Encouraging curiosity

Curiosity: the desire to learn, to understand new things and to know how things work.

Studies show that it makes our brain more receptive to learning, hence making it essential to the process.

The classroom can be a place where we can encourage curiosity, and at the same time, use it to enhance how they learn. Here are some ways we can promote curiosity in schools.

1. Replicate curiosity in as many ways as possible.

As it is part of our human instinct, it is natural for us to be curious. We can help improve this by incorporating them in our lessons. For example, thinking aloud when reading a book/article or watching a video. 2. Encourage questions and teach them how to ask quality ones.

Questions are one of the best ways to gauge curiosity. Encourage your students to form their questions, and you can not only measure their curiosity, but also their background knowledge, confidence, and comprehension. The use of “What if,” “Why,” and “How” will provide more understanding rather than use of “What,” “When,” “Who,” and “Where.”

3. Value and reward curiosity

Recognize students who demonstrate curiosity. When you describe how their questions, and findings are helping in classroom learning, you are motivating them to do it again.

There are plenty of other ways we can stimulate curiosity in our students. It will not only help them succeed in the classroom, but also in real life, where curiosity is essential to success.