4-5: The Fourth Tenet

How do you know if you've learned a concept? How do you know if you've internalized a skill? In some cases, there are practical tests that demonstrate understanding: can you write a program in a given language; can you change the oil on your car; can you solve the differential equation?

For more complex learning objectives, there's one tried and true test: explaining the concepts to someone else. The act of explanation—putting your understanding into words—demonstrates complete understanding. Giving ideas the shape of language forces them into a cohesive order. There's a beginning, middle, and end. That brings us to our final Tenet.

Tenet 4: All knowledge is story

Writing is pretty new technology—from an evolutionary perspective. Spoken language has been around for tens of thousands of years. Our brains have evolved to encode information in a way that allows both retrieval and sharing. That "data format," is narrative. You simply cannot explain an idea to someone else without telling a story of one kind or another. And the more you explain something—the more you retell the story—the more you remember the telling of it, constantly reinforcing the memory. That's why, ironically, teaching is such an effective way to learn.

Self Assessment Through Story

This characteristic of knowledge also gives us the perfect mechanism for testing understanding. If you can fully explain a concept to someone else, whether in writing or speech, you can be reasonably certain you have grasped it. As you explain, that is to say, tell the story, you may discover gaps in your understanding. That's because the act of converting thought to language forces an order and flow to ideas; it requires connections between them. How does one idea relate to another? How exactly does that process work? These important story details must be available to you. If at any point, you discover you're not quite sure how two parts connect, congratulations! You've discovered a new opportunity for learning.

Good teachers build assessments for their students that prompt them to tell small parts of a big story as they progress through a subject. As a self-directed learner, that responsibility falls on your shoulders. Formative assessment is a way to confirm that you're grasping material as you go, so that you don't get too lost. These assessments should take place frequently, ideally after each new concept or skill is explored/practiced.

So we have two big facts: narration is how we can assess ourselves; and frequent assessment is important. Putting these together, it's clear that a learning journal of some sort is what we're really after here.

That might sound like a lot of writing, but it doesn't have to be. In fact, it doesn't have to be any writing at all. Your learning journal could be a TikTok account if you wanted (actually that might be awesome).

But if you do want to write it out, once again Obsidian would be an excellent tool for doing so. So would a paper notebook, of course. Moleskine and Field Notes are nice options.