@How to write good prompts: using spaced repetition to create understanding

This guide aims to help you create understanding  in the context of an informational resource like an article or talk.

• By that I mean writing prompts not only to durably internalize the overt knowledge presented by the author , but also to produce and reinforce understandings of your own , understandings which you can carry into your life and creative work.
  The most common mechanism of change for spaced repetition learning tasks is called retrieval practice .

• In brief: when you attempt to recall some knowledge from memory , the act of retrieval tends to reinforce those memories.

• The learning produced by retrieval is called the [[testing effect]] because it occurs when you explicitly test yourself, reaching within to recall some knowledge from the tangle of your mind.

• retrieval practice is about testing your knowledge to produce learning , rather than to assess learning 评估 .

  • [[e.g.]] What distinguishes retrieval practice from typical school tests? #card
    • Its purpose is to produce learning, not assess it.

• [[e.g.]] In general, writing an SRS prompt amounts to giving your future self a recurring task .
  Properties of effective retrieval practice prompts

• (This guide’s) properties of effective prompts: focused, precise, consistent, tractable, effortful

  • Precision: Vague questions will elicit vague answers.
  • Focus: Prompts with too much detail tend to stimulate incomplete retrievals.

• When prompts produce inconsistent answers, what happens to the memories which aren’t retrieved? #card

  • They’re inhibited.

• How often do spaced repetition systems expect you to be able to answer a given prompt in review sessions? 间隔重复系统预期你在复习环节中多久能回答出一个给定的提示？ #card

  • Almost always.

• How does question scope impact spaced repetition scheduler efficiency? 问题范围如何影响间隔重复调度器的效率？ #card

  • Tightly-scoped prompts allow easy and difficult elements to be scheduled at different rates.

  • 范围明确的提示使得简单和困难元素能够以不同节奏安排进度。

• Why is it important that you can’t infer a prompt’s answer from the question? #card

  • Retrieval practice depends on recalling the answer from memory.

• 文章目的 So we must learn two skills to write effective retrieval practice prompts:

  • how to characterize exactly what knowledge we’ll reinforce, 准确描述要学习的知识

  • and how to ask questions which reinforce that knowledge. 增强知识

• 用挖空来练习回顾列表

  • If a focused prompt feels intractable, what text might you add to the question (parenthetical)? :-> A cue.

  • What must a prompt’s cue not do? #card

    • Allow you to infer the answer without recalling it.

  • 可以给每一个空一些提示

• [[elaborative encoding]]: information easier to recall if you can connect it to other memories
  Interpretation; the “more than you think” rule of thumb

• Writing good prompts often involves interpretation : extracting information which isn’t explicitly written.

• Prompt-writing rule of thumb: how many prompts should you write? #card

  • More than feels natural. 比自然感觉更多

• What cognitive factor does the appropriate scale of a ‘focused’ prompt depend on? #card

  • The scale of the concepts you’ve internalized (aka ‘chunk size’)

Procedural   knowledge 程序化知识

• Simple procedures can be mechanically translated into a single set of prompts by treating the steps like a list .

• To emphasize discrete details of procedures in prompts, what should you identify? 强调提示中程序的具体细节 #card

  • Keywords (important verbs, conditions, adjectives, adverbs, subjects, objects)

• Procedures can often be broken down into keywords like this.

  • What are the important verbs,

  • and when should you move between them?

  • What are the key adjectives, adverbs, subjects, objects?

What stock is and why it matters: conceptual knowledge

• (This guide’s) five lenses for writing conceptual prompts: #card

  • attributes and tendencies, similarities and differences, parts and wholes, causes and effects, significance and implications.

• To write prompts about a concept’s attributes and tendencies, what should you identify about its instances? #card

  • What’s always / sometimes / never true.

• To write conceptual prompts using the ‘parts and wholes’ lens, what kind of diagram is helpful to visualize? #card

  • A Venn diagram.

• Write a prompt about types of shapes using the “similarities and differences” lens. (try to create a new one; change the concept if needed) #card

  • Q. How is a parallelogram like a square? / A. All four sides parallel

• To write prompts about a concept’s significance and implications , ask: why does that concept matter?

  • Significance and implications: write prompts which make the concept personally meaningful.
    Open lists

• [[generation effect]] you remember information better when you generated it yourself.

• What’s the difference between an open list and a closed list? #card

  • Closed lists have a specific set of members;

  • open lists can grow over time.

• Digital bookmarking metaphor for open lists :-> tags

• What’s the common problem with writing only a ‘give an example’-type prompt for an open list? #card

  • You’ll usually end up remembering only one or two examples.

• What distinguishes the task of a ‘creative prompt’ from that of a retrieval prompt? #card

  • You’re asked to give a new answer each time, not answer from memory.

• Creative prompts are only possible when you’re able to generate many different responses.

• What knowledge does a creative prompt reinforce through retrieval practice? #card

  • Whatever you consistently use when generating new answers.

Salience prompts and the [[Baader-Meinhof phenomenon]] 显著性提示

• new ideas are particularly salient, so we notice them more readily.

• Selective attention: we’re more likely to notice occurrences of something when it’s highly salient 显著的，突出的 .

• Without intervention, how does salience tend to change over time? 如果不进行干预，显著性会如何随时间变化 :-> Fades

• To integrate new ideas into your life, it’s helpful to keep them salient until when? #card

  • You can use them or connect them to something meaningful in your experience.

• [[Baader-Meinhof phenomenon]]: when you hear something for the first time then suddenly notice it everywhere

• How might spaced repetition prompts relate to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? 间隔重复提示如何与巴德尔-迈因霍夫现象相关？ #card

  • Prompts can extend that phenomenon by keeping ideas salient over time.

  • 提示可以通过在一段时间内保持想法的显著性来延续这一现象。

• When possible, phrase salience prompts around contexts where those ideas might be meaningful in your life.
  Writing prompts, in practice

• What simplifying goal can you adopt to make prompt-writing feel less onerous while reading? #card

  • Aim to write a small number of prompts on each pass through the text.

• When writing prompts about ideas in a challenging text, which details does Andy suggest you initially focus on? #card

  • Basic details you can build on.

• If you notice a feeling of completionism when writing prompts about a text, remind yourself that you can always write more prompts later.

• Why might you be able to write better prompts from a text when you return to it later? (a trigger) #card

  • Something meaningful might have motivated your return (a new connection, a problem, a gap)

• Prompt-writing litmus tests: what’s a ‘false positive’? #card

  • You can produce the answer, but you don’t know the information you intend to know.

• What false positive can arise when a prompt’s question includes unusual words or cues? #card

  • Pattern matching (knowing the answer by the shape of the question, without thinking about the words)

• What should you do with binary prompts? (which ask yes/no or this/that) #card

  • Rephrase them as more open-ended prompts.

• What prompt-writing problem is the most common cause of false negatives? #card

  • Not including enough context.

• Retrieval practice prompts must unambiguously exclude alternative correct answers.
  Revising   prompts over time

• What does Andy believe the most important thing to “optimize” in spaced repetition practice is? #card

  • Your emotional connection to review sessions and their contents.

  • 您与复习课程及其内容的情感联系。