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We're telling children to pursue their own interest, a curiosity-driven learning process. Growing up, we forgot all curiosity as we're taught to follow rules, laws, regulations, policy, to be politically-correct; thus, we kill our own God-given gift - curiosity.
I came up with a term "curiosity-driven life", inspired from Rick Warren's best sellting book "Purpose-driven Life" - but, heckuva Google: It's said already:
Celebrating and Inspiring Curiosity as a Key Component in ...
I believe we need to celebrate and encourage the Curiosity Driven Life at the adult level so that it trickles down to our youth. It's time for more of us to question ...
Regardless, that's my life: Pursue my curiosity!
***********************************************8
Celebrating and Inspiring Curiosity as a Key Component in Learning
I'm speaking here not of "education", but of learning - the process by which we obtain not just an education, but life and career skills.
We are all born curious. It’s curiosity that compels children of all ages to touch, taste, smell, and explore the world around them. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of habit, sometimes for no good reason at all, we often discourage that innate curiosity in children,just as they begin to master the skills they need to get a handle on their world.
Anyone who has seen the affected boredom of middleschoolers and highschoolers in contrast with the boundless energy and enthusiasm of elementary aged children can see the effects of thwarted curiosity, of a culture in which it simply isn't cool to be curious.
But without curiosity, there's little impetus to discover or explore. Without curiosity, apathy and disinterest creep in and the commensurate affects of an unexamined life can be culturally far-reaching - affecting political involvement, scientific, literary, artistic, economic and social achievement and development.
I believe we need to celebrate and encourage the Curiosity Driven Life at the adult level so that it trickles down to our youth. It's time for more of us to question what we hear and read and see, and to wonder and ponder out loud, and to engage in learning side-by-side with our children, modeling the curiosity we want to inspire in them.
We need a generation of people who have grown up asking questions and who are experienced in finding answers and creating solutions; people who aren’t afraid to get hurt, fall or fail, people for whom the greatest, most dangerous and most exciting innate human trait we have - curiosity – is a celebrated way of life!
What do you think?
Closing Statement from Theresa Willingham
I enjoyed watching this conversation develop. It was interesting to see how people have experienced discouragement of curiosity in learning environments, although I'd have liked to have seen more idea generation regarding ways to inspire creater curiosity. Generally, though, everyone seemed to concur that that they felt it was vital to foster curiosity and that it is integral to learning. One of the more positive suggestions was rewarding youth for thinking outside the box. I think that's a great idea, and would encourage more out of the box thinking by others, making curiosity and innovative thinking "cool."
There was also general agreement that one of the principle considerations in fostering curiosity and creativity is whether people feel safe and secure. If food and shelter are hard to come by, it's hard to be curious about much beyond where your next meal comes from. Creating "safe zones" , of any size, can go a long way toward providing a nurturing environment to foster curiosity and commensurate learning. We'll be continuing the conversation at TED ED (http://education.ted.com/content.php) if you want to join in!
Colleen Steen
Curiosity is fun and natural for most children, unless it is discouraged. From curiosity, so many life interests grow and evolve. So, why is it discouraged? You mention way down in the thread, what I believe to be the main reasons...fear and the need to control. Hopefully, this discussion will help remind all of us to nurture curiosity whenever possible:>)
M.A. Lucas-Green
Based on my experience, curiosity (among children) requires plenty of attention and guidance.
From a single parent perspective - if I work more than 40 hours a week and still can't manage to feed my children then, I won't have much patience left to foster their curiosity. I would prioritize their physical health and safety.
From a public, inner-city schoolteacher perspective - if I work in a small room partitioned by cement walls with three dozen children, then my priority is once again, safety. The bureaucracy often limits autonomy so much so that our democratic ideals of free speech are often impeded (i.e. scripted lessons especially within "failing" schools which plague America's urban and rural environments).
Unfortunately, fostering curiosity appears stratified along socio-economic lines across the globe. Now the question remains, how can we change that?
Colleen Steen
I agree that nurturing curiosity requires attention and guidence. I also agree that physical health and safety are very imporant and often limited by bureaucracy or other life circumstances. Theresa states below, that she's not "sure there's a way to change that reality for the millions for whom it is the only life they've ever known". I agree with her that safety and security are important factors for fostering curiosity. I like the idea of the park or safe zones she proposes.
Whenever we think of the big picture, we can sometimes be overwhelmed by the task. We need to think about the moment. How can we nurture ourselves and others in the moment. Even if you are in a small room partitioned by cement walls, each one of those dozen children are looking to you for encouragement and support. You have the opportunity to inject curiosity in everything you do...one step at a time:>)
Theresa Willingham
At Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, where one of my daughter's goes to school, she headed up the development of a community garden there that has taken on a life of its own, equal parts food, teaching garden and arts experience. Everytime I see it, new art work has blossomed with the plants. Children from local schools work in it with the college students. The food is used by campus dining facilities.
I think we need thousands of spaces like these.Collaborating with libraries, schools, community gardens and parks, and encouraging communities and schools to maintain and expand these safe and nurturing zones, might be a way to use existing resources to expand the places where people of all ages can safely learn and grow. And, of course, getting traditional brick and mortar learning facilities to see the importance to learning of this type of environment in the first place, would be helpful.
And I wholeheartedly agree with Colleen - whatever little safe place we can make for the youth with whom we work, for the people with whom we interact, we have an opportunity to model and act on our own curiosity in a way that hopefully inspires others to seek answers to their own questions, and to actively explore their own ideas, even if it's only for a little while.
Colleen Steen
Mark Meyer
But on reflection I'm not really sure this is because my curiosity was indulged as a child. It may be because I was forced to learn things that I was not particularly curious about. You draw a lot of conclusions in your question that you don't really support. For instance, there are a lot of reasons for teenage ennui other than thwarted curiosity. Teenagers are pretty curious, just not about the subjects we would like them to be curious about. And there are other motivations other than curiosity to discover or explore: the desire for acceptance, reward, competition, etc. I would be more convinced that fostering curiosity should be a primary goal in education with some data that shows a correlation between curiosity and future success.
As others have pointed out, curiosity is in conflict with safety to a certain extent. I agree with Gever Tulley that a allowing kids to freely explore their world is worth a reasonable amount of risk. But unfettered curiosity in a student is also in conflict with discipline and self control. There comes a time, especially as children get older, that they need to learn to control their impulses and learn things that they are not particularly curious about. Here is a study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences where they studied 1000 people for 32 years and found that lack of impulse control was the best predictor of health, money, and legal troubles. http://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/2693.full
I'm not saying I disagree with the spirit of your question. I really don't, and I think the Ken Robinson lecture is right on the money, but I would be cautious about promoting curiosity at the expense of structure and discipline in education.
Theresa Willingham
But "we" is something of a generalization as well, and that's worth exploring. Who doesn't want them to be curious about certain things - and I'm imagining sex and drugs might be some of the verbotten curiosities? Society? Parents? Probably, and for some decent reasons. But when you encourage and support curiosity at a young age, my experience and with many children beyond my own, anecdotal though it may be, suggests that kids that know how to find out information for themselves tend to make healthy choices when presented with all the options. You also have a point regarding research on curiosity, but I never said curiosity should be a primary goal in education - I said I believe it's integral to education, and knowledge acquisition.
I also wasn't adovcating promoting curiosity at the expense of good education - although I wouldn't go so far as to say that I believe "structure and discipline" are necessary components of education. Self-discipline in learning, sure, but I think workable structure necessarily varies by individual, and there's plenty of research to back up that contention. I also don't believe that "unfettered curiosity is in conflict with discipline and self control, " necessarily. Lack of impulse control and intellectual curiosity are, to my mind, two different things.
So -- thinking out loud here - maybe we need to define the type of healthy curiosity that leads to higher learning, invention and discovery. I suppose there are different kinds of curiosity, and the type I'm thinking of is, in fact, intellectual curiosity - curiosity about what makes the world work and our place in it.
Ted Howard
That aligns well with my own experiences, of teaching secondary school for two years, raising two children, and serving on the board of trustees of our local highschool (as treasurer then chairman).
Denise Eide
Theresa Willingham
William Wilson
As the parent of a nineteen-month-old little boy, I can tell you I want to do everything possible to foster his curiosity. There is the instinct to intervene when I see his curiosity leading to something where he might be hurt a little bit. I've tried, though, to not intervene and to observe and stand by. In most instances, he doesn't get hurt.
If he does bonk his head a bit or skin a knee, I have to remember that it is part of the learning process. Eliminating his sense of curiosity about the world would be a huge price to pay for the satisfaction of keeping him always from even the smallest harm.
Theresa Willingham
I remember standing by with a certain degree of uncertainty as my children ran around with sticks and climbed higher in trees than I thought safe, and watching as my 12 year old daughter clambered up a mountainside with a sling-swaddled arm broken climbing a tree! Today they're pretty confident young adults who seem to know how to take calculated risks and whose curiosity seems as fresh today as it was when they were younger. But they're also safe and healthy and economically secure. I think this makes a significant difference in the ability to live a Curiosity Driven Life.
There was a great piece in our local paper this morning: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/obsession-with-college-exacts-a-toll/1152452 , discussing the Harvard "Pathways to Prosperity" project (http://bit.ly/d3NyvA) Of particular relevance to our conversation here, I think, is this comment by project authors: "Every high school graduate should find viable ways of pursuing both a career and a meaningful postsecondary degree or credential. For too many of our youth, we have treated preparing for college versus preparing for a career as mutually exclusive options."
Among other things, the report calls for encouraging students to start identifying possible career interests in middle school. Some argue against that, but I would suggest that this might be a great way to support youth curiosity about ways to live and learn that are far more interesting than simply planning for college with a vague outcome at the end.
Zdenek Smith
www.ted.com/conversations/323/can_you_live_a_happier_life_wi.html)
If people spend too much time working overtime to buy more stuff and then shopping, maintaining and replacing accumulated things then they will be exhausted to do anything else.
Theresa Willingham
Hard to argue with some of that, but on the other hand, it's sad that so many youth feel that being comfortable is a sufficient end in itself.
Caio Marchi
It's Dangerous? Yeah, a little...
But, the benefits are huge...why they don't try 'Hey son, its a hammer, try to use it...no! Not that way, this way. Great!'
It would be nice =D
Theresa Willingham
So how do we get away from "playing" house or work, and inspiring our kids to do the real thing with the real tools? How can we individually bring about a fresh focus on the Curiosity Driven Life as an end unto itself?
Lee Wilkinson
Denise Eide
It seems to me that we need to teach kids how to use tools safely and apply some standards but allow them to build and create.
My children love working with their dad doing construction. We have pictures of our 7 year old wielding a sledge hammer to tear down a wall and using power tools to rebuild it, during a remodeling project.
Fear is the opposite of curiosity, fear of failure, fear of injury, fear of doing it "wrong" all lead to hampered curiosity.
Theresa Willingham
I'm not sure how schools can work around that, but I do believe we can find a way. Has anyone else had any experience with this issue and found a work-around? Anyone have any suggestions or ideas?
Edmund Chapman
This discussion is all about learning; we learn when we get things wrong as well as when we get them right. If we need to teach children anything, it is to not be afraid of getting it wrong. When James Dyson developed his vacuum cleaner he 'got it wrong' over a thousand time before he found what worked!
loop johnny
My little brother is curios by nature and I don't want to change him.
Theresa Willingham
It's also not so much of letting kids "do what they want," as it is of guiding discovery in useful ways by providing tools, resources, and avenues of expression and exploration that are (relatively) safe and productive.
What's your brother curious about?
loop johnny
Richard Aston
The education systems as Sir Ken so elegantly points out are almost set up to expressly suppress curiosity.
Theresa Willingham
Roger Grant
We could also add divergent thinking exercises. Kids are naturally good at this and they love it. It is also one of the cornerstones of creativity.
Theresa Willingham
I also think parents can make up for a lot of the current shortcomings at public schools by being engaged with learning at home. One of the things I often see is that parents of middle and high schoolers step back, and away from their preteen and teenaged children, either out of a misperception that their children should be completely autonomous at those ages, or because their children seem to prefer adults out of their lives, or because they don't "get" adolescent behavior. That can be a wrenching time for both kids and their parents, but it doesn't have to be.
Segueing to treating adolescents as young adults, with maturity and a certain deference can go a long way towards ensuring they remain engaged in their world in a healthy curiousity driven manner. And they really need to see the adults in their lives being curious and asking questions, and taking the time to discover answers. I don't think our kids need to see us as all-knowing and fixed in knowledge, but rather as ever intellectually evolving. Adulthood shouldn't be seen as an end in itself, as the final split between youth and non-youth, but rather as a physical maturation, freeing us to keep learning independently for as long as we live.
loop johnny
Kiersten Thomsen
Theresa Willingham
Liza B
I have been working with a small group of kindergartners this year on science and engineering topics. Recently, I challenged them to design a car that would more the most efficiently down a slanted plane. It has been difficult to sit back and let the kindergartners explore materials and allow them to try things and make mistakes. However, by allowing them to work on their own, taking risks and discovering what works and what does not, they have learned much more than they would have if I had simply told them how to build a car. In an environment like this, students feel safe in taking risks. It has been an eye opening experience and I hope that I will be able to incorporate what I have learned about fostering curiosity into a whole class setting.
Jody D
Julie Rome
Theresa Willingham
In the course of looking at colleges, because despite his average grades, he really loves learning and enjoys the college experience (he's dual enrolled currently, finishing out his senior high school year at the local community college) , he learned that Worchester Polytechnic in MA, which offers the types of engineering programs he's most interested in, along with a hefty scholarship based not on grades but on design ability and engineering experience, has a "Flexpath" option. It's one of the growing number of colleges that offer the option of applying for admissions on the basis of experience and expertise rather than test scores. They also have an alternative grading system, as does our local Florida New College.
He has been delighted and amazed to find a higher education program that seems to suit his discovery based learning style to a T. I'm reassured, and hopeful that this trend continues. I want my son to be a good student - to retain information, and be able to apply it in useful and personally fulfilling ways. But I also want him to continue to enjoy learning all the days of his life, and places like WPI seem to make it possible to live a Curiosity Driven Life well into adulthood.
Debra Smith
As a mother of five now adult children, I have often noted that curious children are frequently disapproved of or disliked. They ask inconvenient quesitons, question the status quo, ask too many questions and take up time from adults who think that have far better things to do. Teachers, with strict ciricumlums, want all of the questions to be on topic. Adults in authority have the rank to call a question impertinent. Later employers do not want things on the front line questioned just done.
Finding a way to keep curiousity alive in every child is one of the most important things that adults can do for this world.
Kiersten Thomsen
Theresa Willingham
M.A. Lucas-Green
Theresa Willingham
M.A. Lucas-Green
My lived experience originated in extreme poverty. I understand and empathize with those who feel powerless and desperate to achieve an imposed "dream".
John Daicopoulos
It may not be enough to say we should remain curious for the sake of perpetuating a defining human characteristic. Given how driven our society is we need to illustrate how curiosity has been a pivotal element of progress, and that's progress by any single person's definition be it social, financial, scientific or otherwise.
Like it or not, modern society tends to value things that create value (again value by anyone's definition), so emphasizing curiosity's role in that endeavour will raise its value so we see/feel it more often.
Theresa Willingham
Last summer, Newsweek ran a piece on the "Creativity Crises" in America (http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html) I think creativity and curiosity go hand-in-hand, and on my blog (http://terriwrites.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/culturing-creativity/) I looked at some companion research and educational efforts that try to foster creativity.
The fact is, though, that we need curious people with both the creativity and the skills to develop everything from new technologies to solutions for economic and social problems. I think we borrow a lot in society, which can be good and certainly entertaining (witness the recent Britany Spears-Bellamy Brothers brouhaha over a phrase originally uttered by Groucho Marx!), but I think we need to be able to look at things in completely new and untried ways. And to do that, I think we need more freedom - from fear of failure or hurt, from litigation, and from cultural constraints.
So how can we culturally raise the value of curiosity from where we stand now?
irtiqa 7
Theresa Willingham
You obviously have access to the Internet. Is there any way for groups of families to create small safe learning communities for children that can focus on science, art, literature and so forth utilizing online resources? What are the experiences of others in similar situations?
Matt Lantz
I know that curiosity is integral to my life and it helps me find my way all the time. But many kids have a life that is decided for them, between being in school, and chores, homework and other responsibilities. The key to develop interest and curiosity is to make the subject relatable. For example. If the kid loves the movie Toy Story, then relate the characters and events to the lessons, perhaps give the kids the problem, that Buzz needs to get back to Andy's room from Cid's house. He has a piece of paper, can he get from one window to the other? What would he have to do to accomplish this? The desire to see the character succeed is enough to drive curiosity, and while your at it it's encouraging empathy at the same time.
Theresa Willingham
I'm not suggesting everyone who came through the gate should have been interested in STEM stuff; but I know that a lot of kids were discouraged from exploring what we had on display because there were some preconceived ideas of what the kids should get out of the RenFest experience, and we weren't on the list of shows or displays. I wondered how many other things kids might have been interested in that they were pulled away from because it wasn't part of the teachers' plans. Predictably, the very youngest children were the ones usually allowed to linger and look at things, and showed the most unbridled curiosity and interest. And for the most part, the middle schoolers were herded by chaperones and the high schoolers sauntered in small unsupervised and disinterested packs. It was an interesting opportunity to observe the various stages of curiosity (or lack thereof) played out in a large scale.
Theresa Willingham
Theresa Willingham
James Robinson
If you are in need of a curiosity boost, try the following which I encouraged my 8 year old sister to do in IKEA today. Go to the bedroom department and hide in a wardrobe near to where people are looking. When someone opens the door say in a loud, confident voice "i'm sorry, Narnia is closed today". When you get bored of doing that, hide in a different wardrobe and when people are nearby, jump out and exclaim "i'm back, i'm back... but i've been gone for hours..."
Enjoy.
Theresa Willingham
In the old film, Mr. Mom, (at least I think that was the film) there's a scene where a character goes around with a portable tape recorder into which he enthusiastically pours all the various ideas that come to him throughout the day: "Idea: Feed mayonnaise to tuna!" when it occurs to him that mayonnaise fed tuna would be more efficient to can. Silly, yes, but also a fun tribute to being curiosity driven, and idea inspired.
We gave our son an Inventor's notebook when he was younger, and he would record all sorts of ideas for machines that occurred to him. Today, he's more likely to sketch something up in a CAD program, but it's the same idea. For the last year or so, he's been working on a "telepresence" robot idea, and even as he tinkered and researched and learned that others, in the same period of time, have professionally refined the idea to a high degree, he hasn't been discouraged, but continues to rise to the challenge of coming up with something new. "Mine will cost under $1K" or will be more user friendly, or completely open source.
I think one thing we can do is make sure kids have lots of tools, in addition to strong encouragement and support in using them. Tools can range from notebook and pen, to software, and books, and access to mentors and opportunities for apprenticeships, so they can build, learn and explore the things they're interested in, hands on and in context.
Athena Lam
Comment deleted
Theresa Willingham
By most accounts, the boy was not "bad" - He was polite at home and in school, he has a relatively close family, shelter, food security, people who care about him. He does however, live in the "projects" - lower income housing -- where he tended to hang with unsavory characters, and was bored, listless and disinterested in school, got poor grades and often didn't attend school. He did like sports and seemed to excel in them. Somehow, he obtained $140 with which to purchase a gun on the streets, though.
Clearly, he was not curious about anything he was taught at school, despite school personnel's efforts to reach out to him. Might there have been some way to build on the boy's innate curiosity and interest in sports, and in some way build academic and intellectual knowledge around that? There's no way to know much about his home life, but other than insisting he keep trying at school, did anyone at home model curiosity and interest in life in general?
How do we help bring the energy and fuel of life that curiosity can be to more young people, so that learning becomes more desirable than hanging out with drug dealers and convicts? Why is that more exciting than building and creating, for so many youth? I suspect one answer may be that most schools aren't exciting places to build and create, just frustrating and curiosity dulling for many young people.
Matt Lantz
I know that curiosity is integral to my life and it helps me find my way all the time. But many kids have a life that is decided for them, between being in school, and chores, homework and other responsibilities. The key to develop interest and curiosity is to make the subject relatable. For example. If the kid loves the movie Toy Story, then relate the characters and events to the lessons, perhaps give the kids the problem, that Buzz needs to get back to Andy's room from Cid's house. He has a piece of paper, can he get from one window to the other? What would he have to do to accomplish this? The desire to see the character succeed is enough to drive curiosity, and while your at it it's encouraging empathy at the same time.
Denise Eide
In addition it is possible to teach English in such a manner as to train students from the earliest grades to ask questions, look for and discover patterns, and engage in the process of discovering the rules and phonograms that describe 98% of English words. When students are taught in an engaging fashion, where they are respected as learners, they will become more curious about other subjects. They will learn that they contribute to learning and are not passive vessels to be filled.
I believe the first step though is to lift them up in the primary area they struggle - basic literacy. Unfortunately as a nation, our general population does not know how English works. Parents and educators rarely have answers to their students questions, such as "why is the A long in LANE but not in HAVE?" This material though is widely known in remedial reading centers around the country. I call it The Logic of English. And it is has been shown through countless studies to be successful in teaching 100% of children how to read.
When our student population becomes literate we will begin to address creativity in deeper ways. Students will not be sitting there with deeply discouraged hearts and a world of books will be open to them. Teacher's will be able to focus on inspiring students in their subject areas and not be so hampered by the low level of reading and writing skills.
Denise Eide
www.logicofenglish.com
Theresa Willingham
He finally "got it" when he decided he wanted to create a video game and needed to learn how to write programs in Visual Basic. We found a simple "Visual Basic for Kids" book, and he slowly worked his way through it - and by the time he figured out how to write his video game, he was also reading. Reading was suddently relevant to him - there was a reason for it.
He's 18 now, an avid reader, and dual enrolled at a local college as he finished out his senior year of high school. If we had focused on teaching him to read, he'd have hated it and I doubt would have mastered it as completely as he finally did. You don't need to know how English works to value and enjoy reading. I'm a writer, and I can attest to the fact that nothing kills a love of language than having it deconstructed to the point of meaninglessness.
We come to learn and enjoy language like we come to love music: By hearing it and running it over our tongues, and feeling its lyric wonder. For children, reading has to mean something, bring them something, elevate them in some way. Reading was not foundational to my son's learning, although I completely agree that it's key to continued learning. But his love of science and literature proceeded unfettered until his reading skills caught up later.
A great book, "Reading without Nonsense" by Frank Smith, sheds some helpful light on our views of reading, and what I believe to be a misplaced emphasis on having all children read by a certain age. I think a lot of kids are lost in school when they don't read when their peers do - when what they really need is time, and a reason to read.
Raju Narisetti
Theresa Willingham
I think curiosity is key to the things we need most in society - an engaged and interested populace who drive invention, social action and discovery. We don't need degrees for that - we just need to be able to question and explore and be interested enough in the world around us to try to find answers to the things we don't understand or want to improve or invent.
Trudi Duane
The most disturbing mind set I see today is great numbers of people who practice 'magical thinking' and superstitious mysticism. They are completely unable to seperate fact from opinion and thus unable to make logical decisions.
Many schools do fear curiosity. It can 'rock the boat'.
Sebastian Betti
Inquiring on the implications of play on creativity, and by comparing regional differences, the Japanese art director Seijo Kawaguchi observed a stronger element of play and curiosity in the Japanese society, for example, that in Western countries and this, he says, emerges in Japanese advertising and in every aspect of daily life.
Other key ingredients –contributing to creativity and curiosity as well- that I’ve learnt from Tom Wujec are: novelty, value creation and passion -the desire to do something for pleasure rather than for a prize or some sort of compensation.
I remember a talk at Google by Jen Fitzpatrick (currently in charge of Google's UX team) who also mentioned humor as a key ingredient, as a communication tool.
FITZPATRICK, Jen. The Science and Art of User Experience at Google, 07/06/2006.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6459171443654125383#
Theresa Willingham