Reading And Learning Skills

Children who develop foundational skills early in life go on to earn more in the workforce. The latest report from Lee Crawfurd at the Center for Global Development shares compelling evidence about why #FoundationalLearning should be at the center of education and development policies in low- and middle-income countries. Analyses of national surveys in Indonesia show that improving foundational skills in literacy and numeracy led to large economic payoffs. Students who had a stronger grasp of core reading and math skills had:  1️⃣ 11% higher earnings in adulthood   2️⃣ Children later in adulthood – indicating a potential link between early learning and reproductive choices  3️⃣ Higher rates of school completion – contributing to increased job earnings  The message is clear: investing in foundational skills delivers real economic returns, and does it cost-effectively.  Read more: https://lnkd.in/d8ySdA72   

New Center for Global Development Paper on the benefits of foundational literacy and numeracy. It might seem obvious that kids who do well in primary school earn more as adults, but it hasn't actually been directly shown that this is true in low- or lower-middle-income countries. And the magnitude matters - how much more do they earn and so how much investment can we justify? I use the Indonesia Family Life Survey which is near-unique for lower-income countries in both testing children of primary school age and then interviewing them 17 years later. Children who score better in reading and maths (after accounting for their family background) go on to earn roughly 11 percent more as adults. The magnitude of these returns implies a large positive benefit-cost ratio for investments in foundational skills. For policymakers and practitioners in education, these findings provide a strong economic rationale for prioritizing foundational literacy and numeracy interventions. But aid donors are doing the opposite. The UN has projected that global aid for education will fall by a quarter between 2023 and 2027, with an even steeper decline expected for schools. The US and UK—until recently the largest bilateral donors for basic education—are both expected to almost entirely cut that spending. In the UK, overall aid is set to fall by 40 percent, and the development minister has signaled that aid for education will be cut by even more. Meanwhile, donors like Japan, who are increasing their overall aid budgets, spend far more on university scholarships—either for foreign students in Japan or for students in poorer countries—than on helping young children in those countries access a basic education. The size of these estimated returns suggests that improving foundational learning yields such significant economic benefits that even major increases in investment—five or ten times current levels—could still represent excellent value for money. At a time when global support for basic education is falling, that’s a message policymakers can’t afford to ignore. Here's the full paper: https://lnkd.in/eh7rGPVQ And blog: https://lnkd.in/eqqZittR

As a young VC, I find myself diving into numerous books, each promising to offer a fresh perspective or insight. Yet, the challenge lies in truly absorbing and retaining the valuable lessons they contain. This changed when I discovered Shane Parrish’s Blank Sheet Method.....a straightforward, yet powerful approach that transformed my learning process. 🔹 Step 1: Set the Stage - Before starting any book, grab a blank sheet of paper. - On this sheet, outline what you already know about the topic. 🔹Step 2: Track Your Progress - At the end of each reading session, spend a few minutes updating your mind map using a different color to highlight new insights. 🔹 Step 3: Review and Reinforce - Before picking up the book again, go through your mind map to refresh your memory. - This review process helps solidify your grasp on what you’ve read and primes your brain to link upcoming ideas with what you already know. 🔹 Step 4: Build a Knowledge Vault - Keep these annotated sheets organized in a binder for easy access. - Regularly review them to reinforce your learning and connect concepts across various books and subjects. Why This Method Works Wonders: - Strengthens memory by recalling and building upon what you know. - Identifies missing pieces and clears up misconceptions. - Helps in connecting themes across disciplines - Stimulates unique thinking and insights - Periodic review solidifies information With each book, I find that my understanding grows not just in depth but in scope, creating a network of knowledge that extends far beyond a single subject. Have you tried using this or any other method for better retention? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you! #ReadingWisdom #LearningMethods #VentureLife #KnowledgeRetention

Most people think reading is about consuming information. It isn’t. Reading is an act of reconstruction. A good reader is not someone who finishes 100 books a year. A good reader is someone whose nervous system has been altered by a paragraph. “How to Remember Everything You Read” is interesting because beneath the productivity aesthetics and note-taking heuristics, it reveals something deeper: Memory is not storage, it's attention plus meaning. And modern life is almost perfectly engineered to destroy both. We skim. We screenshot. We highlight entire pages like overenthusiastic forensic investigators. We confuse exposure with understanding. The brain, meanwhile, is sitting there like: “Ma’am… are we processing this or just collecting PDFs like Pokémon cards?” The most intellectually dangerous habit today is passive reading. Eyes move. Pages turn. Dopamine fires. Nothing stays. But active reading changes the thought itself. When you pause to paraphrase an idea in your own words, your brain is forced to metabolize it. When you argue with the author in the margins, you stop being an audience and become a participant. When you revisit a difficult paragraph instead of fleeing from it, comprehension deepens into cognition. That’s why "Mortimer Adler" once argued that marking a book is not an act of possession; it is an act of thinking. Medicine teaches this brutally well. Every medical student has experienced the existential horror of reading the same page on coagulation pathways six times only to remember exactly one thing: “Factor XII exists for reasons known only to God and examiners.” Because memorization without conceptual encoding collapses under cognitive load. The truly memorable things are emotionally or intellectually charged: -a startling clinical observation -a difficult patient interaction -a sentence that rearranges your worldview -an idea that irritates you enough to wrestle with it for days Curiosity is the real memory technique. Notion templates won’t save you if your mind never slowed down enough to wonder. And maybe that’s the larger cultural issue now. We live in an era obsessed with information acquisition but increasingly intolerant of intellectual stillness. Deep reading requires slowness; almost a kind of rebellion against algorithmic life. Silence. Attention. Margin notes. Re-reading. Sitting with confusion long enough for meaning to emerge. Old-school habits. Ancient, even. But they built generations of thinkers before “content consumption” became a personality trait. Read less if needed. But read like your mind is in conversation with another mind across time. That is where memory begins. © Dr. Sneha Patil, MBBS MD

🧠 “I’m struggling to keep up with all these written reports.” “You just need to try harder and stay more organised.” 🗣️ “I understand the ideas best when I can talk them through.” “We all have to work the same way, that’s how it is here.” Sound familiar? For many people with dyslexia, challenges with reading, writing, and processing information aren’t about laziness or lack of effort, they’re about a different cognitive style. And when that’s misunderstood, it can lead to stress, low confidence, or being wrongly labelled as underperforming. What the research tells us: • Dyslexia affects how the brain processes language and symbols, not intelligence. • Verbal reasoning, creativity, and problem-solving are often strengths. • With the right adjustments (like text-to-speech software, visual aids, or extra time), people with dyslexia can thrive. If we value diversity, we must also value cognitive diversity, including different ways of working and communicating. Let’s stop asking people to “just do it like everyone else.” Let’s start designing workplaces where everyone can succeed. What simple changes have helped you or your colleagues with dyslexia at work? #Neurodiversity #DyslexiaAwareness #InclusiveWorkplace #SupportNotStigma #WorkplaceAccessibility #InclusionInAction #DifferentNotLess

We know we need to be lifelong learners, but first, most of us need to know how to learn how to learn. I spent the past hour using ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude to do deep research on this topic that I've been figuring out for over 25 years. The deep research reports are fantastic and fascinating, but are too long to share here. So, here's the TLDR, which Claude helped me to summarise further: 1️⃣ Test yourself, don't reread. Close the book. Try to recall the main idea, solve the problem, or explain the concept aloud before you check. The act of pulling information out of your head is what strengthens it. This technique, called active recall, is the most consistently powerful method in cognitive science. After a meeting, podcast, or article, take 60 seconds to write down what you remember. Then check. (Ian: Most importantly, especially when learning a new skill like using Gen AI, apply your learning to real work problems. Do not leave it in the realm of theory.) 2️⃣ Spread it out. One hour a day for five days beats five hours in one night. The brain consolidates memory during the gaps - especially during sleep. Cramming works for tomorrow's test and nothing else. Revisit a topic after one day, then three, then a week. (Ian: I spend the first two hours of each day learning new things.) 3️⃣ Mix topics. If you're learning prompt engineering, financial modeling, and negotiation, rotate through all three this week, don't block them month by month. Mixing forces your brain to identify which tool fits which problem, which is what real life actually demands. (Ian: Now you know why I write about so many different topics in the same week. Mainly because I get bored doing the same thing.) 4️⃣ Explain it like you're teaching a 12-year-old. Pick a concept. Write or say an explanation in plain language, no jargon. The places you stumble are your real gaps — go fix them, then try again. This is the Feynman Technique. It works because teaching forces retrieval and exposes blind spots that rereading hides. (Ian: I may look like the expert while I'm teaching, but often, I'm learning from my students too.) 5️⃣ Sleep on it. Sleep is when your brain moves the day's learning into long-term storage. Skip sleep before or after a hard learning day and you've done the work without the encoding. A 90-minute nap is also great. Walks help too — they engage the brain's "diffuse mode," where unexpected connections form. (Ian: I figured this out as a teenager. Every time I study hard, I will feel sleepy and just go take a nap. Make it a norm to sleep at your work desk if you really put in the effort.) Also try this: After learning something, spend 60 seconds writing down what you remember. Each Friday, take 15 minutes to answer three questions: What did I learn this week? Where was I wrong? What will I try differently next week? Pick one skill you actually need (eg. using AI tools at work) and spend 25 focused minutes on it three times a week. Test yourself on it!

How I turned my messy literature review into my most successful publication Some PhD students get stuck reading papers for years, while others create literature reviews that actually get cited by other researchers. I used to read hundreds of articles without any clear plan until I found a step-by-step approach that worked. If you feel overwhelmed by all the reading or aren't sure how to turn it into writing, here's my 7-step plan that can help: 1️⃣ Figure out exactly what you're researching - Write a clear research question that will guide your reading - Identify what's missing in current research that you'll address - Explain why your research matters - Think about who will read your review Timeline: 2-3 weeks | Result: A 2-3 page research plan 2️⃣ Search for relevant papers systematically - Choose which databases to search based on your topic - Make a list of search terms to find all important papers - Decide which papers to include and exclude - Keep track of how you searched so you can explain it later Timeline: 4-6 weeks | Result: A clear search plan 3️⃣ Evaluate the papers you find - Create a simple way to rate how good each study is - Look at how each study was done and note any problems - Organize findings from different papers to see patterns - Identify gaps in existing research Timeline: 6-8 weeks | Result: Notes on all important papers 4️⃣ Connect the ideas from different papers - Group related findings and concepts together - Create a visual map showing how ideas connect - Place your research questions within existing knowledge - Plan how you'll present your arguments Timeline: 4-5 weeks | Result: A chart showing how studies relate 5️⃣ Plan your literature review - Link theories with actual evidence from studies - Group similar evidence to support your main points - Explain where your research fits in - Outline your main arguments in order Timeline: 3-4 weeks | Result: A 5-7 page detailed outline 6️⃣ Write and improve your draft - Write your first draft following your outline - Ask classmates to read it and give feedback - Get input from your supervisor - Polish your final version Timeline: 8-10 weeks | Result: Complete literature review 7️⃣ Share your work with others - Present at conferences - Submit to journals - Discuss at research seminars - Connect with others interested in your topic Timeline: Ongoing | Result: Published work or presentations Which of these steps do you find hardest? #acwri #academia #phd #literaturereview

Reading this visual of some research shared by Elsa Torres, EdD Student, MSc Childhood Youth, FRSA, NPQH broke my heart and validated so many of my own school memories at the same time. These aren’t just statistics - they’re the daily reality for millions of neurodivergent students who are told they’re “not trying hard enough” when the system itself is causing them distress. What strikes me most is how different the pain points are, yet how similarly devastating the impact can be. Those of you who know me well, know I’m both AuADHD and left school at 15. Looking at the below, I get some clarity as to why 😬 For autistic students, it’s often about the environment and social confusion. The fire alarm that wasn’t announced. The group project where no one explains the unspoken social rules. The sensory overwhelm that gets labeled as “behavioral problems.” For ADHD students, it’s frequently about relationships and misunderstanding. The teacher who takes fidgeting as disrespect. The “boring” tasks that feel impossible to focus on. The constant message that if you just “tried harder,” everything would be fine. The part that gets me: Both groups are often incredibly capable, creative, and intelligent. But when the delivery method doesn’t match how their brains work, they’re made to feel like failures instead of recognizing that the system needs adjusting. To educators reading this: Small changes can have massive impact. Visual schedules, movement breaks, clear expectations, and understanding that different doesn’t mean deficient. To parents: Your advocacy matters. Trust your instincts when something isn’t working for your child. To my fellow neurodivergent adults: If school was hard for you, it wasn’t because you weren’t smart enough. The research is clear - the system wasn’t designed for how your brilliant brain works. What would have made the biggest difference in your school experience? #neurodiversity #education #autism #adhd #inclusion #advocacy #research

📚 Understanding Specific Learning Disabilities Not all learning challenges are the same. Some children struggle not because they are not intelligent — but because their brains process information differently. Here are a few common specific learning differences: 🧠 Dyslexia – Affects reading and spelling. Children may read slowly, struggle to decode words, or feel exhausted after reading. It is about language processing, not intelligence. ✍️ Dysgraphia – Affects writing. Handwriting may be slow or uneven, forming letters is difficult, and getting ideas onto paper can be frustrating even when verbal skills are strong. 🔢 Dyscalculia – Affects understanding of numbers and maths concepts. Children may struggle with quantity, number sense, sequences, time, or money. 🏃 Dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder) – Affects motor planning and coordination. Children may appear clumsy, struggle with fine motor tasks, or take longer to learn physical skills. ✨ These are brain-based differences, not laziness or lack of effort. With the right strategies, patience, and accommodations, children can thrive. Understanding these differences helps us provide: ✔️ Appropriate classroom support ✔️ Targeted interventions ✔️ Emotional encouragement ✔️ A more inclusive learning environment Every child learns differently — and every child deserves support that meets them where they are. #LearningDisabilities #Dyslexia #Dysgraphia #Dyscalculia #Dyspraxia #SpecialEducation #Inclusion #Neurodiversity #ChildDevelopment #EarlyIntervention #SEN