Creating curious minds
"The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
-Albert Einstein
What is curiosity?
Curiosity is the driving force behind our desire to learn. It is a key element in learning that keeps our mind active. Children are born naturally curious, it is a trait that should be encouraged to help them take it to their adult life. Curious learners ask questions, read and explore. They are on a constant journey to seek new information and experience new things.
How to create curious minds
When we encourage curiosity in our classrooms it helps to keep students engaged. It turns the classroom into a place where students are open and excited to learn.
Encourage questioning - Teach your students how to ask good questions using why, how and what if. Equally, you can ask your students questions to get them thinking. Make your students feel safe and comfortable to engage, all questions have importance, there is no such thing as a bad question. Ending lessons with a student reflection is also a good way to get students thinking about what they’ve learned, this will also shed light on any questions they many still have.
Students take the lead - Curiosity flows when students are engaged in self directed learning. It encourages students to be active rather than passive. When they are in charge it not only promotes curiosity but also self-confidence, initiative and perseverance.
Get tinkering - Introduce projects that allow students to look further into the complexities of the topic being studied. Tinkering leads to innovative outcomes for our students. Robotics and other connected toys with code are a great way to encourage students to tinker. The hands on learning that comes with robotics is powerful as children thrive when they have the opportunity to learn by doing.
We’d love to hear about any teaching strategies that you use with your students. Please share what works well for you with @aquilaeducation on Twitter orFacebook.
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