“Nobody works harder than a curious kid”
- Thomas Friedman
Students succeed when they understand the relevance of the material, have fun, and become curious about learning. Curiosity is the ingredient that enables a classroom to be effective because students begin to motivate themselves. Arguably this is the ultimate skill needed to survive in today’s world.
Now it is easy for me to point out the importance of fun, relevance, and curiosity. The question then becomes, how do we implement this in the classroom? I introduce to you Thomas Friedman and his book; The World is Flat, a Brief History of the 21st Century*. He answers my question. Mr. Friedman explains that as a result of the flattening (leveling of the playing field) of the world due to technology, we (Americans) must change our skills and attitudes toward learning. Basically, anyone, anywhere in the world, can learn be productive. On page 313 of his book, Mr. Friedman introduces “CQ + PQ > IQ”. This formula implies that the curiosity quotient and passion quotient matter more in achieving success today than simply having a high intelligence. Educators need to teach students how to learn, not just tell them what to learn. This is not easy, especially when teacher success is too often measured by test scores. As an educator, I say, focus on developing and assessing curiosity and passion, while keeping class fun and relevant. The test scores will take care of themselves.
In my thirteen years of teaching I find myself measuring success in the classroom (in addition to traditional evaluations required) when the following happens; relevant material is taught, class was enjoyable, and my students leave class thinking about the concepts addressed (curiosity). On my website www.energizetheclassroom.com , the majority of ideas center on developing curiosity. Mr. Friedman’s formula seems comparable with my philosophy.
As educators, it is crucial to know how to communicate with students and understand whether or not they benefit from what is being taught. It is our job to provide “energy” and “creativity” and transform this to our students. A quick example is the basic concept of a daily riddle that I use in the classroom. I often place a riddle on my whiteboard from the website, www.riddles.com . It provides a great deal of discussion from my students and acts as a sponge activity. It drives some of my students crazy until I tell them the answer. Now most of the time this doesn’t have anything to do with my curriculum, but it puts the students in the mindset to ask questions, think, have fun and be curious. Remember Thomas Friedman’s quote, “nobody works harder than a curious kid”!
* I highly recommend this book.
