https://ift.tt/3BvVkHS Tips and tricks to skyrocket your growth in data science (or really in any subjects) Photo by Element5 Digital on...
Tips and tricks to skyrocket your growth in data science (or really in any subjects)
“Artificial Intelligence is the new electricity” — Andrew Ng
We are in the thick of a new revolution — data science and artificial intelligence — transforming every sector of economy. It is natural, therefore, that many people are eager to jump onto the bandwagon or to propel themselves in the field. Because the field is dynamically advancing so fast, continuously learning new tools and research is paramount to catching up with unfolding technologies. Many of such efforts naturally come in the form of self-learning.
Self-learning can take in the form of attending MOOCs, reading textbooks or research papers. Personally I have been taking MOOCs monthly, such as Coursera and Udemy, in areas such as deep learning and software engineering. You might wonder that I am putting great efforts into self-development and thus I am ‘continuously learning’. Right?
Not quite. It is one thing to put in efforts, but another to actually learn effectively. Worse, you may fool yourself into illusion of competence. Enter a Coursera MOOC— Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects.
Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects
As a practicing Data Scientist myself, time investment in learning data science is precious, but my enrollment in this course is definitely strategic because I believe it can supercharge my future learning endeavors. For more detailed coverage, I would recommend any Data Scientists, Software Engineers, or in fact, people from other fields to attend this MOOC. Otherwise this article is a culmination and distillation of the important gist that I have gained. Lets get started!
1. Introduction to Learning — The Brain
We learn effectively only when our brain is healthy and is primed to grasp information. Hence any study of learning must involve how it relates to the brain. Moreover understanding the brain helps you appreciate and remember how effective learning occurs. You get the idea.
Three types of memory are specific to learning — working memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. A successful learning process goes through from working memory to short-term memory to long-term memory. This takes time, and we can only say we successfully assimilate or master a knowledge when it has lodged in our long-term memory.
The working memory becomes active when we get into the focused or alert mode. Generally, the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain controls working memory and light up when we are processing information. You can see working memory as analogous to the RAM of the computer or a poor blackboard that quickly erases itself, because it has a small storage (hold around 4 to 7 memory bits) and can only last for around 15 seconds without any reinforcement. Because of this vulnerability and its importance as the initial window to learning, we will discuss later ways to optimize the working memory.
Knowledge and understanding gets formed in the short-term memory — controlled by the Hippocampus of the brain — when we put our brain in the focused mode during learning. This typically occurs due to the interaction between Prefrontal Cortex and the Hippocampus, as though an ‘attentional octopus’ from the Prefrontal Cortex reach out its tentacles to form neural connection patterns in the Hippocampus.
With reinforcement and lasting practice, as we will discuss, memories and knowledge temporarily stored in the Hippocampus then gradually transfer itself from to the Neocortex as long-term memory. In addition, researchers discovered such transfer also happen when we sleep, as shown in this link:
Where are memories stored in the brain?
2. Prepping the Brain to Learn — Sleep, Exercise, Environment
Sleeping and taking naps might seem like almost useless and lazy activities, but in reality they are crucial to learning. Apart from memory transfer to the Neocortex, sleep clears away toxins in the brain, allowing unobstructed information flow and allowing new synapses to be formed between neurons. This solidifies our memories and learning that we have built up the sleep before. It is no wonder we are a new person each time we woke up! Experts usually suggest we have 7–9 hours of sleep each day, but because personally I find sleep so beneficial to myself, I would suggest 8–9 hours of sleep to my readers. More is better.
Learning can also be supercharged when we immerse ourselves in physical and social environments that are novel, stimulating and supportive. Let’s talk about the social environment first. Learning is impaired (the working memory under performs) when the brain is experiencing fear, anger or stress. It’s thus crucial to cultivate relationships that are kind, motivating and not toxic and destructive. In work, social circle and family, you might encounter jealous or angry people who attempt to undercut you due to malice, or simply miscommunication. It is best to speak it out to resolve any underlying issues, otherwise develop a form of apathy and not let negative emotions creep into your consciousness. On the contrary, supportive relationships with family, friends and colleagues can go a very long way in boosting our learning potential.
A novel physical environment is a great bonus in boosting learning. Research has shown that neurons and dendrites in our brain survives and grows in response to positive stimulation. This is greatly help in memory retention. It is a great idea to travel around places, or even overseas, occasionally. This also brings to mind that we can sometimes adjust our learning environment, and the furniture in our learning area, to create a sense of novelty.
Finally, we need to exercise. No only is exercising healthy for the body, it is great for memory retention too. Even without a stimulating environment, research has shown exercising is equally effective in promoting neuron growth in our brain. Typical exercises we usually try are:
- Jogging
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Strength training (anaerobic exercise)
However, I would like to call out an exercise that is quite underrated, yet has been greatly beneficial for myself — long walks. Let me explain. Not only are long walks (45minutes or more) considered a healthy exercise generally, it brings immense benefits to mental health, such as alleviating the mood. Taking long walks close to nature is even better — kills two birds in one stone — as you enjoy the extra benefit of enjoying a novel physical environment. Moreover, walking taps into the diffused mode of thinking (which will soon be explained), when wonderful creative ideas can suddenly pop into mind. I cannot recall how many times solutions to my machine learning problem at work have been hatched during my walking trips. It comes as no surprise to me that research has found out walking is a creativity booster:
Stanford study finds walking improves creativity
3. Modes of Thinking — Diffused and Focused
When our mind is thinking, neural connections light up in the brain. In the diffused mode of thinking, neural connections light up across sparse areas in the brain, accessing different regions of our memories. The diffused mode is usually associated with the mind wandering freely during relaxation activities, such as walking or chit-chatting. It can help to generate creativity, and help a lot with problem-solving and recalling ideas. Usually when the mind is stuck at a particular problem, going for a walk or resting the brain actually helps in producing novel ideas through diffused thinking. The notion that the brain is stuck in a particular pattern of thinking is called Einstellung, when neural connections where more focused rather than sparse. This brings to mind the focused mode of thinking.
In focused mode of thinking, neural connections light up in concentrated areas of the brain, and is usually associated with intense concentration working on a familiar set of problems step by step, such as going through a test. The focus mode of thinking is also especially important in learning, as the neural connections from the Prefrontal Cortex (working memory) linked up with the Hippocampus to give birth to new wiring or knowledge chunks. Nonetheless, learning easily and deeply involves alternating periods of intense concentration (chunking) and then periods of relaxation (exercising and sleeping) to help the brain form long-lasting memories of learnt materials.
4. Forming Mental Chunks — The Process of Learning
Chunks are formation of neural connection patterns when learning a new concept. Normally, chunking involves piecing together separate neural connection (recall the ‘attentional octopus’), and grouping them into a compact whole what is efficient to retrieve. There are three important steps to forming a knowledge chunk:
4.1 Focused Attention
This is your ‘attentional octopus’ with its tentacles reaching out from the Prefrontal Cortex to the Hippocampus. Because memory in your Prefrontal Cortex is so precious, you want to reduce distractions that hold you back from absorption (generally I will suggest avoiding listening to music when you are learning as it will occupy your working memory, while it is okay while doing boring work).
4.2 Understanding
This is the tentacles of the ‘attentional octopus’ stringing disparate regions of the brain (Hippocampus) to form new neural connections. Strong understanding can occur through visual metaphors or analogy. Other techniques for understanding include handwriting notes on what we are learning to make use of our tactile memory. At this point, a weak or temporary image of the chunk is formed, and is kept in our short-term memory.
4.3 Practice
To transfer knowledge from short-term to long-term memory, it is most essential to practice through recall or test, ideally with spaced repetitions across every few days. It is worth noting that sometimes we fool ourselves illusion of competence through wrong practices. Many such practices include drawing concept maps, re-reading materials and excessive high-lighting. To further supercharge chunking, there is another process called deliberate practice, which is to focus intently on a related set of problems that are uncomfortable and harder for you. For Data Scientists, it could mean taking on a Kaggle competition instead of mindlessly going through MOOCs. Through these practices, the temporary image of the chunk is embedded deeper in the brain to form a long-lasting memory.
5. Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination and learning are intertwined. Habits of procrastination can prevent solid chunks of knowledge/understanding to form long-term memories by delaying the learning schedule/process. By itself, procrastination is seemingly harmless, but its effects can accumulate and leave us underachieving and feeling less fulfilled in the long run. If we know it is bad, why do we like to procrastinate? We procrastinate because when facing a difficult or boring task, the pain centers in our brain light up, and we would divert our attention to something more pleasant to focus on, such as playing with our phones. Understanding procrastination as such, I suggest 4 ways to break the habit:
5.1 The Pomodoro Technique
The famous technique usually suggest keeping a timer of 25 minutes when engaging an activity then taking breaks of 10 minutes or so, before starting another Pomodoro. You get the idea. But personally I find this too regimental, and instead interpret it as setting short burst of interrupted focus (no phone, no music, no friends) subjected to flexibility of course. If you find the ‘pain’ of starting a Pomodoro too great, simply take a deep breath, and just starting the task at hand for even less than 5 minutes will smooth yourself into the task, and the perceived pain will go away.
5.2 Understanding and Rewiring the Habit
For the chronic procrastinators, sometimes procrastination has become too much an ingrained habit. To understand how to successfully rewire this habit, let’s take a sneak peak into the cycle of a habit:
5.2.1 The Cue
The trigger that launch us into an activity. A procrastination trigger can be a pain center that lights up when we want to start a learning activity and at the same time we see the videos recommended by the YouTube.
5.2.2 The Routine
This is the habitual ‘zombie mode’, which is something we are familiar with and is performed at ease. For example, after we started on the video recommended by YouTube, we march mindlessly on, consuming videos after videos without realization.
5.2.3 The Reward
Usually a habit repeats because it feels great — which is the reward. Putting away the pain of working on a task and engaging in pleasant activities lights up the pleasure center of the brain, albeit temporarily, prompting us to seek out the habit again.
To hijack the vicious cycle of procrastination habit, we first have to pay attention to what is our procrastination cues and actively remove ourselves from environment that contains such distractions and cues. Although willpower is expensive (and we should conserve), we should apply a little willpower still, should procrastination cues arises, and instead launch ourselves into the Pomodoro mode. Starting from the cue, we cut off the vicious cycle, and starts off a virtuous productivity cycle, in which we can reward ourselves by taking pride in our work/achievement or allowing ourselves a short relaxation, such as reading a favorite web article or eating a snack.
5.3 Focus on the Process, not the Product
It is normal to have negative feelings (fear/boredom/pain) at the start of a study session even if we like the subject. It only depends on how we handle the feelings. One good way is to focus on the Process — giving in effort to the moment, like the routine of the habitual ‘zombie mode’ — and we will easily settle in the workflow. In contrast, we would not want to focus on the Product — focusing on completing the task, and judging ourselves whether we are finishing soon. In this manner, it is less painful to start and continue working on our task/learning.
5.4 Know what is the next Plan
Procrastination cues may be lurking at every corner in our day. Oftentimes after we have finished a task at hand and we happily take a break. This is okay, but sometimes we end up taking a long break. This is because we don’t have a plan of what is productive to do next, and when we finally hatched a plan, it becomes painful to extract ourselves from the pleasure of relaxing. The result — procrastination starts again. Hence, having an idea or mental schedule of activities as the day unfolds can be very crucial in staying productive.
6. Learning Pipeline in Data Science
While this article is generally beneficial for learners across disciplines, it is written for aspiring and working Data Science practitioners in mind. Applying the insights to learning effectively, one can be confident of successful continuous learning in Data Science. Here, let me conclude by giving a few cents worth of my insight into a great MOOC learning pipeline for budding Data Scientists. (P.S: I am looking this from the grey area between a Data Scientist and Machine Learning Engineer)
6.1 Essential Tools
6.1.1 Python
- 2021 Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python (Udemy)
- The Modern Python 3 Bootcamp (Udemy)
- Python 3 Programming Specialization (Coursera)
6.1.2 Structured Query Language (SQL)
- Master SQL for Data Science (Udemy)
- Learn SQL Basics for Data Science Specialization (Coursera)
6.2 Machine Learning
- 2021 Python for Machine Learning and Data Science Masterclass (Udemy)
- Machine Learning (Coursera)
- Machine Learning Specialization (Coursera)
6.3 Deep Learning
- Deep Learning Specialization (Coursera)
- DeepLearning.AI Tensorflow Developer (Coursera)
6.4 Additional Topics
- AI for Everyone (Coursera)
- The Git and Github Bootcamp (Udemy)
- Linux Mastery: Master the Linux Command Line (Udemy)
- Docker and Kubernetes: The Complete Guide (Udemy)
- Introduction to Cloud Computing on Amazon AWS for Beginners (Udemy)
7. Final Thoughts
Congratulations on making it here! You have gained invaluable insights into learning effectively, especially for the field of Data Science. If you have learnt something new, I would encourage you to pay it forward by writing a blog post on avenues like Medium. Notice that by writing this article, almost entirely in my own words, I have practiced the Feynman Technique which allows me to learn more deeply:
How to Use the Feynman Technique to Become an Expert in the Most Complicated Concepts in Data…
Although this article is exhaustive in itself, I have left a few other areas in effective learning for you the reader to explore. One such area is developing a good diet for the brain (and you don’t want to take too much junk food):
11 Best Foods to Boost Your Brain and Memory
Finally, thanks for learning how to learn! Please leave your ideas in the comments section to enable other readers to know other techniques for improving learning. I look forward to your input and please follow me on LinkedIn.
Cheers! _/\_
A Brief Guide to Effective Learning in Data Science was originally published in Towards Data Science on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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