“Kids are curious creatures,” writes Ben Talsma in eSchool News. Ben is a learning specialist for the Van Andel Institute for Education, a Michigan-based nonprofit dedicated to creating classrooms where curiosity, creativity and critical thinking thrive.
“Sadly, we educators don’t always take advantage of our students’ innate curiosity and can get comfortable with a certain way of doing things. Many of us follow daily routines and standard practices and end up missing out on those invaluable “whys” that poke at our students’ imaginations. But we can offer students of all ages a deeper, more experiential way of learning. Here are four intentional shifts in the classroom that can help teachers foster engagement and inquiry.
1) Encourage student exploration
“It’s crucial to move away from rigid expectations about how students ‘should’ learn, which can limit student curiosity and engagement. Promote a culture of exploration and student agency by letting students construct their own understandings of the concepts explored in class.
“One way is through the What’s My Rule? learning strategy. The teacher categorizes examples and nonexamples of a specific concept into two groups without revealing the concept itself. For instance, “I like warm hugs,” is an example of a complete sentence, whereas “A big red dog,” is a nonexample. Students are challenged to explain why the items are sorted in this manner. This encourages students to explore the rationale behind the sorting, allowing them to understand the concept without the teacher explicitly telling them what they are supposed to learn.
2) Allow students to make choices
“The idea of choice is an essential ingredient to unlocking student engagement and inquiry. Prioritizing autonomy can enhance students’ involvement in the learning process. Allow students to choose how they tackle problems or seek information. This empowers them as active participants in their education. This could look like a choice board on which students are presented a 3×3 grid of options for how to explore a subject and are challenged to complete any three that make a row. It could also involve allowing students to choose from a selection of independent variables to explore during a scientific investigation. Or you might create a Hyperdoc with approved sites for research and allow students to select which ones look most promising or appealing. Choice is built in, the key is to provide students with autonomy to increase ownership over their learning.
“The What Else Do You Know? strategy can be applied to any learning assessment. Conclude the test by prompting students to share additional knowledge that wasn’t covered in the assessment. Students can showcase what they’ve learned beyond the assessed material and—with a heads-up at the beginning of a unit—pursue their curiosity and engage in independent research that they can apply to this question.
3) Make students explain their thinking
“Teachers can create frameworks that prompt students to justify their thought processes and enhance their grasp of concepts. Instead of solely acknowledging correct answers, educators should allow students to elaborate on their reasoning in innovative ways to foster critical thinking.
“The Three Whys technique is particularly valuable here. The teacher invites students to answer a question and then explain why they believe their answer is correct. After they give their reasoning, the teacher prompts them to explain why that reasoning is valid. This cycle is then repeated once more, compelling students to get to the root of their understanding and allowing the teacher to examine student reasoning to find the root of misunderstandings.
4) Encourage students to innovate
“Delegate some intellectual responsibilities to students to foster their growth and independence. One way to do this is to employ the Teach the Future strategy. Have current students craft lessons for next year’s classes to apply what they’ve learned and strengthen their understanding. This not only helps teachers assess a student’s comprehension of the material, it provides teachers with additional resources and reinforces students’ learning as they consider how best to convey knowledge to others.
“Embrace these shifts in learning to transform our classrooms into dynamic centers of curiosity and innovation. Let’s dedicate ourselves to creating learning environments that ignite a lifelong passion for discovery in our students. We’ll not only enhance their educational journey but also pave the way for the next generation of thinkers, creators and inquisitive minds,” writes Talsma.
eSchool News
