28 Jan 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Students today need basic data science skills to succeed after graduation. It's like letting them leave school without knowing how to read or write.
  2. Teaching data science can be tricky because students have different backgrounds. Some find it confusing, while others think it's too basic.
  3. It's important to keep trying to teach data science. Finding the right way to do it is necessary for better education and understanding.

Trash Cans and Math Policy

SFEDup β€’ 98 implied HN points β€’ 23 Jan 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. San Francisco tried to create its own trash can but had to stop due to budget issues
  2. San Francisco Unified School District is considering changing its math policy and creating new math pathways
  3. The school district should learn from how other districts address similar issues and consider increasing instructional time for math

Edu-Snippets

The Science of Learning β€’ 119 implied HN points β€’ 07 Sep 23
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that helps people stay focused and fight procrastination by working in short, timed intervals followed by breaks.
  2. Taking practice tests can lower test anxiety and help students remember what they've learned, making them better prepared for actual exams.
  3. Classrooms experience a lot of interruptions throughout the year, which can hurt student learning. Reducing these interruptions may help improve student performance.

What should I write about

Data Science Weekly Newsletter β€’ 39 implied HN points β€’ 24 Feb 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. The writer plans to start creating tutorials again. It's a chance for people to learn more about various topics.
  2. They want feedback from subscribers about what specific topics they are interested in. This shows they value readers' opinions.
  3. There's a wide range of tools in data science, and the writer is keen to help navigate that complexity with useful content.

A crisis in epistemology

Sunday Letters β€’ 59 implied HN points β€’ 20 Nov 23
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. We need to rethink what to teach as AI becomes more capable. It's important to understand the basics of how things work, not just rely on AI to do it for us.
  2. Trust is becoming harder in our knowledge sources. With the rise of fake evidence and statistics, we must be careful where we get our information.
  3. The future of learning should focus on teaching people how to learn effectively. This includes critical thinking skills, understanding biases, and the scientific method.

Edu-Snippets

The Science of Learning β€’ 99 implied HN points β€’ 15 Jun 23
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Taking notes by hand helps students remember lectures better than just taking photos of the slides. It encourages more focus and understanding of the material.
  2. Teaching others about a topic can improve a student's own learning. Even explaining to an imaginary audience can help deepen their understanding.
  3. Using flashy animations in PowerPoint slides can make it harder for students to remember important information. It's better to keep slides simple and focused on the main points.

What Rodeo can Teach Academia

Unsafe Science β€’ 39 implied HN points β€’ 04 Jun 25
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Academia should encourage taking intellectual risks instead of being overly cautious. It's important for students to be bold in their ideas and learning.
  2. The responsibility to avoid harm should fall on individuals rather than institutions. Everyone should take personal accountability for their actions in academic settings.
  3. Adopting a rodeo mentality could improve the learning atmosphere in academia. This mindset helps foster resilience and creativity among students.

Why video > written content for learning technical subjects | #12

pole β€’ 78 implied HN points β€’ 13 Mar 23
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Video content is more effective than written content for learning technical subjects because it reduces cognitive load and provides information when needed.
  2. Written content can lead to cognitive overload due to the need to recall and locate information, especially in complex technical topics.
  3. For technical subjects, especially for beginners, video can efficiently provide necessary details without causing bloat in content length.

Optionality β€” The power of smart options and experiments

10x your mind β€’ 19 implied HN points β€’ 07 Mar 24
🚌 Education Learning methods
  1. Optionality is about having backup plans for complex problems, not just deciding between simple choices like ice cream flavors.
  2. Smart options should be non-obligatory and allow for decisions after outcomes, helping increase luck in various aspects of life.
  3. Practice optionality for potentially unlimited gains with limited losses by exploring new opportunities and treating each option as an experiment.