The Role of Curiosity in Education

The Role of Curiosity in Education

Curiosity has been given a bad rap for centuries, "Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions, AD 397, that, in the eons before creating heaven and earth, God "fashioned hell for the inquisitive"." (Gary Martin, n.d.) We are more familiar with the idiom, "Curiosity killed the cat." It is unfair to slander this trait with references to death and hell. In the twenty-first century, it appears that attitudes toward curiosity are changing for the better.

 

 

 

What is the role of curiosity in education? Author Susan Engel explored this question in her essay entitled Children's Need to Know, published by the Harvard Educational Review in the winter of 2011. Engel "argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions." (625) Her argument is supported by theories on education reaching as far back as the 18th century.

 

In his Treatise on Education, philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau put forth the idea that "education should be carried out, so far as possible, in harmony with the development of the child's natural capacities by a process of apparently autonomous discovery." (Christopher Bertram 2010) This idea is in contrast to the banking concept of education identified by Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Friere. The concept is an education model in which "in which passive learners have pre-selected knowledge deposited in their minds." (n.d.) Unfortunately, this is a model that is pervasive our classrooms today.

 

Curiosity in the Classroom

Susan Engel describes a paradox in curiosity that involves novelty and familiarity. In her essay she cites research by K. Ann Renninger that explores the interaction between novelty and an interest that could be dependent on familiarity. Engel writes, "Because a child might become curious when confronted with something perplexing and novel but might also be curious when given a chance to explore something she has already encountered and liked". (627) In either case, exploration is key to learning information. We should encourage students to explore their interests. This discovery can be inhibited by the material that is used in classrooms, more specifically textbooks. Textbooks that condense and simplify information support a rote style of learning that does not appeal to innate curiosity. I would offer that memorization is not actually learning because there is usually an expiration date for the information. That is, the information is memorized for a testing date and then becomes useless without a vested interest.

 

Piaget

The work of Swiss developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget, is referenced throughout Engel's essay. Piaget described human adaptation through assimilation and accomodation. "Both of these processes are used though out life as the person increasingly adapts to the environment in a more complex manner." (http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html) His studies support the role of curiosity in that "children gain knowledge when their curiosity is piqued." (629) In his observations of children he identified four stages of cognitive development.





 

 

While Piaget is lauded as one of the most influential researchers of the twentieth century, his assertions are in opposition to the theories of Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky's theories differ from Piaget's in three important ways:

1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development - this contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development. (Vygotsky does not refer to stages in the way that Piaget does).
2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development (Piaget is criticized for underestimating this).
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development (again Piaget is criticized for lack of emphasis on this). (McLeod, S. A. 2007)

Vygosky is also credited with the principle of the Zone of Proximal Development and a teaching strategy known as scaffolding.

 

 



Classroom Tools
How can educators foster and encourage curiosity in the classroom? No Spoilers! instead of giving students all of the answers right away, let them make guesses and hypothesize. A method for this strategy is Vygotsky's scaffolding.

 

 

 

Conclusions



Of most importance in Susan Engel's essay is the notion that "curiosity is fostered in a social context and needs to be cultivated through interactions with adults". (643) Children are curious by nature. We do not have to instill a sense of inquisitiveness in them. But we can stifle this innate characteristic by reducing the amount of exploration and discovery in a classroom setting. The role of curiosity in education has been the subject of study for centuries. Educators are fortunate to have this body of knowledge available to them. The challenge is how these theories can be applied in classrooms with modern variables. From a historical viewpoint, today's classrooms might be unrecognizable to twentieth century psychologists and philosophers. We might look to combine useful information fro the past with modern ideas like Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences.

 

 

References:

 

Bertram, Christopher. "Jean Jacques Rousseau." Stanford University. Stanford University, 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

 

Engel, Susan. "Children's Need to Know: Curiosity in Schools." Harvard Educational Review Winter 2011 (2011): 625-43. Web.

 

Martin, Gary. "Curiosity Killed the Cat." Curiosity Killed the Cat. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

 

"Paulo Freire." Paulo Freire. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

 

"Educational Psychology Interactive: Cognitive Development." Educational Psychology Interactive: Cognitive Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.



"Lev Vygotsky." Vygotsky. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

 

By Steve Valadez