Anna has recently added a new model to the course that deals with asking the right questions.
We have discussed this issue several times in other posts, but here I want to describe Anna’s view of the subject as far as she explained it to me.
Priming
After we preread an article and before we actually read it, we want to prime ourselves for reading. Our brain is a filter, and it filters out everything we do not expect to see. By asking ourselves good creative and logical questions we tune our brain to retain more of the material within the article. We generate the context for details and logical structures to build upon and themes for the markers we create.
Proactive approach
By asking ourselves how we can react to the article we become more proactive. What did we learn? How can we reuse the article in our own material? How can we build an argument contradicting the article? How can we build a simulation testing the article? Proactive approach enhances comprehension and fuels motivation.
Connection with the author
Every article is there for a reason. It comes with a specific new message in the voice of the author. What was the purpose of this message? Make us do something? Declare a discovery? Make obscure understandings more close to us? Connect seemingly unconnected events? Overview recent trends? By understanding the main messages we connect with the author on human level, and retain the information better.
Anchoring information for further retrieval
Some markers are used as anchors that allow to retrieve information in the future. Other markers just connect to anchors to generate further details and linking to additional information. The anchor markers are there for a reason: they answer some fundamental question, and we plan to remember both the question and the answer. Think of it as dual coding: if you have both the question and the answer, possibility of you forgetting both is much lower than possibility of forgetting each.
Prediction/correction
When we read the article [after prereading] we predict what the author will say, but then correct it by what is actually said. This is our inner questions and answers session we convey at the end of each section. Using questions as a method of maintaining our inner dialogue [Socratic method] boosts our understanding and our ability to accept the content.
Creative connections
This method is a bit different from the logical thinking we typically use. We allow the strangest, out of the box, unrelated connections to surface by continually asking the same questions and coming up with different solution each time. Example of questions: (1) how can one use this idea? (2) what other thing could provide a similar result? (3) what does this story remind me?
Eventually we may come up with things and connections that surprise us. Many inventions surfaced during bath time or came in sleep. We do not need to wait for this: we can make the ideas come forward by asking crazy questions and not rejecting crazy answers.
