Originally posted in our August 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter.
Closing out this month’s Top of Mind, we turn to a paper published in 2011 focused on the importance of curiosity in schools. While we have focused on many of the contemporary issues of education this month, it is also important to reflect on the overarching trend of modern learning. In this paper, “[Susan] Engel argues that interactions between teachers and students can foster or inhibit children’s curiosity. She offers an explanation for why curiosity is not a priority in our educational system and calls for greater attention to children’s interests and explorations, which, she argues, are the mechanisms that underlie authentic learning.”
Using various studies and stories of how teachers have helped or hindered curiosity, Engel provides a useful lens to view our current dilemmas: are our educational systems and mechanisms fostering curiosity or conformity?
While the path forward is anything but easy, let us, as educators and supporters of education, remember the value of real and earnest learning through personal discovery.
What piques your curiosity?
Get the paper here or read it on our website.