During my time in education, I had the privilege of working as a consultant for the local education board within the district I had taught in. My job allowed me time to re-read and reflect upon educational theories that I had first covered as a student-teacher years before. The benefit of this was that I got to look at my own practice as a teacher, and actually see how the theories played out.
One of the areas that fascinated me was the development of teaching metacognition within the classroom. It was powerful stuff. It crossed all subjects and allowed students to understand themselves as learners.
Much of what you have written in this article reminds me of this. Asking pertinent questions regarding your learning is key. Questions like:
What do I already know about this topic? Before beginning new research.
What did I find most confusing about what I studied? Both during, and at the end of exploration on a new topic.
How did my understanding/thinking change (or not change)? Following a course of study.
There are many more questions but they all tie into becoming a reflective learner, who is able to evaluate the process of learning, which in turn enables said learner to go much deeper into the acquisition of knowledge.
Like you, I'm an advocate of deep (and wide) learning. 😊