Learning through curiosity, rather than necessity
Hey Everyone,
Hope you’ve all been having a wonderful week!
While randomly scrolling on my phone, I found an article that I’d like to share with you. Here’s a link to it: Psychology says people who educated themselves through curiosity instead of classrooms solve problems in a fundamentally different way — and these 8 traits explain why formal education can't replicate what struggle teaches
It discusses the differences between curious, self-directed learners, and learners who learned primarily through the structured, hierarchical, public school system. The field of cognitive psychology coined the term ‘adaptive expertise’ for such self-directed learners, and describes eight traits that set such learners apart (I’ve summarized them below).
Basically, according to the article, formal education creates routine experts, who excel within defined parameters, while curiosity-driven learners build mental frameworks that thrive in uncertainty.
According to the article, curious-driven autodidactic learners:
1. Embrace productive confusion, and are more likely to enjoy the challenge of discomfort that comes along with having to figure new things out. They understand that this space, between not knowing and finally getting it, is where real learning happens. According to the article, this struggle strengthens neural pathways and creates deeper, more flexible understanding. That’s great!
2. See more patterns and connections between unrelated things, such as how programming and music theory follow similar structures. This allows autodidacts to more readily recognize patters and draw conclusions from multiple domains of knowledge.
3. Have a higher tolerance for ambiguity. Compared to formal school education, which promises clear answers to test questions, with a study > memorize > pass the test structure, self-taught individuals have learned that life seldom works that way, and thus, feel more comfortable in gray areas. They are not following some clear-cut syllabus or going by a test score when reflecting on how well they’ve learned something.
4. Question everything, including themselves, as there are no course books or professors to guide them. They have a tendency to test theories themselves to see if they work, and to always ask ‘why’ and ‘what if.’ This causes them to be more aware and humble of their limitations, yet simultaneously more confident about what they really have learned well.
5. Learn backwards, from problems, instead of the traditional method of ‘learn principles first in case you need to use them later to solve real problems one day.’ Imagine how many high school students learn calculus and then never go on to use it after graduation? Perhaps it turns out to be a waste of time. By assessing the problem first, autodidacts can figure out exactly what they need to solve it, before learning what is necessary. So, instead of learning everything about calculus, they learn just the parts they need for a specific problem, and furthermore, it sticks better because they apply it immediately.
6. Treat failure as data, not defeat. Considering there are no grades involved, failures and setbacks carry less moral weight, and hence, are often simply seen as feedback. I think this is an important mindset approach we should all try to adapt and apply to everything in life!
7. Build knowledge webs, rather than ladders. The formal education is hierarchical. You learn addition before multiplication, algebra before calculus, etc. – a ladder with prescribed rungs. Curiosity, on the other hand, doesn’t follow neat progressions. Knowledge webs allow autodidacts to connect their knowledge in various directions, and without the constraints of a hierarchy / age / grade system. They may learn advanced concepts before basic ones, and then fill in the gaps later. I certainly did that with some things I taught myself, such as chess, languages and the piano.
8. Optimize for understanding, not performance. In other words, they really learn and understand things, and don’t just study them to get a test score. As a language teacher in Japan, I’ve seen so many students memorizing vocabulary lists for hours on end, hoping to get a higher TOEIC or TOEFL score than last time, only to pale in comparison in speaking competence with the students who actually speak English regularly. Maybe their scores are higher, but who really knows the language better? Furthermore, curiosity-driven learners want to know ‘why’ things are the way they are, not just what answers are right and wrong. This is a much deeper level of engagement.
A couple of good quotes from the article to finish up:
“Education teaches you about life, but experience teaches you how to live.”
And
“The classroom will teach you what to think. But only struggle, curiosity, and the willingness to figure things out for yourself will teach you how to think.”
What’s your take on this? I often say to people that ‘almost everything useful I learned that I use daily, I learned outside of school / taught myself.’
Though I am not entirely sure if that’s true…🤔
Looking forward to reading your thoughts, as always!
PS -- a pet peeve of mine has always been when people say something along the lines of "I'm finally finished my high school / university, and thus, my education is finally complete." 😬
I want to yell "NO, IT'S REALLY JUST BEGINNING!!!," but I refrain, their lives, not mine. 🙃
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Learning through curiosity, rather than necessity
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