We all know that every child is born with an innate curiosity and that as that
child travels through life and school, that curiosity slowly dwindles until by
the time you're an adult, like us, you've just about lost all their curiosity,
because along the way it's been killed off by people, circumstances in your life.
So today we're going to look at ways that you can regain some of that innate
curiosity that you were born with.
So that you are better able to spot opportunities in everyday life to
nurture it in the children you teach.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about this very thing in my newsletter.
I gave my subscribers some tips on how to nurture their own curiosity.
So to get blooming curious, by the way, my newsletter go to EDS lessons.com.
And sign up there.
That's Ed's lessons.com and sign up there.
And in a few weeks time or so, there won't be in it for lessons anymore,
there'll just be Blooming Curious
so that's really something exciting I'm looking forward to.
So listen, I did some digging to see how we can regain or
nurture our own curiosity.
And I've found that we need to start by taking up a challenge, a new hobby,
or something you've wanted to do for a really long time, but you just haven't
had the courage or the time to do it.
Well, this podcast and my blog, and all the resources that I've created
is exactly that for me, It's something I toiled about for a very long time.
And then one day I just thought, what the hell?
And I started and here I am.
It's really scary putting yourself out there, especially at my age.
When I'm wanting to create a following so that I can make a difference in
more children's lives because the more adults and teachers know how to keep
kids curious and loving learning, the better the future will be for all of us.
So I set myself this challenge, right?
And every day is a learning curve.
And there are some days I seriously feel like throwing in the towel.
And other days when someone signs up for one of my resources or I
get a new follower on social media or a new follower here on Blooming
Curious, I think, okay maybe I'll just keep going for a little longer.
So the reason we should be all following a passion or hobby or
starting something challenging
is it because it makes us more curious about something.
And the process of learning all about this new thing, actually takes
us through an inquiry cycle, which is exactly what children go through
when they are inquiring, and they are curious and when we can do this and
go through the cycle ourselves, we can then model this to our learners.
And when you starting something new.
You have questions around it, right?
Where do you go?
How do you start?
What special equipment might you need?
And when you start an inquiry project, you ask questions and
this is exactly the same process.
When you are going through an inquiry process or an inquiry project or an
inquiry mindset with children you're going to find the answers to your questions.
When you start on an inquiry project, you ask questions, right?
This is the exact same process.
And then you're going to find the answers to your questions.
Maybe you do some reading or you watch a video on YouTube or you take some courses.
This is exactly what learners will do too.
They'll be observing, reading, talking to others, watching videos
or whatever it takes to find the answers to their questions.
And once you have these answers.
And you have an idea of what it is you wanting to start putting together.
You take action.
You don't just stay on it.
This is the important part, guys.
You take action.
You're not just thinking about it anymore.
It's not just a dream.
You're doing it.
No matter how rubbish it is right now.
No matter how bad you think you are right now.
Cause trust me, you'd probably never as bad as you think.
You just have a go and you dip your toes in.
For me doing this is exactly the same.
This podcast is probably not up there, but I think there is a space for all
of us and I'm just doing this thing.
One episode at a time,
and with each episode I gain a little bit more confidence until one day,
hopefully sooner than later, because you know, I'm not getting any younger.
I too can have a million downloads, but hey, that won't happen, by the way, unless
you share this thing and you subscribe and you follow and you spread the love people.
Cause, you know, love is a doing word.
You don't just tell me how much you like things you have to show me by
sharing it and leaving reviews, and that's what the podcasting gods like.
And so do I just by the way.
So now you're putting it all together,
and that equates to kids working on their projects and figuring out
how they'll share their learning.
Are they going to draw a picture?
Are they going to label it?
Are they going to talk about it or are they going to write a report or
make a video or write a blog post?
And for you on this mission, how are you going to share it?
Are you finally, going to plant that veggie garden after all your research
into what you're going to grow and how to enrich your soil, et cetera.
And you finally going to prepare those beautiful homemade meals for your
family after finding all the recipes and learning all the techniques?
Are you going to start that first chapter of your book
you've always wanted to write.
Then, of course you will eventually come to the point where you have
to deliver your presentation.
You'll harvest the vegetables.
Maybe you'll publish a short story.
Maybe your dancing will finally come together and you can
glide gracefully across a room.
Maybe even intro competition.
Or perhaps you finally have sewn and completed your very first garment
and you now wear it to show the world your fantastic new skills.
For kids this is exactly the same.
They produce their learning in whatever format they choose.
Because inquiry is not cookie cutter learning.
There aren't 25 identical yellow ducks hanging from a washing
line across the classroom.
Now you might have 25 or maybe less
if kids are working on collaborative projects of different products,
or projects being shown, but now this is different.
Now you have real agency, because all your kids are doing something different.
And the learning doesn't just stop here.
You've now presented that doesn't mean you now stop.
You're not going to stop planting vegetables
are you?
You're not going to stop your dance lessons or your stop, your writing.
Now you start refining.
You check.
Where could you do better?
What did you leave out that perhaps needs including that
isn't working that needs fixing.
Just like a scientist conducting an experiment.
You keep refining.
Getting better, figuring things out.
And that's exactly what I'm in the process of doing right now.
I'm now looking at what it is that I'm doing wrong or not
enough of, or too much of.
So learning doesn't stop once you've produced your first product.
Learning is an ongoing process.
And it's now this stage, that curiosity kicks in big time.
To start really thinking critically finding ways around problems, a
different way of doing something that can give you a better outcome.
And so we send our learners back to reevaluate.
Why doesn't this work?
What can you change?
Allow me to share a story with you.
You know, as a teacher, you always remember those little moments that
were so magical when students show real passion for learning and curiosity.
It's something to treasure.
So I had this little guy in my year, two class, he was smart as a tack.
The kids are making 3d models of animals they had studied as part
of a science unit, on life cycles.
And each student studied their own animal
of course.
We wrote reports.
We made 2d colleges of the animals in the style of Mattise's art.
We integrated technology into our learning and they created 3d models.
This kid created a rhino out of recycled materials because we always
repurpose materials to be sustainable as possible when working with children.
And he did an amazing job.
But this rhino kept toppling over and it wouldn't stand up.
Now as an educator, here is your everyday learning example.
What do you do?
Do you solve the problem for him and tell him what he should do to get it to stand.
Absolutely not.
This is the moment for encouraging curiosity, critical
thinking and problem solving.
I think I may have held the rhino in place and asked him to look
carefully and figure out why he thought the rhino was toppling over.
He looked, I held it, let it go.
He looked again, and then his eyes lit up and he said, I know what the problem is.
And off, he went with the tape and some other materials from the
recycling box and he fixed the problem.
And then of course he didn't like how you could see the rhino was
standing on the lid of the shoe box.
So I did what anyone with an inquiry mindset would you.
I asked questions.
What are you thinking?
How about you go and look at a whole bunch of pictures of rhinos in the wild.
And then you tell me what you see.
And lo and behold, he saw them standing in long grass.
So you actually couldn't see their feet.
And bingo.
He had solved his problem.
I then helped him and showed him how to create grass from paper and
how he could stick it onto the shoe box lid so that it would stand up.
And it looked like the rhino was standing in grass and you wouldn't be able to
see the feet where he had patched it up and made it so that it could stand.
And I did one of the piece of this grass for him
and then off he went with his new found skill and he did the rest.
How do you think he felt when he solved his own problem?
Proud as punch.
Just like we do when we accomplish something.
The inquiry process is also about welcoming failure so that when success
is achieved, it's all the sweeter.
And guess what else happens?
We feel good.
And because we feel good, dopamine that feel good, chemical is
released and we want more of it.
And so comes the joy of inquiry, the joy of figuring things
out and experiencing success.
And why ever would we not want children to experience that?
So in essence, This is inquiry at work in every day experiences.
When we are with kids, we need to be watching and observing.
And when you spot opportunities, which allow for problem-solving and critical
thinking, To use them to nurture curiosity and build inquiry skills in our learners.
Inquiry, you know, Is not a separate subject.
So many educators think that they need time to do inquiry
that it's a separate subject.
And that's why they avoid it because they think they don't have the time,
but inquiry is not a separate subject.
It's not something you do on a Wednesday morning.
Inquiry is a stance you take, it's a mindset.
It's a way of being.
Although sometimes you obviously you have this inquiring mindset and you're
looking for opportunities when you could ask a question, we encourage
children to find something out or go further or go deeper with something.
You can also dedicate blocks of time to inquiry.
Where children, for example, work on an inquiry project.
But inquiry is a part of your makeup, your persona, your thinking.
We talk about educating the whole child.
This is what it means.
We cannot possibly say our culture in our school or in our homes
is always all about whole child.
And then we don't encourage inquiry and curiosity.
To help you see those moments.
I've created a great little e-guide for you, and it's called How
to Encourage Natural Curiosity.
Go to Ed's lessons.com.
Forward slash resources, go to free resources and you'll find it there.
I've included question starters in there and an example of how you can
turn a simple walk with a child into a learning experience that nurtures
curiosity and the same can be done when a child is playing outside in
a backyard or on the playground.
And inquiry mindset isn't just applicable to the science curriculum.
It's applicable to any subject at any time.
Let's take a look at English, for example.
If you're teaching writing a descriptive sentence and you're walking around and you
see a child has written a simple sentence.
What do you do?
Do you correct it for them?
Rewrite it for them.
No.
If you have an inquiry mindset, you take an inquiry stance.
You're going to ask a question.
How can you include an adjective in this sentence to make it more interesting?
How can you better describe the object in the sentence?
And then the kid has a go and maybe they'll need a little help and
scaffolding and a little bit of direction, but you encourage them to
come up with the answer themselves.
Our job as educators is about getting children to think,
and we do that by nurturing an inquiring mind, not just in our students.
But in ourselves too, because it all starts with us.
If you are not curious, the kids you teach will not be curious either.
So I encourage you to really work on your own curiosity and mindset.
Try something new.
Set yourself a challenge.
It will not only make your life more interesting and fulfilling, but
it will make you more interesting.
And by the way, share your experience of learning something new and failing
and trying again with your students so that they see your curiosity at work.
And very soon they will be trying new things and building their
resilience too, by seeing failure as part of the learning process.
I want to hear all about your own curiosity, exploration.
So go to Instagram, you can find me there at Ed's lessons.
And let's start a conversation all about how we develop our own inquiry mindset.
I'd love to connect with you.
Listen, I so appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show.
I know you could have listened to any one of a thousand shows, but
you decided to listen to this one.
And I'm so grateful to you for that.
And if you like this episode or the show, won't you do me a favor?
And share it with five friends right now.
And that's the only way the show can grow and ultimately more kids will benefit.
I really thank you so much for doing that and for being here.
So
don't forget please to subscribe and follow if you really like the
show you like today's content.
And I'll see you here same time, same place next week.
So until then stay blooming, curious.