1. Curiosity skilled the brat
Richard Watson Todd
King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi

2. The cogs task
A cog

3. Problems with cogs

4. Even number of cogs

5. Odd number of cogs

6. Your task
Design a single chain of cogs with an odd number of cogs in it where the cogs will rotate smoothly

7. A Mobius strip has only one surface and one boundary

8. M C Escher

9. Why use this task?
Thinking
Curiosity

10. I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

11. Curiosity is “a desire for acquiring new knowledge and new sensory experience that motivates exploratory behavior”
Litman and Spielberger (2003)

12. Types of curiosity Diversive Attraction to novelty Epistemic
Desire for deep understanding

13. To-do list from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks
Calculate the measurement of Milan
Find a book that treats of Milan’s churches
Get the Master of Arithmetic to show you how to square a triangle
Examine the crossbow of Maestro Gianetto
Find a Master of Hydraulics and get him to tell you how to repair a lock
Ask about the measurement of the sun from Maestro Giovanni

14. “The truly curious will be increasingly in demand
“The truly curious will be increasingly in demand. Employers are looking for people who can do more than follow procedures competently or respond to requests; who have a strong intrinsic desire to learn, solve problems and ask penetrating questions.”
Leslie (2014)

15. Curiosity in history

16. Curiosity and education
Predetermined focuses of courses preclude curiosity
Increasing bureaucratisation of education reduces curiosity
Fixed-knowledge tests remove the need for curiosity
“School is a place where children learn to be stupid ... Children come to school curious; within a few years most of this curiosity is dead”
(Holt, 1964)

17. Curiosity and the Internet
The Internet is effective for diversive curiosity
BUT
Promoting a short
attention span
“By supplying answers to questions with such ruthless efficiency, the internet cuts off a supply of an even more valuable commodity: productive frustration”
Greenman (2010)

18. Curiosity and print media
Traditional print media, because of their limitations, are good at stimulating curiosity by creating serendipity
Zuckerman (2013)

19. Promoting curiosity in the classroom
Knowledge tasks and thinking tasks

20. There is a tramp who likes to smoke.
Since he has no money, he needs to collect cigarette butts to make his own cigarettes.
He needs 13 cigarette butts to make one cigarette.
In one day, he collects 169 cigarette butts.
How many cigarettes can he make and smoke?

21. Promoting curiosity in the classroom
Knowledge tasks and thinking tasks
Project learning (e.g. write a page for Wikipedia, conduct and report an experiment)
Creating a conducive atmosphere
Make students feel comfortable about asking questions
Allow adequate time for exploring a topic
Give students opportunities to choose
Do NOT use rewards
Arnone (2003)

22. Researching curiosity
Psychological questionnaire
Rate the following: 1 (almost never), 2 (sometimes), 3 (often), 4 (almost always)
I am interested in discovering how things work
New solutions to difficult problems bring me pleasure
New ideas excite my imagination
I like discussing abstract concepts
I like learning about unfamiliar subjects
I like to imagine how a story will end
Litman and Spielberger (2003)

23. Researching curiosity
Zion and Sadeh (2007) investigating the effects of project learning on curiosity
Work logs documenting activities undertaken
An inquiry proposal
List of proposed experiments and activities
Summaries of findings
Personal reflection sheets
Interviews

24. What do we learn from this?
In research, operationalising a construct may be the most important stage, but this is difficult for curiosity
Need to pay special attention to issues that challenge preconceptions
We need to be curious, continuously striving to learn

25. You are camping
You go for a walk
You walk 1 mile south
Then 1 mile east
Then 1 mile north
You arrive back at your tent
Where are you?

26. At the North Pole
1 mile 280 yards away from the South Pole