Curiosity: a condition for learning?

The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child… Thomas Edison

…and every mind is born with the

instinct of

Curiosity

We all come

into the world

curious

Curiosity is a natural inquisitive behaviour that engenders exploration, investigation and learning

Curiosity is waking up in the morning and wanting to know more about everything

Curiosity creates mindful action

It is where innovation and new ideas emerge

Curiosity is the driving force

behind lifelong learning

Curiosity is the driving force behind lifelong learning

Curiosity shapes our ABILITIES, and our

IDENTITIES

If you tell me that curiosity killed the cat…

I would say CURIOSITY was framed!

..because curiosity

creates learning

Curiosity builds upon curiosity, allowing our minds to open up

They have an unrestricted

desire to understand

Robert Henman 2009

Apple….

...a design company masquerading as a tech company?

Steve Jobs- He became so successful because he was so curious…

...the over-arching secret to his success was his

voracious curiosity

Throughout human history CURIOSITY has

continued to define

great learners

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious” Albert Einstein

However, curiosity seldom survives into adulthoodSam Keen; Apology for Wonder 1973

At five years of age 98% of all children have no problem

thinking divergently

Not surprising really… …under threes, on average, ask their parents about 100 questions a day, every day!

By ten to eleven years of age they’ve pretty much stopped asking

Sadly, by the age of twenty five…

…only 2% can think outside the box

TheCREATIVE ADULT

is the CURIOUS CHILD

who survived

Curiosity is a desire that

QUESTIONS for knowledge

They say you can…judge a man by his questions rather than his answers Voltaire

The cutting edge of knowledge is not in the knowing,

it is in the questioningRalph Thompson

The important thing is not to stop questioning

They don’t stop asking questions because they lose interest

It’s the other way

around!

They lose interest because they stop asking questions

Who has ownership of learning in your classroom?

As educators we have a direct impact on student performance

To what extent do we offer; INTENTIONAL PERSUASIONS

NOT TO BE CURIOUS? Robert Henman 2009

Are we guilty of unintentional

neglect?

Too often missing the opportunity to cultivate the individual’s quest in favour of curriculum delivery

More often we need to adopt thinking around individual learners and active listening

You are all highly valued knowledge professionals, you can create incredible learning for others

As young children, we are wonderfully curious about many, many things

As we grow up, we start believing the

answers are more important than the

questions

If we want to improve the quality of our thinking…we must learn to improve the quality of our questions

Classroom strategyHands up...

...only if you have a question to ask

To be what we can be as educators our primary role must be to ...

... maintain, to nourish, and to celebrate each learner’s curiosity and sense of wonder

• Every day we need to let our students know that their questions are not only valued, but have an important place in our learning environments

Answers don’t change

the world

QUESTIONS DO

Are you driven by the unrestricted desire to understand……because our students are!

And when you instill curiosity in our students, you further encourage their desire to learn

maintaining a genuine attitude of exploration and deep interest in everything, ways of thinking and being

CURIOSITY FREE-WHEELING INTELLIGENCE Alistair Cooke

A CURIOUS MIND is a

GROWING MIND

OUR CHALLENGE: To maintain and further cultivate CURIOSITY

Thanks for

Listening