Picture this: you have just watched your online lecture; a new concept was introduced and discussed. Your lecturer has presented this topic many times before, as far as you both know, you now have all of the information needed to answer any question that can come your way. But, that’s just the thing. It isn’t that simple, is it?
You could have watched your lecture attentively, never missing a beat, even taking notes, but when it comes to answering exam questions about the same topic, the dreadful reality of the matter is quickly revealed – you don’t know as much as you or your lecturer thought you did.
A problem as old as knowledge itself: You don’t know what you don’t know.
This begs the question: How, then, do you broaden your scope of understanding with regard to a specific topic or field of study, when you don’t know where your knowledge falls short?
Here are a few tips to do just that in any field of study that you apply them to:
1. Nurture a Genuine Curiosity and Interest in Your Chosen Field of Study
As many people have discovered, it is easier to retain information when it is in some way, shape, or form interesting to them. Therefore, it is best to nurture a genuine interest in your chosen field of study.
To some students, this might sound impossible, but through deliberately seeking out things that you find interesting in your study material, highlighting them, and doing further research in your own time (through a few Google searches, watching YouTube videos, or talking to people) your scope of understanding will naturally broaden.
People are by nature curious, and in today’s day and age, it is very important to keep curiosity alive, as most of us are content with knowing and understanding the absolute minimum that we have to.
Nurturing one’s curiosity is something that needs to be done deliberately. This can be done through expending a bit of mental energy to think about the things that you are studying. The more you think things over, the more questions will bubble to the surface, and the more you will be able to research and increase your knowledge.
2. Get into the Habit of Asking Questions
A very wise man once said that we as humans have lost the art of asking good questions. And he was right.
In our technological age, we have grown so accustomed to talking to people over phones or computers that we have lost the subtle art of asking questions. We have no need to retain information. For why would we have to when the answer to any question that we come across is a simple Google search away? So, we never even end up asking questions.
And then exams roll around…
If you were to take your study material and take each sentence and do nothing other than ask the question “why?”, your scope of knowledge and depth of understanding would expand exponentially.
3. Use the Resources that Are at Your Disposal
We all use Google daily, but many students forget that people can be resources too. If there are questions that you happen upon in your class notes or come across in an exam that you do not know the answer to, try asking another person.
Google will yield good search results, but many times the answers that can be found on Google will be broad and general. Whereas if you could explain a question to another person, they might be able to talk through the problem with you.
Some of the people you can ask include, but are not limited to, peers, student advisors, your lecturers, and online chat groups specifically made to answer questions about literature or calculus, for example..
There are many other ways that you can broaden your knowledge and deepen your understanding, but these are the three best, basic tips to start off with.
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