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Barbara Oakley

Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Oakland University · 2 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

academicauthorengineer@barbaraoakley ↗LinkedIn ↗barbaraoakley.com ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗

Oakley is the co-creator and instructor of Learning How to Learn, one of the world's most widely taken online courses on Coursera. She translates neuroscience and cognitive psychology into practical study strategies in books such as A Mind for Numbers, Mindshift, and Uncommon Sense Teaching.

34statements → 14claims → 13claims resolved → 92%fully supported → 3.82/5average certainty → 2.29/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 1said about them ↓

12 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 14 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 13 assertions · 3 opinions · 17 insights · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 14 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 13 are resolved, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Barbara argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Oakley: Research Shows Visual and Auditory Learning Styles Are Scientifically Groundless
“There was a excellent study done by a woman named Beth Rogoski and what she did was she took one of the standard tests to kind of analyze a very widely used test that is used to distinguish an individual as to whether they're a visual learner or an auditory le…”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 1:12:46 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
100% certainty 3
95% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Barbara Oakley on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Barbara Oakley said on the Knowledge Project that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Oakley: Passive rereading creates a false illusion of competence
“Well, first off, you don't want to sit and reread because rereading, what that does is, when you read something again, you think, because your eye is, like, comfortable looking at it, and it seems familiar, you think you know it, but you actually don't.”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 1:00:15 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Formal education systems rarely teach students how to learn effectively
“People can go through 12 to 16 years of education and never have a single course in how to learn effectively.”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 1:09:20 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Neural reuse theory proves metaphors activate complex concept mechanisms
“Neural reuse theory shows that you're actually activating those same mechanisms for the metaphor that you would for the underlying difficult concept you want to try to convey.”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 1:23:56 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Anticipating unpleasant tasks activates the brain's pain centers
“What happens when you even just think about something you don't want to do or don't like, It activates a portion of the brain in the insular cortex that experiences pain.”
Barbara Oakley Nov 7, 2023 ▶ 17:11 TKP Insights: Learning and Thinking
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Exercise promotes neural growth by stimulating BDNF production
“What exercise does is it helps produce Brain derived neurotropic factor in your, you know, in your brain. And this is kind of like a fertilizer that helps dendritic spines grow. In other words, it helps make new connections.”
Barbara Oakley Nov 7, 2023 ▶ 20:41 TKP Insights: Learning and Thinking
Insight
Oakley: Learning requires alternating between focused and diffuse modes of thinking
“And that learning involves going back and forth between these two different modes. And if you don't get something the first time, guess what? That's okay. If you don't get it when you're sitting there focusing the first time, Back off, you know, after you focu…”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 13:47 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Contemplating unpleasant tasks activates the brain's pain center
“What happens when you even just think about something you don't want to do or don't like, It activates a portion of the brain in the insular cortex that experiences pain, so it's kind of like that same feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you don't …”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 28:49 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Assertion Supported
Oakley: Exercise produces BDNF, stimulating dendritic spine growth and learning
“What exercise does is it helps produce Brain-derived neurotropic factor in your, you know, in your brain, and this is kind of like a fertilizer that helps dendritic spines grow. In other words, it helps make new connections.”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 32:19 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Insight
Oakley: Skill acquisition requires linking small cognitive chunks into larger patterns
“First, to be aware that there's a way of crystallizing what you're doing that creates a pattern that is a chunk. And you can make a bigger pattern, right? Just like a chain, and you can add more links to the chain.”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 56:08 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn
Insight
Oakley: Corporate learning cultures require CEOs to publicly model learning struggles
“For corporations, Talking about the importance of learning have the head person, whoever is the CEO, could be modeling the importance of learning, perhaps through learning something and kind of sharing it with the corporation and those in the corporation and s…”
Barbara Oakley Apr 10, 2018 ▶ 1:09:34 #31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn

The other half of the tape: Barbara Oakley's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode on the Knowledge Project. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Jim Collins 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0011112019episodesmentions
0112019episodes it came up in
000.50.5112019episodesmentions per episode
2019 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
TKP Insights: Learning and Thinking Nov 7, 2023 10m
#31 Barbara Oakley: Learning How to Learn Apr 10, 2018 1h 16m
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