What learning models do you use?

[That Guy with ADHD]

I’m not one to read a book to gain knowledge.  I have a problem reading.  I learn best by talking about something and seeing it in action.  I realy enjoyed the labs I did in physics and chemistry class.  The key for me is understanding the principles of how something works.  If you understand the principles you can forget things and figure them out again later on.  It may not be as fast as just memorizing a formula for some but my memory is like swiss cheese at the best of times.  I can’t cram stuff in my brain and spit them out with any degree of sucess (although for some inexplicable reason I can still tell you where your Olecranon Process is after taking it in an anatomy class over 30 years ago).

What is your most effective method of learning?

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[dizzytuber]

I like to learn by doing.  But I have also disciplined myself to know to research what it is I want to learn, then (if possible) do it.  Since I am not Rockefeller, I can’t just buy virgin materials like wood, plastic, or metal, so I use the demi-engineer’s favorite material, cardboard.

I rarely am able to build anything fast, but anytime I have a failure, the only money I lose is usually under 5 bucks.  August of 2015, I was part of an engineering contest to come up with a new type of caulking gun dispensing tip.  I came in 2nd out of 500+ entries, with no college degree.  I was complimented for my presentation and for the pics of my concept model I built out of cardboard.

I used this way of learning to learn how to cook, amateur rocketry, building gliders, building watercraft, and business practice.

Cooking, I do alright, nothing to brag about, but nothing to be ashamed of either.  I prefer to just cook for myself or visiting friends (dates).

Amateur Rocketry, the appeal of being the first person to shoot a sugar rocket to space was too great to pass up in 2009.  I’m still learning new things every day, and now have a CAD program to design my rockets (and taught myself to use it on my own as well).

Gliders, this came about in 2011, when I was asked to consider joining the Red Bull Flugtag in California.  I didn’t just want to win a prize, I wanted a record breaking glider to fly off their ramp.  But my impulsiveness destroyed my opportunity.  This also led to a human powered aircraft design in 2013, but nothing was ever started due to lack of space to build even a scaled model.

Watercraft, I seem to have a knack for making small boats, catamarans, and pontoon boats.  I even had a brief time I built pontoon boats for a living.  I even passed a federal inspection from the US Coast Guard.

In closing, I have 5 ideas I want to patent, then sell them.  1 is ready to be submitted as soon as I can afford the payment, 3 have concept models made, but no drawings or literature yet, and 1 that is yet to be worked on.

PS:  Is there anyway to edit posts here, after you publish one?  Thanks.

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[That Guy with ADHD]

I have to admit that I learn best when I use a hands on approach too.  I’m impressed with your broad skill set and admittedly a bit jealous.  I enjoy drafting designs for things even though I know I will never build them (like kayaks, catamarans, travel trailers, active and passive solar collectors, and wind turbines, to name a few).  With my ADHD, however, I rarely have the ability to keep focused on a project long enough to see it through.  I have a garage full of bits and pieces of projects that I started over 30 years ago and have just gotten around to parting with them.  If I resign myself to just the engineering and design work I don’t have to commit any real capital (unless I get impulsive and bring home another crappy travel trailer to rebuild, or in reality have it sit untouched on my driveway for months until I finally sell it).  I am in the process of decluttering to reduce my many points of distraction so if anyone needs a Cello (my 2005 project), an ocilloscope (a 1995 project), or an Arduino (a 2015 project) you know where to find me! 😀

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[dizzytuber]

Hey I have an Adruino as well.  An UNO I believe, but it’s in storage at the moment.

Thanks for the compliment.  The amount of energy it takes to focus on one thing, when you really want to go off on tangent ideas, is immense.  Sometimes I end up taking a nap, feeling as if I just put in an 8 hour day of work, for 1 hour of actual work!  So I am wondering if that’s attributed to ADHD or not.

Since I’m a Red Green fan, I would tell people the time it took to build something, by saying how many episodes I watched on the Youtube channel.  My longest project took 116 episodes of the RG Show, but I would have to admit that I did waste too much time watching the shows rather than actually working.  lol   Or I’d see something Red would invent, that I felt compelled to make myself.

For example, the Canooler.  A canoe made from old coolers.   Only I would use my sawzall to cut the coolers into panels, use my plastic welder to fabricate a canoe, then cover the welds with duct tape, and take it out to my local lake to see how many looks I get.  I thought it’d be a hoot.  Sadly, I didn’t find ANY old or broken coolers in the free section of Craigslist, and the highways had nothing.  But boy did I try to make it happen back in 2014.  lol

PS:  Did you ever get my PM?  It’s not urgent, but I wasn’t sure if you had seen it or not.

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[That Guy with ADHD]

Hi DT!

I did get your message but had errors when I tried to reply to it.

I think they could call ADHD “Tangent Disorder” because for me my brain peels off in so many directions that I can’t pick one to focus on.  The more tangents the more hyper I get.

As fas as learning goes I need to understand something before I can claim to know it.  In school they used to give us formulas and tell us which numbers to plug to get the result you want.  I hated that because I had no idea why the formula worked, just that it did.  When I have the understanding of a concept I can apply it, anywhere.

Regards

Richard (aka That Guy with ADD)

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[dizzytuber]

Hey I had an idea this morning, to maybe help you?  You said previously that you draft things up on CAD but never finish them.  Well here’s an idea.  Let’s start small.

Find some cardboard, have a hot glue gun, a ruler, a pencil, and a utility knife to cut the cardboard.

Now I’ll guide you to make a very simple house.

Cut out a square with 8 inch sides.  This is your floor.

Now cut out two pieces measuring, 8 inches long and 6 inches tall.

Glue those in parallel onto the floor.

Now draw out two pieces measuring 8 inches (minus the thickness of the two walls together) long, by 6 inches tall like the walls.  Now, find the center for the top and bottom lines, and draw a line from the bottom and 3 inches above the top line.

Now simply use your ruler to draw out the triangle, using that centerline.

Cut the two pieces out, and glue them to the floor and other walls, on the inside seam.  You can use painter’s tape to hold the walls together, so gluing is more easy.

Almost done!

Before you begin, turn the cardboard so the corrugation is up and down, facing you.  If you did this right, the corrugation should look like this:  /\/\/\/\/\

Now draw out a rectangle that measures 9 inches by 17 inches.  Find the center, and draw out the centerline.   You can use your ruler (or the blunt side of a butter knife) and press along the centerline to make a crease,  if you break the paper it’s ok.

Now cut out the rectangle, and fold it on the crease as even as you can.

Center the roof onto the walls, and glue the roof on.

Viola!  You made a house.

I realize this sounds easy, and great for kids, but it also allows you to take the next step, take a deep breath, and now make the house again, but with windows and doors.

After that, just use your imagination to focus on what one thing could be added next, then do it.

Hope this helps, and hey, it’s a cheap exercise.  🙂

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