There's a lot to like in this interview and I certainly think Barbara Oakley has a handle on the subject. At times, though, I find it hard to tease out what she means when she blends cognitive psychology and neuroscience. The conversation flows in and out of metaphors quite smoothly (not a bad thing!) When she says, for example, "Your working memory can reach in and gather sets of neural links, holding them as you're manipulating information to solve a problem," this can't be a literal description, but it's not clear what she means. Still, the distinction she draws between declarative and procedural knowledge is quite useful, as is the concept of "drill and chill", and as is the declaration that "a little effort to improve students' abilities to learn has a significant impact."
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