Six Quick Things – Curiosity

Curiosity has been a key part of our development as a species.

Without it we would never have found the transformative power of heat (imagine a canteen without chips) or how to turn a bean into a drink (or a staffroom without coffee!).

The drive to find out ‘What happens if this is mixed with that?’ or ‘How can we store things, so they don’t go bad?’ are the basis for much of our success as humans.

Yes, we are great at remembering existing knowledge, but we only move forward by being curious about what we don't know.

As educators, we can tap into the innate curiosity in all our learners.

Curiosity and Memory

There's an added neurological benefit too.

The limbic section of our brain seems to play a key part in curiosity and wonder, excitement and anticipation.

It is a part of our brains that helps make learning meaningful and long lasting.

Think back to your own education. What are the lessons that you remember all these years later? Almost certainly they will be ones with a strong limbic connection.

So how can schools develop the curiosity of children and young people, not to mention the adults in the room?

Six Ways to Get Started With Curiosity

Here are six quick things to get you started.

ONE: Have curiosity as one of the stated drivers of your school.

Have the word on your website, your marketing materials, your walls. Give weekly/termly prizes for acts of curiosity. Praise teachers who bring wonder into their classroom. When appointing a new member of staff, ask them what they are curious about. Ask your governors to be ‘guardian of curiosity’ in your school. Encourage them to visit and look for examples of it across the school.

TWO: Assign part of the school as a Wonder Room, a Corridor Of Curiosities or even a Cabinet of Curiosities.

It could be just a matchbox. The size doesn't matter. What counts is that you consider curiosity so important it has its own area of celebration. Wonder spaces should be dynamic, full of a mix of biological, mechanical, historical and synthetic objects. They should be places where things can be picked up and handled. Where the question ‘What is this?’ resounds. Pupils, parents and staff should be frequent visitors, searching for items which connect to their learning.

THREE: Encourage the use of questions and objects in the classroom.

Wonder and curiosity are not things to be left on shelves or cupboards. They should be part of every day. Challenge staff to choose an item from your Wonder Room and use it in as many ways as possible. Make a school-wide competition where you allocate objects to all the staff and encourage them to be inventive in how they use the objects in their lessons in the following days. Have weekly ‘curious questions’ (Ian Gilberts Thunks are a good starting point). Is a broken-down car parked? Is there more past than future? Do you always have your lap with you? The teacher is no longer simply a provider of answers, but an instigator of questions.

FOUR: Make a Wonder Trail.

Place amazing questions around your school. And not in the classrooms, but in the communal spaces. Have competitions to answer as many as you can. To find your favourite. Encourage the pupils to develop curious questions for their peers. We can send you a set of 100 wonder questions if you drop us a line.

FIVE: Create a labyrinth in your school*.

Walking a labyrinth is surprisingly soothing and relaxing. It helps focus the mind and calm stress. Giving a student a question to think about, to answer only when they emerge from the labyrinth, is a wonderful gift. Labyrinths can be painted on the ground, made with rocks, mown into the grass or made temporarily with flour or, in the autumn, dry leaves.

SIX: Appoint an ‘Agent of Wonder’.

Someone responsible for disrupting the mundane. Life in school is always busy, and it is easy for your best curious intentions to fall by the wayside. By asking someone to take on the mantle of ‘Agent of Wonder’ – or even a ‘Wonder Team’ – you are gifting colleagues the role of provocateur, asking them to ensure the promotion of wonder in the staff room, across the school and with the parents. With their help, wonder and curiosity will blossom into every corner of your school.

There you have it.

Curiosity is a natural human drive you can easily tap into that helps improve motivation, engagement and attainment.

Curious to know more?

Dave Harris is very much in demand for his keynotes and workshops on curiosity and wonder, often bringing with him a table of over 100 wonderful and wondrous objects of curiosity and interest.

He also frequently delivers full-day CPD in partnership with the man who, as a headteacher, he employed as the country’s very first school-based ‘Agent of Wonder’, Dr Matthew McFall. Please get in touch for more details.

For more on Dr Matthew McFall’s work (and yes his doctorate was in developing wonder in the classroom) check out his book A Cabinet of Curiosities - The Little Book of Awe and Wonder for our Independent Thinking Press.

*First ensure you know the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. A maze has choices in its journey. You can – and will – get lost. A labyrinth has a single intricate path leading to the centre. Get in touch and we'll send you a simple guide to drawing labyrinths written by Dr McFall.