“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
Are we cultivating curiosity in our classrooms? Are we aiming to cultivate the genius potential in all of our students? If you read Thomas Armstrong’s book, Awakening Genius in the Classroom, you’ll see that curiosity is one of the qualities of genius. Armstrong went into schools in the United States to observe how teachers were providing experiences that included the qualities of genius. Instead, what he and his researchers found was that 75-90% of the learning occurred through textbooks and worksheets. He noted,
“No genius has ever attributed his or her success to a worksheet.”
In this age of mandated testing, is curiosity at the top of our “To Do” lists? If it’s not, should it be?
“One could say that curiosity is a program of the mind that pursues new information. Curiosity is something innate, which newborns demonstrate as soon as they are born when the look around…without innate curiosity, education is not possible…” -N. Kobayashi, M.D.
If curiosity is innate and we can’t have education without it, then how can the passive “spray and pray” type of instruction still exist so prominently in today’s educational environments? Evidently, this challenge is not just occurring in the United States…
“Such characteristics of passive learning can still be found today in our education systems. Most obvious in this schooling method is that, monotonously, information is provided to be absorbed by students. But does this deliver knowledge? Will it motivate us to think out of the box, will it make us crave more learning, and will it get us far in the future?” -K. Soemarwoto, from, “When Education Fails to Cultivate Curiosity” [www.jakartapost.com/news/2008/05/14/when-education-fails-cultivate-curiosity.html]
“Curiously, curiosity is no-where to be found in reform measures being debated today. Rather, curiosity is left to scrub the proverbial floors of education institutions. It’s the forgotten and malnourished of NCLB and mistreated stepsister of Race to the Top. Click on some of the speeches by President Obama and Secretary Duncan and then search for ‘curiosity.’ You won’t find it anywhere.
Yet, in order to promote lifelong learning, it is a, if not THE, necessary ingredient. It is the high octane fuel of learning. It is the glass slipper.” -Jason Flom
If Jason’s comments sparked your curiosity, you might want to read his entire post [ecologyofeducation.net/wsite/?p=1276].
I believe that you can cultivate the genius potential in all your students while “uncovering” the curriculum and still prepare students to do well on state tests. That’s why I created the structure called Tabor Rotation and why I train teachers across the United States how to use it. It’s why I post blogs and hope to spark dialogue about making our pedagogy better. It’s why I offer games and information on my website-for anyone to use.
But, let’s get back to you…are you cultivating curiosity in your classroom? Are you providing learning experiences that foster thinking?
“There’s still so much to discover, all around us. And even if something’s been seen by someone, when you see it yourself for the first time, it is your own, new discovery. and you might see something differently.” -Jane Goodall