#130 Mindshift: Learning to Learn, Interview with Barbara Oakley, PhD

Smithsonian Associates, Interview Series

Our guest today, Barbara Oakley didn’t begin learning remedial high school algebra until age 26. Now she’s a professor of engineering, a New York Times best-selling author, and instructor of one of the world’s most popular massive open online courses, “Learning How To Learn,” with nearly two million registered students. How did this happen?

As part of our Smithsonian Associates, Art of Living, and newest Inside Science programming, we are joined today via Skype with Dr Barbara Oakley. Dr Oakley will be appearing at the Smithsonian Associates program, Oct 18, at the Baird Auditorium, where using metaphor and analogy, which prime neural circuits for difficult topics, Oakley explains how to learn more effectively, drawing on her experience as both an engineering professor and a linguist, as well as from key research findings in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.

Enjoy.