Sublime

For a summary of the research on particular types of experts, see Andre Didierjean and Gobet Fernand, “Sherlock Holmes—An Expert’s View of Expertise,” British Journal of Psychology 99 (2008): 109.

Thayer method, developed almost two hundred years ago by an early superintendent of the academy named Sylvanus Thayer. The method provides very specific learning objectives for every course, puts the responsibility for meeting those objectives on the student, and incorporates quizzing and recitation in every class meeting.

Learning is at least a three-step process:

Most important is to make frequent use of testing and retrieval practice to verify what you really do know versus what you think you know.

One of the best habits a learner can instill in herself is regular self-quizzing to recalibrate her understanding of what she does and does not know.

One form of reflection that is gaining currency in classroom settings is called “write to learn.”

Passive reading and rereading. You need to practice active recall, not just let your eyes pass over the same material.

This is the scientific method at its most basic. Holmes goes a step further. He applies the same principle to human beings: a Holmesian disciple will, “on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties

Remember the basics of memory retrieval