My meaning-making process involves obtaining a general definition of a concept, breaking down the concept into it’s key components and understanding each element on it’s own. I then try to visualize the context or environment that the concepts manifests itself in and then visualise how the concept could be applied in the real-world by comparing it to my related past life experiences. Once I visualise it in my mind’s eye I’ve made it meaningful to me.
In a time of AI automation, job tasks are changing fast and thinking skills are being outsourced to large language models. So in a step-by-step fashion we examine the human thinking procedures that occur during the meaning-making process such as logical thinking, reasoning and critical thinking and look at ways of improving them.
Have a listen to this audio bite on how I make meaning when reading about a new topic: