I read two nice articles this week: “Ten Simple Rules for Effective Computational Research” and “Seven Principles of Learning Better From Cognitive Science”.

In “Ten Simple Rules for Effective Computational Research”, Osborne, Bernabeu, Bruna, Calderhead, Cooper, Dalchau, Dunn, Fletcher, Freeman, Groen, Knapp, McInerny, Mirams, Pitt-Francis, Sengupta, Wright, Yates, Gavaghan, Emmott and Deane wrote up these guidelines for algorithm research:

1. Look Before You Leap
2. Develop a Prototype First
3. Make Your Code Understandable to Others (and Yourself)
4. Don’t Underestimate the Complexity of Your Task
5. Understand the Mathematical, Numerical, and Computational Methods Underpinning Your Work
6. Use Pictures: They Really Are Worth a Thousand Words
7. Version Control Everything
8. Test Everything
9. Share Everything
10. Keep Going!

Read the full PLOS 5 page article by clicking here!

Scott Young recently returned from a year abroad and wrote Up “Seven Principles of Learning Better From Cognitive Science” which is a review/summary of the book “Why Don’t Students Like School?” by Daniel Willingham. Here are the 7 Principles:

1. Factual knowledge precedes skill.
2. Memory is the residue of thought.
3. We understand new things in the context of what we already know.
4. Proficiency requires practice.
5. Cognition is fundamentally different early and late in training.
6. People are more alike than different in how we learn.
7. Intelligence can be changed through sustained hard work.

Read the full 5 page article by clicking here! Get the great $10 book here.