Meta-learning is a branch of

metacognition Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word '' meta'', meaning "beyond", or "on top of".Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (1994). ''Metacognition: knowi ...

concerned with learning about one's own learning and learning processes. The term comes from the

meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

prefix's modern meaning of an abstract

recursion Recursion (adjective: ''recursive'') occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics ...

, or "X about X", similar to its use in

metaknowledge Meta-knowledge or metaknowledge is knowledge about knowledge. Some authors divide meta-knowledge into orders: * ''zero order meta-knowledge'' is knowledge whose domain is not knowledge (and hence zero order meta-knowledge is not meta-knowledge ''p ...

metamemory Metamemory or Socratic awareness, a type of metacognition, is both the introspective knowledge of one's own memory capabilities (and strategies that can aid memory) and the processes involved in memory self-monitoring. This self-awareness of memor ...

, and

meta-emotion Meta-emotion is "an organized and structured set of emotions and cognitions about the emotions, both one's own emotions and the emotions of others". This broad definition of meta-emotion sparked psychologists' interest in the topic, particularly reg ...

. dec

Meta learning model for teams and relationships

Marcial Losada Marcial Losada (1939–2020) was a Chilean psychologist, consultant, and former director of the Center for Advanced Research (CFAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is known for his work in academia and business focusing on the development of "high pe ...

and other researchers have attempted to create a meta learning model to analyze teams and relationships.(Losada, 1999; Losada & Heaphy, 2004; Fredrickson & Losada, 2005) A 2013 paper provided a strong critiqueBrown, N. J. L., Sokal, A. D., & Friedman, H. L. (2013)
The Complex Dynamics of Wishful Thinking: The Critical Positivity Ratio
American Psychologist. Electronic publication ahead of print. of this attempt, arguing that it was based on misapplication of complex mathematical modelling. This led to its abandonment by at least one former proponent.Fredrickson, B. L. (2013
Updated thinking on positivity ratios.
American Psychologist. Electronic publication ahead of print. The meta learning model proposed by Losada is identical to the

Lorenz system The Lorenz system is a system of ordinary differential equations first studied by mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz. It is notable for having chaotic solutions for certain parameter values and initial conditions. In particular, the Lo ...

, which was originally proposed as a simplified mathematical model for

atmospheric convection Atmospheric convection is the result of a parcel-environment instability, or temperature difference layer in the atmosphere. Different lapse rates within dry and moist air masses lead to instability. Mixing of air during the day which expands the ...

. It comprises one control parameter and three

state variables A state variable is one of the set of variables that are used to describe the mathematical "state" of a dynamical system. Intuitively, the state of a system describes enough about the system to determine its future behaviour in the absence of a ...

, which in this case have been mapped to "connectivity", "inquiry-advocacy", "positivity-negativity", and "other-self" (external-internal focus) respectively. The state variables are linked by a set of nonlinear

differential equations In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, an ...

. This has been criticized as a poorly defined, poorly justified, and invalid application of differential equations. Losada and colleagues claim to have arrived at the meta learning model from thousands of

time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Exa ...

data generated at two human interaction laboratories in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, and

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, although the details of the collection of this data, and the connection between the time series data and the model is unclear. These time series portrayed the interaction dynamics of business teams doing typical business tasks such as

strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the st ...

. These teams were classified into three performance categories: high, medium and low. Performance was evaluated by the profitability of the teams, the level of satisfaction of their clients, and 360-degree evaluations. One proposed result of this theory is that there is a ratio of positivity-to-negativity of at least 2.9 (called the

Losada line The critical positivity ratio (also known as the "Losada ratio" or the "Losada line") is a largely discredited concept in positive psychology positing an exact ratio of positive to negative emotions which distinguishes "flourishing" people from "l ...

), which separates high from low performance teams as well as flourishing from languishing in individuals and relationships.(Fredrickson & Losada, 2005; Waugh & Fredrickson, 2006; Fredrickson, 2009) Brown and colleagues pointed out that even if the proposed meta-learning model were valid, this ratio results from a completely arbitrary choice of model parameters carried over from the literature on modeling atmospheric convection by Lorenz and others, without any justification.

Ideas for implementation and goals

Meta learning can also be a very effective tool to assist students in becoming independently self-reflective. Students will require feedback in order to reflect on their learning, strengths, and weaknesses. Meta learning tasks will help students be more proactive and effective learners by focusing on developing self-awareness. Meta learning tasks would provide students with the opportunity to better understand their thinking processes in order to devise custom learning strategies. The goal is to find a set of parameters that work well across different tasks so that learners start with a bias that allows them to perform well despite receiving only a small amount of task-specific data.

Tim Ferriss's DiSSS System

Tim Ferriss created a four stem system which he argues can be used to learn anything. : a. Deconstruction: Breaking down a skill, what are the bare minimum learnable components? : b. Selection: Which 20% of these components should be focused on to give 80% of the desired outcomes? : c. Sequencing: In what order should these units be learned to maximize outcomes and avoid failure? : d. Stakes: What stakes can be created to push past difficulties and guarantee completion of learning?

References

External links

Summary of meta learning research by Dr. LosadaComment from Losada about executives implementing the modelArticle about meta learning from Losada (part 1)Article about meta learning from Losada (part 2)Comment from Losada about negativity in the workplace
Business models Educational psychology Group processes Learning Positive psychology

Meta learning model for teams and relationships

Ideas for implementation and goals

Tim Ferriss's DiSSS System

See also

References

Further reading

External links