Nurture Curiosity
A few years ago I came across a video interview of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and the story he told has stuck with me. He was in central park, and saw a woman walking with her young son in the rain. He watched them as they approached a large puddle, and he thought to himself, “Please let him jump in the puddle--you know he wants to jump in the puddle!” He watched as the mother pulled her child, who was dressed to the nines in rain gear, around the puddle to avoid jumping into it. “That was a bit of curiosity in that moment that was extinguished,” he said.
Children are naturally scientists--constantly asking questions, curious about their world, and experimenting with their surroundings. How often do we cut short an experiment that a child is conducting because we don’t understand the question he or she is trying to find the answer to?
Six Ways to Nurture Curiosity:
Encourage inquiry, and teach your child how to ask quality questions that are open-ended.
Keep a record of your child’s questions (e.g. post-it notes on a “curiosity wall”) so that you can come back to them later if needed. Encourage your child to add questions to the wall.
Demonstrate curiosity by slowing down, pausing to observe, and asking, “I wonder…?”
Don’t give your child the answers; point them in the right direction to where they can find the answers themselves.
Be open to breaking away from the routine to provide time for investigation/experimentation--even if it’s messy!
Encourage children to tinker (free, unstructured exploration). Keep supplies like glue, tape, scissors, paper, and markers in an organized and easily accessible space. Also, the recycling bin is the perfect place to find tinker treasures, so if possible be slow to take it out.