When curiosity is sparked...

I recently discovered this amazing YouTube channel that proposes, WELL PRODUCED, video scenarios about perplexing "What if..." scenarios and then animates/describes what would occur? For example: "What if the oxygen disappeared from the world for 5 seconds?" or "What if the moon exploded?", etc. 

Keeping "What if" in mind, I have been struggling with hands-on labs during distance learning, and have recently been experimenting with leveraging the scenarios described in on the channel to empower "Thought Experiments" rather than forcing distance learning labs while student are not in class. I did two "What if" thought experiments this week, one in my Chemistry class, and one in my Biology class. Students  LOVED THEM! 

The went like this: 

1. Place students in Zoom Breakout rooms.
2. Broadcast the "What if" scenario to their room. For example, "What if oxygen in the earth's atmosphere was doubled?". 
3. Given student 10 minutes, in groups, to develop a many answers to the hypothetical scenario as possible without looking online for a solution.
4. Bring students back and elect one member to type their answers into the public chat. 
5. Allow all students time to read the responses and reflect on their favorite. 
6. Play the "What if" solution video! THIS IS THE BEST PART. For example, the below video answers the above "What if" scenario. 

Use "What if" thought experiments to spark curiosity about an upcoming unit (as I did above prior to a unit on Cellular Respiration), or challenge student's ability to apply learned content to a new, hypothetical situation. Either way, "What if" thought experiments have transformed engagement in my online classes this week.

I just finished the audiobook for the autobiography of the legendary Physics Professor Richard Feynman. A fabulous listen, I have always been inspired by Feynman's contagious curiosity and desire to learn all things with a seemingly vicious intensity. I find myself also drawn towards a similar, addictive need, to ask questions and search for answers to things that others might find meaningless or not directly relate to vocation. Or perhaps, I'm trying to justify my late night YouTube deep dives. Either way...Feynman's spirit speaks to me and listening to his life story added an unexpected sense direction to my own midlife contemplations. 

Through a lens of  science instruction, I was endlessly inspired by the way Feynman's own personal sense of curiosity naturally mingled into his instructional pedagogy. That is, it was clear that he deeply values the question asking process and made it clear throughout the book that questions must precede any form of direct instruction or delivery of equations. My own passion for translating individual curiosity about the world into formal lesson plans was my motivation for this TED talk I delivered in 2013. This passion for "Delayed Direct Instruction" is intrinsic to the inquiry learning cycle and its efficacy in helping students develop conceptual models for understanding is outlined in the literature. Click here  for example of the plethora of research articles that underscore the importance of questions BEFORE lecture.  

The first 30 seconds of this clip from The Challenger Disaster, a film about Feynman's role in uncovering the the true cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, clearly demonstrates Feynman's inability to separate conceptual understanding and curiosity from instructional pedagogy. I could watch this clip all day long! 

Perhaps the below quote sums up the purpose of this post and its relationship to Feynman best. I read the quote as Feynman challenging educators of today to find a way, despite the myriad forms of resistance,  to figure out ways to spark student curiosity in search of authentic, conceptual understanding. 

I recently stumbled across this podcast between Tim Ferris and Seth Godin. About midway through the episode Tim begins to grill Seth about the concept of Pedagogy, and how he goes about thinking about learning and instruction through a lens of. cognition and motivation.

To quote Seth:

"We learn things by becoming momentarily incompetent" 

This one quote summarizes so beautifully everything I tried to say here, and on my best days, what I try and do in the classroom (pandemic or not).  That is, to carefully walk the line between the delivery, and the withholding of information. To have faith in the empty spaces. To honor the mystery box. 

I encourage you all to listen to Tim and Seth's thoughtful conversation. 

Click here to access the first of three recordings for my "Spark Learning" Masterclass. This session explored research and strategies related to sparking student curiosity at the beginning of an inquiry learning cycle. 

With many schools announcing that they will be embarking on various distance learning models this Fall, student engagement in the online learning space is extremely important. That being said, given the stress of curricular modification, and the barrage of training and tools being thrown at teachers daily, student engagement is often overlooked. 

Keeping the above in mind, click here for a toolkit I created a few years ago to assist fellow educators in understanding and implementing techniques for sparking student curiosity. Many of you already have this document, but I am hopeful that sharing it again provides a reminder as to how simple, and exciting, curating curiosity eliciting moments are for students.