Educational Philosophy Statement

Creating a Pedagogy of Curiosity

I have not found a simple formula or algorithm to create a pedagogy of curiosity. Rather, I believe it is the interplay of several factors that combine to create something larger than sum of its parts. Specifically, I typically strive for some combination of the following five factors: 1) provide rich experiences; 2) offer authentic work; 3) create mystery and intrigue; 4) allow for play; and 5) embrace a shift in classroom power dynamics.

Provide Rich Experiences

Aligning myself with social constructivists, I believe that knowledge is socially negotiated and agreed upon by members of a community (e.g., see Vygotsky, 1978; Lave & Wenger, 1991). It is therefore important that learning be situated in a meaningful context and be experiential. Thus my first two elements of my pedagogy of curiosity address rich experiences and an authentic context.

Interestingly, children’s epistemological beliefs about themselves as learners are formed early in life. Their beliefs typically fall on a continuum somewhere between entity theories and incremental theories. Children who are entity theorists view learning and intelligence as fixed or finite. As such, they seem to be in competition with other students in order to appear to have the abundance of knowledge. Children who are incremental theorists view learning and intelligence as flexible or malleable. These students are not hampered by competition and thus seek out intellectual challenges for themselves (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000). These theories of learning affect students’ willingness to persist through frustration, their disposition to inquiry and their motivation to learn. In fact, Bruner (1966) believes that children should be as aware of their “strategies of thought” as they are of their efforts to memorize facts. Obviously, if beliefs are never raised to consciousness and challenged, these ideas persist (Duffy & Cunningham, 1996). Thus, the theories of learning and related consequences that children create early can remain through adulthood. However, Tolhurst (2007) has uncovered through data driven research that students’ epistemological beliefs can be positively changed through active, experiential learning.

Schank, Berman and Macpherson (1999) claim that “the most memorable way to learn is through experience.” Additionally, Jonassen (1999) states that “knowledge cannot be transmitted” and thus constructivist “instruction should consist of experiences that facilitate knowledge construction” (my emphasis). I believe that a strong use for technology is to offer rich experiences for students. Through the use of simulation software, programming software, Web 2.0 tools and much more, students can gain a window into the domain of knowledge and begin to formulate questions and experiment with hypotheses. Then, when students have attempted to address issues or answer questions on their own first, they are much more inclined to be interested in the facts, details and structure of the discipline (Bruner, 1966; Papert, 1993a, 1993b) that we as educators know are very important. Further, this image of using technology to provide rich experiences for students that is then followed by a teacher’s expertise in the domain is a much more palatable to me than the image of a program directing a student through a predetermined path of coursework. Thus, I believe in offering students experiences first and then following those experiences with the necessary structure and details. However, these experiences should not just be novel, they should be heavily steeped in the authenticity of the “real world.”

Offer Authentic Work

Lave and Wenger (1991) posit that students’ learning experiences are best encapsulated in a community. Sometimes called situated cognition, situated learning or communities of practice, the goal is to offer students an authentic environment in which to practice and develop the content knowledge and problem solving techniques of that domain. In Jonassen’s (1999) model, problems or issues important to a particular domain are identified and offered to the students. Students in turn wrestle with the issues, learning content knowledge, problem solving skills and habits of thought typical to that domain while completing a project to document their learning. Communities of learners are preferably naturally occurring, such as practitioner based communities, but they can also be artificially occurring, such as a classroom if the learning designer is skillful and purposeful in his/her design and implementation. Social constructivists reject the idea that learning occurs in isolation and instead value learning environments that include groups of people involved in meaningful activities and dialogue. I believe that technology can again be leveraged to broaden classroom communities and tap into the preferable, naturally occurring communities of practice.

Schlechty (2002) and Armstrong (1998) are two among many other educators who have emphasized the importance of authentic activities for students. Additionally, Papert (1993a; 1993b) discusses experiences for students at length, stating that building intuition is more important for students than learning facts. Technology-rich learning is an especially powerful way to offer experience to students, particularly in areas such as math and science where some intuitions elude students even after they learn the content knowledge. For example, one young student noted that a particular simulation software let him feel “what it would be like to be a scientist and see the planets up close.” These authentic environments naturally motivate students (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000).

As students progress through school, it becomes easier to keep their learning relevant and authentic. Particularly in graduate school, where students have chosen a field of personal interest and have specialized their learning, the knowledge that is important for students is more closely matched to the knowledge that is important to students. Additionally, many graduate school assignments ask students to connect their knowledge to the world in some meaningful way. Meier (2002) contends that school at all levels should be a combination of a good kindergarten class and a good graduate school class. I believe that the kindergarten class ingredient keeps learning active and experiential and the graduate school ingredient keeps learning relevant and authentic.

Create Mystery and Intrigue

For experts in any domain, there are many unanswered questions. Similarly, novices in a domain can have even more unanswered questions. Technology resources can be well spent if used to open a novice’s mind to these questions. Additionally, mystery and intrigue can be generated by an expert teacher. For example, Schwartz, Lin, Brophy and Bransford (1999) advocate using narratives along with a unique “look ahead & reflect back” feature that can be described as a “teaser that raises both curiosity and aspirations.” Instead of listing learning objectives as statements, this feature might offer pictures of seemingly unrelated objects that students will understand how to connect at the end of the learning. In essence, Schwartz et al. (1999) create mystery and intrigue which draws learners into the problem and into the particular domain of knowledge. Further, Jonassen (1999) also advocates using problems and narratives, but he moves beyond those to indicate that the problems should actually “perturb the learner.” In essence, creating mystery invokes emotions in the learner, which brain research has clearly connected with learning (Wolfe, 2007; Zull, 2006).

Allow for Play

Most people will agree that imaginative play is important for very young children. Then, when children reach school age, most want play replaced with rigor. Yet, when speaking with experts in a field, they are much more likely to talk about playing with an idea or getting to know an idea rather than testing themselves rigorously over a topic (Papert, 1993a, 1993b). Further, when Vygotsky (1978) studied children at play, he described its importance by saying that children are “a head taller” at play. He found that play stretched a child’s development beyond the child’s actual developmental age and considered play to be the more capable peer in the zone of proximal development. Finally, Winnicott (2005), considered the father of modern play therapy, described a “potential space” in play when children perceive themselves as more capable then they actually are, as all-powerful and impressive. In play, emotions are heightened, interests are piqued, and dreams are born. It is a perfect time to interject learning!

Papert (2002) understands that children at play do not shy away from challenges. In fact, he coined the term “hard fun” to describe when children consider playing fun because it is hard and challenging. In other words, children do not want fun or play that is trite as it belittles their intellect and their sense of adventure. Thus, play does not have to equate to whimsy, but can be serious, challenging and motivating. Indeed, I believe that learners of all ages can benefit from playing with the ideas of a particular domain. When properly framed by an experienced teacher, I believe play has a place in all classrooms. I have successfully used play in many situations, from teaching elementary school students about coordinate points to teaching preservice teachers to design technology rich learning environments.

Embrace a Shift in Classroom Power Dynamics

As you have likely imagined by now, this pedagogy of curiosity creates a very different type of classroom; one which requires a very different type of teacher leadership and power dynamics. Leadership, power structures and change management have been studied in organizations for many years (Yukl, 2006), offering significant insights for educators. Recently, this research has been translated into the educational setting specifically (Schlechty, 2002). For example, Schlechty (2002) believes students should be viewed as volunteers in the classroom even when their attendance is compulsory. By doing so, teachers recognize that even when students are present, they must choose to engage and learn. Interestingly, when students’ status is elevated to a volunteer, others’ roles must also be reevaluated. Teachers become instructional leaders and curriculum designers, principals become leaders of instructional leaders (Schlechty, 2002).

Schlechty’s (2002) view of students as volunteers not only reevaluates roles in the classroom, it also shifts the power structure of the classroom and the relationship of the teacher and student. Yukl (2006) defines power as “the capacity of one party to influence another party.” For years under the instructor centered learning approach, teachers have rightly used position power, which Yukl (2006) defines as “influence derived from legitimate authority,” to maintain order and facilitate learning in their classrooms. Under this paradigm, teachers exercise legitimate power, which is that granted to them from a recognized authority; coercive power, which is authority to inflict punishment; and more recently reward power, which is control over resources or desired rewards (Yukl, 2006) with students in the classroom. However, Bennis (2003) contends that today’s leaders must understand that power now follows ideas rather than position and I believe that this is true for young people also. So within this new power structure of student as volunteer, teachers are required to use more personal power, which is influence based on expertise or loyalty (Yukl, 2006). Personal power requires the use of expert power, which is unique personal knowledge and referent power, which is engendering loyalty (Yukl, 2006). Importantly, the use of personal power over position power strengthens relationships with others, which I believe intricately ties together social constructivists and power structures. I believe that ubiquitous technology in our culture has given even young children an unprecedented taste of power with videos, music and televisions shows on demand from the computer, video games that offer real and important choices, and the power to digitally and creatively remix work. This technological power may create a significant disconnect between children’s school worlds and their home worlds. It is an area of study that interests me for my dissertation. But, how exactly can we define a teacher’s role in this classroom that honors the questions?

Teacher as Provocateur

Many educators have yearned for a new metaphor for the teacher. It is clear that the “teacher as custodian and dispenser of all knowledge” metaphor is untenable in our information age. Other roles such as facilitator, guide and coach have all surfaced, but most failed to capture the essence or importance of a teacher’s role. My favorite metaphor is teacher as provocateur (New, 1998). In this role, the teacher is active in guiding and stretching the students beyond where they believe they can go. It is this active stance that distinguishes the provocateur role from the facilitator or guide role. Further, in the role of provocateur, the teacher is essential but not central. The central element becomes the action of the students that has been elicited by the teacher. In other words, the central element is the learning! Essentially, the teacher as provocateur allows for and supports a community of curious learners. But the teacher is certainly not the only one in the classroom that is active. The students also have a significant role to play.

Child as Strong and Capable Learner

In the classroom of the curious, the image of the child shifts from one who responds to prompts with appropriate answers to one who is a strong and capable learner (New, 1998). With this view of the child, I recognize that children instinctively learn from birth through interactions with their world. Children’s natural curiosities can be honed in the classroom with important, authentic work that is respected. Indeed, I take children’s work very seriously and I have seen that this attitude translates to children taking their own work seriously also. Using reflective protocols and authentic assessments, children’s work and thinking has consistently surpassed many adults’ expectations.

Overall, I believe that learning is exciting. Students and teachers in a classroom that honors curiosity enjoy the hard fun of learning. This is the classroom that I seek to build daily.

References

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