How to Learn Anything Faster: Inquiry Based Learning

Read time: 15 minutes

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Imagine you were 5 again, other than sleeping and playing around all day, asking questions was one of your favorite activites

For me, I used to ask a lot of questions:

• Why is the sun yellow?

• Why do I have to eat this?

How can I make this a robot from legos?

Those questions in addition with my curiousity helped me achieved the impossible.

But now, if you gave me the same tools, I can’t do it anymore

You see, after 12+ years of schooling, asking questions becomes a sin

• Grow up kid. You are X already y.o

• Just search it up. Why don’t you know this?

From there I stopped asking questions, started retracting myself.

Thinking that if I would obey the rules and follow the systems, one day I will know it all.

But this is wrong, from my experience and experiments I found a few things:

• Learning comes from curiosity

• Learning comes from mistakes

• Learning comes from problem-solving

But more importantly, learning comes from asking the right questions.

Welcome to the world of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)

The caveman theory

Ok.. before I teach you the HOW of IBL you must understand the WHY.

Let me tell you a story:

Million of years ago, Steve was hunting saber-tooth tigers and living in cages.

He only cared about 2 things:

• Surviving (Avoid tigers, find fruits, seek shelter)

• Thriving (Finding mates, and reproducing)

And for that period out human brain evolved to learn and only remember things if it fits these 2 principles.

We are excellent at identifying problems and gathering information to solve them.

Steve didn’t flashcards and using spaced repetition to memorize the path to the fruits

But Steve still absorb, retain, and recall new information.

It was intuitive and just natural for him 😉

Ok so from everything you’ve read, how would you describe Inquiry-Based Learning?

Uhm… problem-solving, questions, relevant?

Yep!

Inquiry-Based Learning is an underrated way of learning that involves hypothesis testing, and asking questions, in order to create meaningful & relevant relationships.

This method also help you:

• Re-ignite your love and curiosity

• Absorb knowledge quicker and easier

• Less reliance on flashcards, and spaced repetition.

The most important question…

How?

While there isn’t a one size fit all solution, here are the general principles to apply to your learning:

Start with a Problem to Guide Your Learning

A problem gives your learning purpose

Before you learn, ask yourself:

What problem am I trying to solve right now?

Or if the information were presented

what problem can I potentially solve?

The best problems are personal and interconnected.

If your house and your neighbor’s house were both burning, which house would you save?

Exactly.

How to come up with problems:

Just think.

Hypothesize Solutions Before Learning

Before diving into materials, predict the solutions.

Even for abstract concepts, it still works:

→ Quadratic formulas

→ Benzene and its compound

→ Pendulum Energy

With your hypotheses in mind, learning becomes a journey to prove or disprove your belief.

Let’s say we are learning about the quadratic formula, think about the questions related:

• Why is quadratic formulas important?

• What problems are quadratic formulas solving?

• What would happen if the world doesn’t have quadratic formulas?

• Why is the quadratic formulas proof like that?

• How is the quadratic formulas different from the Pythagorean theorem?

From the principles of Bloom and Solo Taxonomy, the best questions require the most thinking (analyzing, comparing, judgment, and evaluation).

These questions form relationships which as result create knowledge schemas in your brain.

That’s when you have a deeper understanding of any topic.

Learn Just Enough to Inform Your Solutions

Learn the material in smaller chunks, just get enough information to start reasoning about the problem.

Evaluate the new information you have gotten

• Were you right, or wrong, what didn’t you know?

This part is the heavy lifting.

So just calm down.

When done right, you will naturally have more questions in mind, and start the “Curiosity Driven Cycle“

→ Create curiosity with questions

→ Fuflil curiosity by answering questions

→ Repeat until mastery.

Since your learning is built on the promise of solving problems, it’s naturally memorable.

Apply and Iterate

Immediately apply what you've learned by testing your hypotheses.

• Iterate the cycle: Generate new problems and hypotheses based on what worked, then research to inform updated hypotheses, test, and apply again.

Developing the Skill Takes Practice

Inquiry-based learning makes you learn in a much more natural and intuitive fashion.

This way of thinking requires practice and dedication, but once you master it you will start to see how interconnected this world is.

Start small with some youtube videos or course materials

Gradually upgrade yourself, and improve your cognitive load.

Conclusion

Close your eyes,

imagine a future where you can learn as fast, and be as curious as a kid

Open your eyes,

you don’t have to dream anymore

Inquiry-Based Learning is your answer 😁

🎯 Takeaway

1. Think about the problem first

2. Form your hypotheses about solutions

3. Asking questions you are curious about

4. Look up the answers, evaluate them critically, and repeat step 3.

Think like a caveman. Learning is not flashcards and practice questions.

🧠 Brain Puzzler

(A question, riddle, or conundrum to mull over )

If you think someone might enjoy this newsletter, any forwards would be appreciated 🥰 

🫣 Life Update

Most interesting things about this week

Last week was an interesting week for me, my cousin came over for 3 days, and we had lots of fun. Meanwhile, I still published some content on Twitter, I feel proud of my progress, and I would love to see how things plan out in the future.

I’ve been feeling better, much more productive and I want to get lots of work done.

My plan for next week

• Publish 3 - 4 threads

• Focus my time and effort on improving my learning skills

• Complete my second book: Atomic Habits + Write a thread about it.

Other interesting facts

Nothing much, I am just brainstorming ideas for digital products

Here are some of the ideas I have:

• 27 principles to Learn Anything Faster: Encoding, Retrieval, Self Management

• The Spaced Repetition Killer: Encoding. A Masterclass.

• Interleaving Masterclass: How to use the most well-researched learning technique to learn anything 2x faster.

• Improve the note-taking masterclass

• Divide the Ultimate Learning course into 4 products:

  • For students

  • For working professionals

  • For entrepreneurs

  • For educators/ parents

If you think someone might enjoy this newsletter, any forwards would be appreciated 🥰 

References:

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