Curiosity– a strong desire to know or learn something. Oxford Dictionary

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Sir Ken Robinson’s keynote at EdInnovateLive, a conference at the University of San Diego. One connection he made for all of us was the combination of curiosity, exposure, and the development of skills. For example, he polled the audience and found a few people that spoke 3 and 4 languages (so jealous!) and by no coincidence, they were also exposed to these languages at an early age and learned them through communicating, interacting in context, rather than through academic channels. I’d be willing to bet that the other 248 people in the room had taken many classes in a foreign language like I have but only a few people raised their hands when he asked if we were fluent in another language. 

The point here is that young children are curious and their brains are malleable. The importance of sparking curiosity in our schools is highlighted in this article, The Importance of Developing Curiosity noting that “Curiosity is the engine of intellectual achievement. Studies show that those who are more curious about a topic tend to learn faster. For example, this study shows that curiosity essentially primes the brain for learning.”

If we want students to learn, it is foundational to spark curiosity in our learners to help them develop the new skills, knowledge, and mindsets that we are tasked with teaching them. Otherwise, without curiosity, we might teach but they may not actually learn.

Why does this matter?

When children are exposed to different languages early on and they pick it up, not because they are linguistically gifted but because humans are naturally curious and the more we are exposed to, the more we develop. This holds true for how we learn many important skills- both academic and social.  

This point was driven home shortly after the conference as I traveled to the east coast with my husband and two kids who are 9 and 10. We went to Niagara Falls and as we walked along the Falls, the questions just started flowing:

Where is the water coming from? Where are the American vs Canadian borders? Who decided on the borders? How many gallons per second flow? Can we get ice cream?

Turns out most of these I had no idea what the answer was- well, except the ice cream- but we talked about what they thought, read the information provided and then googled the answers and found out even more. They were so curious about the Falls and the history, which empowered them to ask questions and find the information.

Seeing this interest, I was curious what a lesson on Niagara Falls might look like and this is what a quick google search found. 

To be honest, I can only imagine the groans and the lack of interest that my kids would have shown if we had given them a worksheet and asked them to find the main ideas or calculate the water flow without the context and their own curiosity to spark questions. They may have done it out of compliance but never would have remembered or cared about any of the information and would have been miserable in the process.

Do you teach it or do they learn?

A few days later we visited Washington DC and visited as many monuments and museums as we could fit in. As a place rich in US history, my kids were again curious and full of questions about past presidents, wars, art, aviation etc. and this time I was struck by how much I had forgotten. I know that I was “taught” so much of what was on display there but I couldn’t recall much at all. I was taken back to the textbook and unit tests and my utter disdain for history when I was in school and stuff that I memorized for a test and quickly forgot. As a result, I had to rely on google and rereading what was on the display to talk with my kids about the important events.

My argument here is not that these facts don’t matter at all or that Google is the sole thing that we need to rely on. My point is that I was a decent student that passed my classes out of compliance and yet there was so much that I didn’t remember.

History is fascinating and important and a perfect place to spark curiosity while instead, my friend who teaches high school world history shared what she was expected to teach in a year. She, like many teachers, are expected to race through the history of the world as if it’s a highlight reel to memorize rather than situations to be curious about, question, and learn from.

What you can do to spark curiosity?

Traveling and seeing the world is amazing but I know it is not even close to feasible for us as educators to do with a class of students. Luckily there are other ways to expose students to the world and expand their horizons to get them to be more curious about the world and concepts that you need to not only teach them but you want them to care about and learn.

Use video

Many times we show the whole documentary after we have finished the lesson or unit as a reward. How about showing a few video clips that spark questions.  My kids love watching YouTube and there are great videos curated here by We Are Teachers.

You don’t need to show more than a few minutes but exposure through different mediums can help people feel like they are there and spark curiosity. You can also have the student find videos that interest them on a certain topic. Choice and exposure provide a sense of agency and lifelong skills that will keep your learners invested in deeper ways than if you do all the work for them.

VR Field Trips

There are many ways that you can use VR to help learners experience the world from your classroom. Google Expeditions is a great place to start. 

Let Students Do the Experiment

Instead of engineering all the experiments, let students do the work. This article highlights how.

Matt (my awesome husband) sets his classroom apart by emphasizing the engineering design process (EDP), which is the central theme for his curriculum this year. This project-based approach to learning gives students room to fail and encourages them to analyze their results, regardless of the outcome. For his annual Mad Scientist project students designed and conducted their own experiments, such as building their own fireworks and igniting substances underwater. By discouraging duplicate projects and sourcing project ideas from the students, Matt brings creativity to the forefront. “You get to see all kinds of things changing color, growing — even creating colored fire,” he says.

Find Out What They “Need to Know”

To spark curiosity, in project-based learning, it is common to do an entry event and get students engaged in the topic first. A critical component of this is asking students what they already know about a topic and what they need to know. When they identify what they need to know, they are more invested in the process. Bonus, you can keep going back to track what you have learned in the process and what you still need to learn. 

These are just a few examples. I would love to hear what other examples you have to spark curiosity and involve learners in the process. If you aren’t in the classroom, these same ideas can apply to teachers in your professional learning. 

If you want to read more, check out Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion and Unleash Genius.