Week Four Blog Review - 10 Strategies to Promote Curiosity
This week's post from Terry Heick, of Teachthought.com, has him expanding on a previous post of his own - "8 Strategies to Help Students Ask Great Questions." In this update, he has added two useful strategies that reiterate the value of questioning as part of the student learning experience.
Focusing first on the value of cognitive dissonance, as a prime angle for teachers to teach students to recognize when they don't know to empower asking, Heick wants teachers to develop an environmental and practical culture that inspires curiosity.
The ten steps include:
1. Model varieties of curiosity.
2. Embed curiosity within instructional design.
3. Analyze curiosity - name and share parts, especially cause and effect.
4. Reward curiosity.
5. Make curiosity personal.
6. Let students lead learning.
7. Frame content as a marketer.
8. Focus on questions, not answers.
9. Connect this to that - knowledge with the unknown.
10. De-School it.
Setting aside the capricious range and consistency of this list, it does have some useful ideas that could separately work to create the curious culture Heick rightly calls for.
In my own experience, the idea of de-schooling topics - establishing real world context for students' engagement - has been a productive attitude I adopt.
In English, many students are right about how writing analyses of literature won't be part of their future. So we cast their work as evidence-gatherers, critical thinkers, and reporters (writers / presenters) in light of the work we know they'll be able to do beyond the classrooms of their future. Managers, business owners, entrepreneurs and investors, medical workers, and countless other careers engage in formal work that won't be formatted like our practice, but students are willing to make the connection and see their work as skill-building when the frame is set properly.
Focusing first on the value of cognitive dissonance, as a prime angle for teachers to teach students to recognize when they don't know to empower asking, Heick wants teachers to develop an environmental and practical culture that inspires curiosity.
The ten steps include:
1. Model varieties of curiosity.
2. Embed curiosity within instructional design.
3. Analyze curiosity - name and share parts, especially cause and effect.
4. Reward curiosity.
5. Make curiosity personal.
6. Let students lead learning.
7. Frame content as a marketer.
8. Focus on questions, not answers.
9. Connect this to that - knowledge with the unknown.
10. De-School it.
Setting aside the capricious range and consistency of this list, it does have some useful ideas that could separately work to create the curious culture Heick rightly calls for.
In my own experience, the idea of de-schooling topics - establishing real world context for students' engagement - has been a productive attitude I adopt.
In English, many students are right about how writing analyses of literature won't be part of their future. So we cast their work as evidence-gatherers, critical thinkers, and reporters (writers / presenters) in light of the work we know they'll be able to do beyond the classrooms of their future. Managers, business owners, entrepreneurs and investors, medical workers, and countless other careers engage in formal work that won't be formatted like our practice, but students are willing to make the connection and see their work as skill-building when the frame is set properly.
This was a very interesting read. I am constantly wanting my students to ask questions when they are struggling with a math concept. I really like that the article highlighted "teaching students to recognize when they don't know to empower them to ask." I easily become frustrated and want them to raise their hand and ask, but I need to take a step back and find ways to empower them to ask. I'm also similar to you in that I try to establish the real world context to increase engagement and curiosity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Today at a faculty meeting, I met in a small group. Our discussion included how to ask higher-level questions. I never considered promoting curiosity through encouraging questions, allowing students to direct the learning, and "de-schooling" a discussion.
ReplyDelete