Working the Chain Gang

Ever had trouble learning a routine that has many steps? Ever considered learning it in steps by learning the last step first? Sounds kind of freaky doesn't it, yet...

Psychologists have studied various techniques for teaching complex tasks to developmentally disabled persons who otherwise have trouble learning. They see the steps in a task as a chain of actions with stimulus-response links. What they try to achieve is to make a given action step or its result a stimulus to the next action in the chain.

There are three ways of teaching a chain. The first is probably the most intuitive, and the one usually defaulted to by persons who are not developmentally disabled. This method is called Total Task Presentation. The learner attempts to do all the steps in sequence from beginning to end until the task is mastered.

The second method is Forward Chaining, in which the learner masters the first step completely, then proceeds to the second step, and so on. In this way, the sequence of steps is built up gradually from first to last as each step is mastered.

The final method is Backward Chaining, in which the chain is still divided into simple steps, but the last step is learnt first. Once mastered, the second to last step is taught. This allows the student to automatically flow onto the end of the task, using the end state of the second to last state as the stimulus for the response of the last step. The routine is progressively built up from last to first, so that by the time the first step is being mastered, all the other steps should follow automatically as a series of linked stimulus-response actions.

Now, I am not advocating that any particular method of learning by chains should be used. What I'm suggesting is that if you are stuck on learning a magic sequence, trying a different method of chaining may help you to make progress. It pays to understand not just what you wish to accomplish, but the different methods by which you might accomplish it.

Be seeing you,
Escherwolf.

I'm Back ....

Apologies for my long absence - I was tied up completing a Uni Thesis, and it basically devoured my life. Now it is done and past, and I am just getting myself restarted after a short period of post thesis collapse.

Anyway, for better or worse, I'm back to the blog. I've been enjoying catching up on my reading (I'm about 420 pages into Benson by Starlight, a superb book that I will probably discuss in some future blog, and I have The Ostrich Factor waiting on the coffee table for my attention).

My intention is to post at least once a week, and also to add a few things to the blog, like RSS feeds and perhaps some photos.

Watch this space - it's not dead yet.