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Kia ora, I'm Jessie! I'm excited to be part of the Aihe intake for Dev Academy in 2022.
I'm based in Christchurch and live with three cats, two bunnies and one husband!
You can read more about me and my learning journey in my blog posts and the About page.
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Problem-solving is a skill that is required for everyone throughout life, at all ages and stages. Little babies have to problem solve how to get their parent's attention and toddlers learn how to navigate around obstacles when learning to walk. Children have to problem-solve to learn their times tables - and students learning JavaScript are no exception!
Adapting your problem-solving techniques based on the problem you are facing is key. You can't apply the same problem-solving steps you used for replacing a damaged curtain rail to dealing with some confusing code.
So! Let's look back at some problems from the past week I had when learning JavaScript. We'll start with the hardest one - something I was really stuck on.
One of the challenges this week was the capitalize one. This used the .map() built-in method to change every word in a sentence to have a capital letter. Sounds easy in theory, right?
I struggled.
The syntax...
The order...
The methods...
A big benefit of understanding neuroplasticity is gaining the knowledge that repetition and exposure to a concept that makes a person learn something - not an innate, fixed level of intelligence.
This gives hope that you can become competent (or even great!) at something - but that it’s normal to not understand it at the beginning.
For a long time I’ve had an issue with the phrase “you’re so talented” - I think it’s detrimental. While we have a degree of built-in dispositions and interests, people who excel in areas almost exclusively got there through repetition and hard work, not an accidental “wow I’m great at this” discovery. Dismissing years of dedication as an innate talent does the person who put in all that work a disservice and downplays all the work taken to get there.
In saying that, it is almost always said as a compliment, not insult… but it’s something that makes me twitch!
On a personal level, I would like to spend more time going back over things I learned in previous weeks, or at least taking part in challenges that use this information. I find it’s hard to make things “stick” sometimes. If I think about those little information highways that need strengthening, it helps motivate me to do so.
In general, to improve your neuroplasticity, there are some tried and true steps:
→ It should be something you’re motivated to learn (I am very unmotivated to learn how to play Rugby, for example, so I wouldn’t do that).
Over time your brain will change to develop and strengthen pathways built from learning this skill. Our current learning is a good example of this, as is learning a language, starting an exercise program or a hobby.