We’re continuing our series on curiosity! This time, we’ll look at an interesting element of curiosity: curiosity is better when it’s social.
Game Of Thrones Is Better Together
Consider a TV show that has lots of twists, turns, and cliffhanger endings. For me Lost and Game of Thrones come to mind. They’re the kind of shows people will throw weekly parties for just to watch with other people.
These shows’ mysterious and confusing nature is enhanced when other people are around to share reactions and discuss theories. Our shared confusion leads to enhanced curiosity.
Watching Game of Thrones alone is simply not as interesting.
A Need To Share
Go back to the video of those paper dinosaurs from last time. If you watched it alone, you may have had the sudden desire to grab the person next to you and show them (I’ve definitely annoyed my wife with hundreds of curiosity-provoking images when planning my Puzzlement mailers).
I’ve used this image in workshops: try to predict what you’re looking at. It creates confusion on its own, but it’s much more interesting if you hear other peoples’ theories (I’ll reveal the answer in the next article).
There’s something about curiosity that makes us want to wonder with other people.
So how do we leverage this in classrooms? How do we create moments of social curiosity where all kids get a chance to wonder with their peers?
Summary
So, in classrooms, it’s worth purposefully (but gently) confusing students and then letting them talk to each other. It will build their interest and enhance their curiosity.
Next time: we (as teachers) can create (or kill) confusion in our classrooms.