Professor Susan Engel’s concept of “epistemic curiosity” suggests that novelty can trigger students’ need to understand, enhancing learning experiences and improving memory. Recent research on how learning happens in the brain supports this idea, indicating that a hunger for answers can deepen learning.
This can be achieved by presenting students with unexpected and intriguing phenomena, such as preserved lungs with dramatically different coloring or a circuit with a glowing bulb but no visible power source.
Unexpected Retrieval and Assessment Routines
One approach to sparking epistemic curiosity is through brief, energetic routines that activate prior knowledge and check for understanding. The “Unfair Game” is an example of this, turning quiz review into a boisterous competition where each question is worth a positive or negative number of points.
Another strategy is diagram labeling, where students are given a diagram with missing information and a tight countdown to fill in the gaps. This sparks interest in a topic and assesses prior learning, making it an effective way to engage students.
A “Blackboard Knowledge Audit” is another technique, where students write everything they know about a subject on the board as a brain dump, without talking or collaborating. The teacher then circles the correct answers and discusses flawed assumptions, providing a valuable opportunity for feedback and growth.
In the “Crack the Redaction” exercise, student pairs receive a paragraph or historical summary with key words blacked out, and they must reconstruct the missing ideas and create a “declassified memo” justifying their interpretation. This type of cloze exercise presents something incomplete or misleading, inviting students to investigate and think critically.
Analysis Exercises
Analysis exercises can also engage students by presenting something surprising, flawed, or incomplete to investigate. “Classroom CSI” is an example of this, where students act as detectives to solve a “crime” – Then have them act as detectives to solve the “crime”—that is, identify a content flaw and make corrections.
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“Spot the Difference” is another approach, where students are shown two nearly identical examples, such as two chapter summaries, two historical causes, or two circuit diagrams, and must identify the differences. Edutopia’s video on examples and non-examples details how a version of this approach works in Sarah Yuska’s sixth-grade science class.
The “Slow Reveal” technique involves revealing a text or image bit by bit, heightening suspense and teaching kids that new evidence can reshape interpretation. This approach can be used in a variety of subjects, from science to history, and is an effective way to keep students engaged.
For instance, a history teacher might use the “Faulty Rules” approach, presenting a plausible but incorrect rule that students are invited to correct. This could be something like “The historian who describes the scenario closest to the event is usually the most accurate.” By challenging this rule, students are forced to think critically and consider multiple perspectives, leading to a more detailed understanding of the subject.
Similarly, a science teacher might use the “Cognitive Conflict” approach, beginning a lesson with a pervasive misconception or startling fact. This could be something like the idea that the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply to the border states that remained loyal to the Union. By presenting this information in a way that challenges students’ preconceptions, the teacher can create a sense of conflict that motivates students to investigate further.
These approaches can be particularly effective when combined with other strategies, such as “Ignite Talks”, which involve five-minute student presentations with 20 slides that advance automatically every 15 seconds, or “Genius Questions”, which are provocative and challenging questions that refocus the class.
A “Micro-Museum” is another effective strategy, where students are presented with a brief quotation, a compelling image, a probing question, and an intriguing detail, all connected to the day’s topic, and they predict how the diverse pieces relate to the upcoming lesson.
