Here is my quick answer … To quote authors Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan, “We should be trying to maintain a stance of wonder”.¹ Curiosity (or wonder) is the basis of all learning. If we are truly curious then we would not make assumptions about or judge others, we would ask questions and first seek to understand ourselves, our students, their families, and our systems.

Several years ago the district I worked for had all of its managers go through several days of training around determining our district “why” using the work of Simon Sinek.  One of the core ideas I learned from this work was that to truly have a “why” that drives you, it has to be grounded in both your personal and professional life.  After thinking and refinement I realized that my WHY was a belief in a world that valued curiosity and discourse.

I truly believe that all teachers want their students to enjoy learning, be curious about the world, and be lifelong learners. If we want students to enjoy learning it starts with curiosity. Curiosity is cultivated when students are answering questions they have asked. This isn’t as hard as it might sound. Take a look at that next problem you want to solve with students, remove the question, and ask kids what they notice and wonder. Ask them to come up with mathematical questions about the situation. They will likely ask the question that you want answered but they will have the best reason to be interested in the answer – they’re asking the question. This isn’t perfect yet it allows the problem/situation to be driven by student curiosity. 

As practitioners we also must realize that curiosity is not cultivated in isolation.  Math is a community endeavor and should be done in partnership with other students.  Collaboration is the only road that leads to deep thinking and learning.

So let’s ask ourselves … How often do we ask our students to be curious in math class TK-12?  Are there opportunities for curiosity in your lessons? Do you value curiosity in your students as a means of learning? How do your homework assignments value curiosity?  Are you curious about what mathematical knowledge your students bring to class?  Are you curious about what mathematical understanding you could more deeply develop in yourself? These and many other questions like them can help frame the shifts we make in our classrooms. 

Teachers can make a few simple shifts to transform their classrooms into curiosity generating environments.  Teachers and administrators can begin by shifting how we view ourselves.  We can shift from viewing ourselves as teachers to teacher-learners who are curious in their own right about the process of facilitating learning.² In elementary school we can also be curious about how we are teaching mathematics.  Is our daily instruction focused on acquiring skills or models, following a textbook, and/or direct instruction?  Or are we helping students to be curious about how the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division behave.  “Children spend much of their time in mathematics solving individual problems.  But the core of the discipline of mathematics is looking across multiple examples to find patterns, notice underlying structure, form conjectures…”.³ Curiosity is at the heart of concept and our discipline. We need to start taking more advantage of curiosity and reimagine the way we teach mathematics. 

We often design lessons or follow textbooks or pacing guides that do not promote curiosity or take into account what mathematical knowledge our students already bring to the classroom. As the founders of Make Math Moments explain, if you want to generate curiosity-rich math lessons, then you should embed these 4 key elements: 1) Withhold information; 2) Build anticipation; 3) Notice & Wonder; 4) Estimate (Make Math Moments 3-Part Framework)

As a final thought, when we shift to a stance of curiosity we put student sense-making at the forefront of our planning and instruction.  As an example, when we make this shift, the algorithm becomes a representation versus the finish line.

I have an elementary age student that helps remind me of my “why” every day.  I believe in a world that values curiosity and discourse.  I want nothing more than for him to maintain his curiosity about the world. If he does then learning will always be his compass.

References

1. Safir, S., Dugan, J. (2021). Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation. Sage Publications Inc. 2021
2. Ostroff, W. Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms: How to Promote and Sustain Deep Learning. ASCD, Alexandria, VA. 2016.
3. Russell, Susan Jo, et al. Connecting Arithmetic to Algebra: Strategies for Building Algebraic Thinking in the Elementary Grades. Heinemann, 2011.