TOPIC : CURIOSITY IN LEARNING

I. What Is Curiosity and What Does It Mean?

 Curiosity is the desire to learn, to understand new things, and to know how
they work.
 Curiosity can manifest in many ways, as the desire to read the gossip
columns or watch reality shows on TV, or as the desire to know about
people and their lives.
 It can also manifest as the desire to accumulate knowledge about science,
geography or other topics, or as the urge to know how to fix things.
 Curiosity is the expression of the urge to learn and acquire facts and
knowledge. It widens the mind and opens it to different opinions, different
lifestyles and different topics.
 Curious people ask questions, read and explore. They are active about
seeking information or experience, and are willing to meet challenges and to
broaden their horizons. They are not shy to ask questions and delve deeply into
the topic that interests them.
 Curiosity can be directed to gossip and unimportant details, or to matters
that are more important.
 It can also lead to learning, acquiring knowledge, and becoming an expert
in one’s field. Curiosity is a vital ingredient for becoming a good
journalist, writer, inventor or scientist.
II. Why “Curiosity” is important to children’s learning ?
 “Curiosity is the motivator for children to explore their world, which is
how they learn about it. My colleague, Judy, loves to tell about the infant
who does not yet crawl. A parent puts the infant on her belly. To us it
looks like she can do little and is not engaged. But she is using the senses
that she’s developed up to that point to explore the world. You’ll see her
tongue darting in and out. At some point, she is going to lick the carpet.
Why? Because she is curious about this stuff underneath her and wants
to know about it. She licks it and learns that it’s rough and that it isn’t
the same as her bottle. It seems like a small, insignificant activity, but
this is an important developmental learning exchange.”
 As soon as they start talking, children start to ask questions. The fact that
they keep their curious eyes wide open to the world to learn new things
brings about many benefits including:
 Strengthening their relationships with others.
  Protecting their brains.
 Helping them grow.
 Helps them overcome anxiety.
 According to research, intellectual curiosity is the hidden force that drives
learning, critical thinking, and reasoning. Curiosity helps children seek
and acquire new knowledge, skills, and ways of understanding the world.
It is at the heart of what motivates young people to learn and what keeps
them learning throughout their lives.Most of us know that many children
can achieve good grades without being curious — by understanding the
system of test-taking and dutifully doing their homework.Curious
children, on the other hand, spend a great deal of time reading and
acquiring knowledge. Why? Because they sense a gap between what they
know and what they want to know — not because they are motivated by
grades.When kids are in curiosity’s grip, they often forget the immediate
goals at hand because they are preoccupied with learning. This was the
case with young people I interviewed for my book, Tomorrows Change
Makers: Reclaiming the Power of Citizenship for a New Generation.
Many of them were so focused on public service that they missed school
deadlines or didn’t have time to study for exams.The young people I
interviewed defined their success differently than many of today’s youth.
They wanted to learn, not just achieve good grades.
If you suspect that curious kids fare better in careers and life, you’re
right, and for a variety of reasons. Research suggests that intellectual
curiosity has as big of an effect on performance as hard work. When put
together, curiosity and hard work account for success just as much as
intelligence.Another study found that people who were curious about a
topic retained what they learned for longer periods of time. And even
more impressive, research has linked curiosity to a wide range of
important behaviors, including tolerance of anxiety and uncertainty,
positive emotions, humor, playfulness, out-of-box thinking, and a
noncritical attitude — all attributes associated with healthy social
outcomes for children and adults.Psychologists view intellectual curiosity
as a life force, vital to happiness, intellectual growth, and wellbeing. It is
interconnected with each of the other abilities of The Compass Advantage
— sociability, resilience, self-awareness, integrity, resourcefulness,
creativity, and empathy.Like most human abilities, curiosity also has a
dark side. After all, it did kill the cat! And without proper nurturing by
 parents and teachers, unregulated curiosity can lead children down rabbit
holes that waste time, obstruct goals, or damage health.The greatest
advantage of curiosity lies in its power to motivate learning in areas of
life and work that are meaningful to the learner. It points students toward
the knowledge, skills, relationships, and experiences that they need to live
full and productive lives. Intellectual curiosity is easily recognizable. We
see it when we observe children and teens exploring their environment,
devouring books and information, asking questions, investigating
concepts, manipulating data, searching for meaning, connecting with
people and nature, and seeking new learning experiences.Curiosity is
fostered everywhere — at home, in school, and through out-of-school-
time programs. Parents who intentionally stimulate a child’s curiosity
impact their learning and development for a lifetime in ways that cannot
be measured by grades alone. In fact, a healthy sense of curiosity will do
more for a child than being able to recite correct answers to academic
questions.

III. Where Curiosity Comes From ?

 The stages of curiosity come from the learner in an inside-out pattern.
 This is a crucial distinction; It means it doesn’t happen by dangling
flashing, singing, and dancing carrots in front of students. Rather,
curiosity stems from past experience and current knowledge, then leaps
out as the neocortex seeks patterns it recognizes, then rewards itself with
dopamine when it finds something it either understands or seeks to
understand, branching out to new domains, applications, and
opportunities for transfer.
“A good question can…force the uncomfortable but transformational
cognitive dissonance that can help create thinkers.”
 But how does one ’cause’ curiosity? This is the challenge of instructional
design, lesson design, curriculum mapping, project-based learning
templates, and a thousand other factors.
 Any modern movement in progressive learning systems should at the
absolute minimum be aware of what tends and does not to tend to
stimulate curiosity, and how its surplus and absence can affect the
learning experience overall. Curiosity can be seen as part of the student
themselves rather than a kind of ‘brain emotion’: the student, their unique
 curiosities, and their patterns of self-direction as they seek to understand
things because their brain wants to understand.
IV. How to promote curiosity in your students?
The good news for teachers who work with younger learners of course, is that
children are naturally curious. Young children are full of questions and
curiosity. But rates of questioning drop away as children progress through
school, so how can you continue to nurture your students’ enquiring minds
when they are no longer in your classroom? Here are some ideas:

1. Encourage new ways to capture them questions and introduce

Prompting questions from your students when they’re learning at a distance can
be as simple as tweaking your language when you first introduce a topic or give
instructions. Don’t ask if your students have any questions – instead, try asking
what questions they have.
Making the assumption that they have questions, and creating space and time to
address those questions, will encourage your students to share their queries with
you. A KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart could be a good tool to use
here. Once you’ve introduced the subject and they’ve worked through the
‘lesson’, share the chart with your students and ask them to complete it and
return it to you. Encourage them to think of what they know already, and –
crucially – what they want to know.
2. Model curiosity yourself and be a co-learner
Lead by example and show your students that you are interested in and excited
about learning something new. Shifting your mindset can make a big difference.
Instead of thinking about what you are teaching, frame your lessons in terms of
how your students are now learning. Rather than passively receiving your expert
knowledge in a classroom situation, encourage your students to learn how to
find things out for themselves. If you model curiosity, they will be more
motivated to seek out information on whatever topic you are working on.
One small way to do this? Start off your lesson or worksheet by telling your
students that you don’t know much about the topic – but that you’re excited to
learn together with them.
3. Match skill development with interesting topics
Think hard about the focus of your lesson. What is the crucial takeaway that
your students need to learn and how can you ensure they do this from a
distance? If they are practising a skill, then allow them to practise that skill in
their own way. For example, if primary-age children are learning how to
measure things in maths using centimetres, encourage them measure their
favourite toys at home and take and annotate pictures showing their length.
If you are teaching older students valuable research skills, let them research and
present on a topic of their choice. This doesn’t have to be a live presentation, a
slide deck showing their research that they can email to you can be just as
valuable.
4. Teach from a variety of perspectives
Pique students’ curiosity by showing them that different perspectives exist on
the same subject. This will encourage them to think about and develop their
own perspective on things. The current crisis is a great example of how different
individuals’ perspectives can be: how do your students view the pandemic and
home learning compared to their siblings, or their parents, or a grandparent or
family friend isolating alone?
If you are a history teacher, promote marginalised voices and texts to show your
students an alternative to the narrative in their history books. If you’re reading
Jane Eyre with your students, share some excerpts of Wide Sargasso Sea. If
you’re studying media, share with them two opinion pieces on the same subject.
Encouraging your learners to contrast and analyse differing perspectives will
help develop their critical thinking skills.
5. Give students choice and independence
Students with autonomy will be more engaged in the learning process whether
that takes place in the classroom or as part of your distance learning
programme. Of course, it is still important to have teacher supervision, but
rather than playing the role of the expert who is telling your learners what to do,
try to see yourself as the head researcher. You don’t want to hand them the
information on a plate, but you can pique their curiosity to learn more, and then
guide them to research on their own.
Show them how to research something thoroughly, by recommending certain
sources, encouraging them to think critically, and sharing your own research
with enthusiasm and excitement. Learning at home is an opportunity for them to
really make the most of this autonomy.
V. The link between curiosity and success.
A neuroscience study from the University of California shows there are
concrete physical connections between curiosity and memory. In the results
from the study, students remembered more of what they learned when their
curiosity was piqued, suggesting that stimulating students’ curiosity could be a
powerful motivation for learning.
And once students have joined the world of work, curiosity is linked to better
employment prospects. Curious learners are the best-suited to challenging,
creative work – which is also the type of work least likely to be automated. Ian
Leslie, author of Curious, points out that “twenty-first-century economies are
rewarding those with an unquenchable desire to learn, question and solve – and
punishing those who don’t. Today, it’s not just what you know that counts – it’s
how much you want to know.”
Not only is curiosity linked to better memory and job prospects – it also makes
people happier. People who are curious report increased levels of satisfaction
and mental well-being. Todd Kashdan, a psychology professor and author of
another book Curious? says, “If you take the fundamental things that people
tend to want out of life — strong social relationships and happiness and
accomplishing things — all of these are highly linked to curiosity.”
All in all, if you can inspire curiosity in your students – whether back in the
classroom or during this global pandemic as they learn from home, you’ll be
helping them far beyond school, into their careers and adult lives.