How do you develop inquisitiveness?

Hey! How do you develop inquisitiveness? Can you learn to be inquisitive?
Yes, of course.
In fact, if you ask your parents, they will tell you that you were actually very inquisitive when you were a small child. You asked so many questions to your parents, sometimes irritating, sometimes even embarrassing. Then slowly and steadily you lost out; lost a powerful tool of learning. Not your fault. Adults around you wanted you ‘to behave’ and not ask ‘unnecessary questions’. Good child as you are, you learnt to behave; but to the detriment of your development interest.

Your inquisitiveness is not dead. It has only gone to sleep. You have to wake it up and welcome it. You have to only bring that child-like quality back. Can you do that?

Just as elders trained you not to be inquisitive, you can train yourself to be inquisitive. And the technique is simple.

Find missing information

When you read a chapter in your textbook, try and identify the missing information. Identify what more information, facts and interpretations could have been there. I wrote in my previous posting about Latitude-Longitude. There are large number of missing information in the book. For example, what is the distance in miles or kilometers between Equator and Tropic of Cancer? Is the distance between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer same as that between Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, and so on? Why should you, on earth, learn latitude and longitude at all? All those who did not go to the school, managed their lives without knowing these imaginary lines? Why should these lines continue to be imaginary; why not the countries mark these lines like now extinct Berlin Wall or Chinese Wall or something else?

Read every paragraph carefully; then reflect what’s missing; or ask yourself, “can I have some more information? Can I have some different interpretation?”

Ask, what if?

My favourite ‘What if’ is from history. What would be the history of Mughal Dynasty in India if Akbar was not born at all? What would have happened to Indian Freedom Movement if Advocate Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would have ‘minded his own business’ and stick to his profession? What would happen if you throw a piece of raw sodium into water? What would happen if UN decides to name the longitudes passing through either Beijing or New Delhi, the capitals of two most powerful countries in the future, as Prime Meridian and not the one passing through Greenwich?

Create as many ‘what if’s as you can in whatever subject and whatever topic you read. It must be your habit. It does not matter whether you can find the answer. Remember, being wild in your question is “GOOD”, not being practical.

Ask why?

When you throw a piece of sodium in water, whatever happens, why does it happen? Why did Gandhiji withdrew his movements at the nick of time? Why should one read history? Why should you learn algebra, unless you want to be a mathematician? And so on.

Ask, How many ways … ?

Ask yourself, how many ways can I use a book? How many ways can I write with a pen? How many ways can I move my body from one place to another? How many ways can I answer a question? How many ways can I solve a theorem in Geometry? How many ways can I express my happiness? How many ways can I write this paragraph? How many ways can the latitudes and longitudes be actually drawn on the earth? Remember, countries do draw their boundaries.

You can add more.

Developing inquisitiveness is not one-shot affair. It needs continuous practise. Keep doing in every subject, every chapter. Keep practising outside the books – at home, in the playground, in social groups and among pals. Make it a habit.

Please remember, INQUISITIVENESS is a celebrated habit. That erudite scholars keep searching and reading new books is because of their inquisitiveness; scientists spend hours and days and years together in research labs because of their inquisitiveness, painters and artists keep experimenting with new forms because of their inquisitiveness. Active INQUISITIVENESS makes one a great learner.

Explore and Research

Once you have generated questions, you need to find answers. You have to identify the sources for answer. These sources are
v Human beings,
v Printed materials,
v Electronic media.
v Add, any other

Resourceful human beings are teachers, parents, elder siblings, friends, and neighbours. Printed materials can be your own textbook, supplementary material, textbooks of higher grades, reference books, etc.
Electronic media resources are websites, Wikis, Blogs, You tube, Teacher Tube, e-mails, chats, etc.

Honestly, when I got stuck with the question about the distance between equator and Tropic of Capricorn, I found the answer in Youtube. Similarly, reference books are a great resource to satisfy your inquisitiveness. Of course, teachers, knowledgeable parents and neighbours are great resources; particularly resourceful are the bright senior students.

Your net target is to discover the knowledge. While you try and discover, do not accept any one source for granted. Check the same information from more than one source, compare and then decide. Your discovery, then, becomes more dependable.