In Paul Scheele’s original explanation, step 4 was “activation.” In this step, he refers to four actions:
- “to make concrete questions”
- “to mature”
- “to find answers”
- “to make a mind map.”
I divide this step into step 4 to 7.
First, I explain about making questions. In the step, you make concrete questions about the contents of the book. For example, “Activation? What is that?”
The purpose of reading was originally “to collect information,” and it changes into the more concrete purpose of “find the explanation about what ‘activation’ is.”
Before reading a book, it is important to clarify the purpose of reading. However, you need information to clarify the purpose. It is the “chicken or the egg” problem. Especially when you are going to read a book in an unfamiliar area, you do not know what is in the area. You can not make the perfect purpose from the beginning. You need to collect information to make the purpose concrete. You refine the purpose gradually after you collect information.
Related:
Let me explain a bit more concretely about what to do in this step. To make concrete questions, you read the book for about 5 to 15 minutes. Paul Scheele calls this action a “post view.” It is a reading method to quickly look at sentences in large chunks and pick only 2 or 3 sentences which you feel important.
You may want to look for the answer to the question. However, Paul Scheele says you should not try to find the answer yet. Instead of looking for the answer to the question here, you concentrate on making questions.