Twenty-two kindergarteners sat on the classroom carpet waiting excitedly for their turn. Their teacher, Ms. Swanson, stood in front of them wearing a lab coat and goggles with her hand on a massive pumpkin. The children wiggled and waved their hands eagerly to get their turn asking questions and making conjectures about what was inside the pumpkin. Ms. Swanson recorded the students’ questions and ideas on chart paper. Then she cut the top off the pumpkin and showed everyone the inside. She let children come forward in their smocks, gloves, and goggles to look at the pumpkin, scoop out and count the seeds, and describe what they saw, smelled, and felt.
The teacher used the children’s excitement and curiosity to keep them engaged and to introduce them to what they would later come to know as the scientific method. Prior to the lesson, the students planted seeds in plastic bags to watch them grow. They took a field trip to see pumpkins growing in the field and picked their own pumpkins. By the time they participated in the science lesson, their curiosity was piqued, and their excitement was palpable.
After kindergarten, this kind of inquiry and exploration is rare. By 3rd grade, most schools’ curricula move toward emphasizing direct instruction and focused study on scripted topics. Even science instruction leaves little room for inquiry and knowledge-building in students’ areas of interest. Science programs at the secondary level typically focus on leading students through step-by-step processes that demonstrate the ideas, concepts, and information required by the scope and sequence. Hands-on science activities usually involve demonstrations (e.g., “Follow these steps to create and measure a specific chemical reaction”) instead of experiments (e.g., “Devise a question and develop an experiment that allows you to gather and analyze data to answer your question”). While these approaches are effective for ensuring students are exposed to key topics in the curriculum, they sideline the use of one of the most powerful learning-promoting characteristics—curiosity.
Wandering and Wondering
Curiosity is a learning superpower that is hardwired in children’s brains. The drive to learn, have new experiences, and grow is a fundamental characteristic of childhood. Curiosity supports motivation, engagement, and perseverance in learning new things, even when they are challenging.
To harness the power of curiosity in an academic context, children must learn to: (1) define a topic they want to explore, (2) identify areas of inquiry and formulate thoughtful questions about this topic, (3) plan ways to gather reliable information, access new experiences, and develop new skills, and (4) consolidate their new knowledge with what they already know.
To embrace this pursuit of curiosity, educators must make room in the curriculum for children to wander and wonder. Intellectual wandering involves allowing one’s mind to think beyond what is comfortable and well-known to explore new topics, ideas, and experiences. Wandering may include a student developing an interest in a different sport, game, hobby, topic, or field or becoming intrigued by something they have seen or heard about.
Wondering involves dreaming up questions and embracing the desire to learn something new. This includes asking what if, how, why, and why not questions and caring enough to pursue the answers.
Both wandering and wondering come naturally to young children, but they can be seen as problematic in schools where we teach children to focus exclusively on the lesson, activity, or information at hand. Wandering and wondering in classrooms can be seen by educators as distraction, daydreaming, or off-task behavior. Unfortunately, this means that often the students who are most successful in academic settings are those who stop wandering and wondering and instead place intense focus on their lessons, activities, and graded assignments.
Both wandering and wondering come naturally to young children, but they can be seen as problematic in schools where we teach children to focus exclusively on the lesson, activity, or information at hand.
Curiosity in the Curriculum
The good news? Teachers can help students master their curiosity superpower. By incorporating curiosity as part of the curriculum, teachers can:
- Create opportunities for students to pursue broad areas of interest. When students become excited, curious, or intrigued about a topic or idea, lean into it. Don’t eliminate the key parts of the curriculum scope and sequence. Instead, allow students to go beyond the topic at hand by doing additional reading, accessing online resources, and talking with others with similar interests.
- Teach students to embrace their wonderings as one of their learning superpowers. Ask students to formulate and record their questions at the beginning and end of each unit. Teach students that wondering is the starting point for learning new things. Build opportunities for students to share and discuss their questions about the topic being taught and related topics. Use “I wonder . . .” as a writing and discussion prompt for each new topic.
- Help students create structured inquiry plans for learning things that excite and intrigue them. Inquiry can take multiple forms, from conducting experiments and doing online research to reading books and articles and interviewing experts. Teach students a variety of ways to gather information, develop new skills, and access new experiences in their areas of interest. Make space for students to implement their inquiry plans as part of the curriculum.
It’s time to treat curiosity as the superpower it is. We can build students’ ability to use this learning power by giving them the tools, time, and encouragement to wield it effectively.
