Thanks for linking me to the ICAP framework. ICAP and your “I do something else to learn” methodology generally jives with the same thing I happened upon by chance after spending a lot of time trying to “learn how to learn” the best way; landing upon SRS and Anki specifically, as a tool; and then finding a much better process+system. Given how deeply involved you are in the space, I assume you’ve heard of, and possibly follow, some of Justin Sung’s videos and techniques?
He provides some scientific foundation behind the recommendations he makes, specifically his recommendations around mind mapping and _how_ to do it properly. His process puts mind mapping firmly in the _Interactive_ mode. The results are truly unbelievable.
So much so that after investing 20 hours to mind map a book for myself 7 months ago, I can recall practically all the information I mind mapped without rehearsal.
Mind mapping makes up probably 70% of my learning these days, then I have a long-form written system for the other 29%, and sometimes, when I have a little isolated fact that doesn’t fit in either system, I turn to SRS for memorization of the last 1%.
I'm not familiar with Sung's videos, but after a quick perusal of his thumbnails I have some knowledge in the various cognitive science concepts he covers (Cognitive Load Theory, Flow, Mindmaps). I didn't really dig into educational theory until I started teaching Computer Science. I wanted to figure out how to better instruct my students after learning about the high drop/fail rates in intro courses. Once I started to experiment in my classes, I decided I should get the PhD for a pay bump.
Once I was in the program, I focused most of my research in reading where cog sci was being used for stem, but also for general practice research. I've been training martial arts for almost 20 years now, so some of the research was me double dipping in how to improve teaching CS and punching people.
Honestly, I still argue that martial arts' spaced repetition was a bigger influence on how I view learning. I need to allocate 2-4 hours 1-4 times a week for practice (4 when I was younger and could get away with it; correct due to immediate feedback from my partners; and have a giant support network of people through the US that make me vested in not only the art but their lives as well. I acknowledge the benefits of meta-cognitive methods like planning and self-reflection, but they feel more theory than application.
Planning is great until you're a novice that doesn't know what to train next. Then you are just a struggling student receiving negative reinforcement, which only amplifies any imposter syndrome you already have. Sadly, there isn't much research exploring how physical athletes learn beyond simple spaced repetition. There's some work in interleaved practice [1] but since physical training is more or less "solved", progress is slow.
Instead, I focus on the various lower-level practice activities so students can acquire subskills without needing to program. Then, I heavily encourage building a 'sense of community' [2], not through group projects (which have their own faults) but rather in simply "giving a damn" about your classmates' progress.
At the end of the day, I think learning is heavily a "time on task" [3] problem and determining how to structure lower-level practice and toy examples that encourage you to keep with it and break Carol Dweck's "fixed mindset" [4].
I'd like to dig deeper into how to properly structure practice across ICAP modalities, but the sheer number of variables and even determining how many activities should be in a practice is too complex of a problem without a very large sample size.
He provides some scientific foundation behind the recommendations he makes, specifically his recommendations around mind mapping and _how_ to do it properly. His process puts mind mapping firmly in the _Interactive_ mode. The results are truly unbelievable.
So much so that after investing 20 hours to mind map a book for myself 7 months ago, I can recall practically all the information I mind mapped without rehearsal.
Mind mapping makes up probably 70% of my learning these days, then I have a long-form written system for the other 29%, and sometimes, when I have a little isolated fact that doesn’t fit in either system, I turn to SRS for memorization of the last 1%.