We all know curiosity is a good thing, right? It's like something educators are supposed to instill and grow in kids. The psychologist, lecturer, and author, Dr. Susan Engel said, "Inciting children's curiosity is the best way to ensure that they will absorb and retain information."

Tune into Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Ding-ding! 🚋

On Mr. Rogers' show, he constantly modeled how to incite curiosity and open up neural pathways for more learning. Now let's be real clear here. I am way outside my wheelhouse talking about brain development. But I DID read ONE study, so in current culture, I'm basically an expert.

In a nutshell, here is that study:

A group of volunteers were asked to guess the answers to a series of trivia questions and rate how curious they were about each question. Later, the volunteers were connected to one of those brain imaging thingies (Apparently, it's called functional magnetic resonance imaging.). They were then shown each question again, followed by the correct answer. The researchers discovered that when the correct answer was revealed to the subjects, the regions of the brain that were significantly "energized" (AKA lit up) were those associated with learning, memory, and language comprehension. This was especially true for the answers to the questions participants were most curious.

What's more, ten days later, when asked to recall what they'd learned, participants more easily answered the questions they'd been most curious.

In other words, the more curious participants reported feeling, the more their brains were ready to learn.

But how do we ignite this type of learning if kids don't seem curious about anything? You know, like when they're overall "disengaged."

Back to Mr. Rogers. Ding-ding! 🚋

Two things. Mr. Rogers modeled curiosity, and he scaffolded it. (Wow, those sound like teacher words.)

Just watch an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Notice how he wonders, how he asks questions, and investigates seemingly apparent (to adults) things. He models curiosity. After all, he and Mr. McFeely spent five TV minutes (which probably equates to 2.5 real-world hours) riding a city bus observing the different kinds of hats people were wearing.

When kids see us curious about something, they become more curious themselves. Consider this other study that I have minimal knowledge about it:

Dr. Margret McFarland, the co-founder of the Arsenal Family & Children's Center (along with Dr. Benjamin Spock), invited a famous sculptor to work with one group of children at the center. She asked him not to teach sculpting; instead just demonstrate his fascination of the clay in front of the children. And so he did. He visited the center once a week for an entire term. He sat with the kids and modeled delight and joy working with the clay. That group of students was then observed to use clay more imaginatively than the groups of kids that did not have that experience. By simply taking delight in the clay, the sculptor made the kids wonder what they could do with clay themselves.

In the book, When You Wonder, You're Learning, the authors state, "[Fred] Rogers knew that for kids to learn effectively, the information at hand has to connect to what they're familiar with and what they want to know more about. It has to strike that tantalizing balance between familiarity and mystery- the very balance on which the neighborhood was built."

As far as I can remember, on every single episode, Mr. Rogers fed his fish. Because of this, his viewers (mainly preschools) knew what fish were and how they operated. So when Mr. Rogers posed the questions, "What do fish sound like, or do fish sleep?" he struck the balance between familiarity and mystery. He didn't say, "I wonder what an Axolotl sounds like?" Because few people know what an Axolotl is. Nor did he ever say, "What do you want to know about WWI?" He would zero in on subjects that he knew kids were familiar with and went from there. He would scaffold curiosity by starting with what he knew kids already knew.

And so, dear reader, as you embark on this week, whether a teacher, a parent, a grandparent, friend or individual navigating this pretty fantastic world, be curious. Ask probing questions of the things you are familiar with and take joy in the discovery.

Curiosity is contagious, and I think it's safe to say we all will welcome a more positive kind of contagion about right now!

Oh, and if you need some questions to get started, this PDF is pretty good.

Leadership and Learning