#ConnectEdCa ConnectEd Canada session 3 Michelle Baldwin

1. http://bit.ly/RekindlingCuriosity
Rekindling Curiosity
Michelle Baldwin
Anastasis Academy
Denver, Colorado
@michellek107

2. “Curiosity is the very basis of
education and if you tell me that
curiosity killed the cat, I say only the
cat died nobly.”
~Arnold Edinborough
Why Curiosity?
CC photo by Stefan Tell, 3 July 2006, http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefantell/354864230/

3. What?
• We are all born curious.
• How have we extinguished innate curiosity
in children?
• home
• play time
• school

4. Playtime
• Organized/Competitive
Sports, Dance
• Adult Intervention
• Evolution of Children’s
Toys

5. Kids and Boxes
CC photo by Ianus Keller, 13 November 2005, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianus/73131024/in/photostream/

6. • LEGO Toy Bricks- introduced 1958
• LEGO Sets- introduced 1964
“included all the parts and instructions to
build a particular model.”
• LEGO Themed Lines- town (1978), castle
(1978), space (1979), pirates (1989),
Western (1996), Star Wars (1999), and
Harry Potter (2001).
http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/lego-group/the_lego_history/
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/lego.htm

7. Curiosity and
Industrial Age Education
• Standardized Curriculum
• Teacher Education
• Anticipatory Set and Lesson Objectives

8. So What?
• Why is it important for us to help our
students remain curious?

9. Curiosity & Creativity
• How are they related?

10. Curiosity & Mistakes
• Freedom
• Responsible Risk-Taking

11. Now What?
• How can we ignite or rekindle curiosity?
• Inquiry
• Problem-Based/Project-Based Learning
• What else?

12. “I think, at a child's birth,
if a mother could ask a
fairy godmother to endow
it with the most useful
gift, that gift would be
curiosity.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt