Skip to main content

New top story from Time: Many Kids Ask Fewer Questions When They Start School. Here’s How Teachers Can Foster Their Curiosity

https://ift.tt/3pJCirO

Recently I walked into a store in Western Massachusetts where the employees were mask-less. “No masks?” I asked. The young woman behind the counter made a face. “It’s a big deal about nothing.” “Nothing?” I said. “Do you know how many people have died so far?” “I don’t care. It’s just stupid,” she said. It wasn’t her ignorance that alarmed me. It was her disdain for information. Similar examples fill the newspaper. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a gaping hole in our educational system, by reminding us that too many adults have low regard for data. We are not doing nearly enough to instill the single most important outcome of twelve years in a classroom: a thirst for knowledge.

It’s human nature to lean towards evidence that supports one’s opinions, and push away input that challenges those opinions. Researchers have labelled this common phenomenon, Myside Bias. But research also shows that education can help overcome that tendency. However, many current school practices do more to obstruct than foster the inclination and ability to seek new information, evaluate its reliability, and use it to form rather than shore up opinions. That needn’t be the case.

Infants are born with a pervasive and ferocious desire to absorb new information. Shown a series of familiar images and then something new, their whole system goes on alert: breathing, heart beat and skin moisture all change, indicating that they have noticed the surprise. What do they do next? They pay attention, studying the new material until it is familiar. This urge to explain the unexpected drives a huge amount of their daily behavior, and accounts for the enormous intellectual growth humans go through during their first few years of life. Though born fairly incompetent compared to other mammals (who walk, play and feed themselves within hours or days of birth), by the time children are three they have learned how to talk and form concepts (something few if any other animals can do). They have absorbed the customs and norms of their family and close circle. They have mastered the routines that govern daily life, and have become adept at any number of clever tricks and strategies for attracting, entertaining, convincing, and deceiving others.

By the time they are three, they have acquired another tool that catapults them forward: they have learned to ask questions. Research shows that young children typically ask a question every two minutes. Many of these questions seek simple facts: the names of things, the time something will happen, or where an object or person is located. Those what, when and where queries are the hand tools of question-asking. But by the time they are three, they have acquired the power tool: questions about why and how things are the way they are. Children seek explanations for a wide range of phenomena: why an ice cube melts in the sun, where grandma goes when she leaves, and how the family dog knows where to poop. Researchers describe this as epistemic curiosity, a need for understanding. It underlies the vast universe of knowledge that defines our species.

And yet for the most part schools dampen rather than build on this natural urge to find out. Research shows that schoolchildren show far less curiosity than they did just a few months earlier, while at home. For instance the rate of question asking drops precipitously when children are in school—from one question every two minutes, to less than one question every two hours. Studies also show that children’s inquiry is highly sensitive to adult behavior. Teachers can build upon young children’s urge to know, helping them become more sustained and persevering in their pursuit of information.

First, students need plenty of opportunity to pursue individual interests, no matter how quirky. For some it will be insects, for others, building structures, exploring the nature of death, or considering embodiments of infinity. Mind you, such pursuits have little in common with the traditional projects teachers often offer as a sweetener for more “essential” learning. Instead, solving genuine mysteries and acquiring expertise in domains that intrigue the learner would sit at the core of the curriculum. Fostering inquiry also requires teachers who model genuine interest in thinking about the unknown and comfort with uncertainty.

Next, children need help learning how to evaluate the reliability of any given set of facts they have gathered. A thirst for knowledge should become a thirst for reliable information. Researchers have shown that three-year-old children’s use two methods when deciding to trust what adults tell them: how emotionally attached they are, and the adult’s previous accuracy. As they get older, children put less trust in social and emotional ties and more emphasis on the source’s previous accuracy. They have the right instincts but they need help sustaining and honing that instinct, as they grow older.

What criteria might children learn to use when judging the reliability of material (whether it comes in books, online, or from those around them)? They should learn to seek confirmation that the material is based on expertise—scientists know more than others about the transmission of infection, psychologists are likely to know more about what makes people adopt new habits, and farmers are good sources of information about herding livestock. Students should learn to trust an expert more than their cousin.

They should also be on the lookout for consensus. Though large groups periodically lead us wildly astray (think here of Thalidomide), generally speaking, people correct one another. That’s one reason Wikipedia is a fairly good source of information. But consensus amongst experts is better yet. Students can discuss how widely accepted a collection of facts is, and which people agree on that collection.

Finally, students can spend time sussing out motivated thinking. Someone who will benefit from a particular point of view may be less trustworthy than someone who has little stake in the topic. For example, students should be taught how blind review works in scientific journals, and why outside media watchdogs are helpful. Here primary source material is vastly more useful in the classroom than textbooks, which by definition bury the perspective of the source. Achievement First, a network of schools in NYC encourages their students to think through the points of view behind the material they read, asking, “What did the author stand to gain?” This concern should become a central feature of high school curricula in many subjects.

Though none of these strategies are foolproof, taken together they would help steer students in the right direction. Perhaps more importantly, by emphasizing the activities that strengthen such skills, we encourage young people to place great value on reliable information. Children are born with the tools, and the urge, to gather and evaluate data. Schools should build on those propensities, not ignore or thwart them. An appetite for accurate knowledge will be essential when it is time to participate in the world beyond school, whether deciding about a vaccination or evaluating the validity of an election.

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MTA Board of Directors Welcomes Lydia So

MTA Board of Directors Welcomes Lydia So By Stephen Chun Lydia So, a championed public servant, advocate for the AAPI community and an accomplished urban planner, designer and architect, has joined the SFMTA’s Board of Directors. She was appointed in June 2023 and sworn in by Mayor London Breed on Aug. 23, 2023, at Central Subway’s Chinatown Rose Pak Station, in line with her personal connection with the Chinatown community.   So was born in Hong Kong and is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese). She is the founder of the architecture firm SOLYD Architecture, Management and Design. She is a former Historic Preservation Commissioner for the San Francisco Planning Department where she voted in favor of the Potrero Yard Modernization Project that is expected to bring hundreds of housing units to our city while maintaining the functions of the SFMTA. She was the first Chinese American Historic Preservation Commissioner, implemented the Planning Department’s Racial and Social Equity po...

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J बिग बॉस 14: सलमान का फार्महाउस, 16 प्रतिभागी, देखिए धमाकेदार लिस्ट

सलमान खान के शो बिग बॉस के नए सीज़न को लेकर काफी समय से अटकलें चल रही हैं और अब इस सीज़न को लेकर काफी खबरें बाहर आ चुकी हैं। सबसे पहली बात तो ये कि ये सीज़न सलमान खान अपने from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/bigg-boss-14-details-salman-khan-s-panvel-farmhouse-16-contestants-see-list-090656.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.11.231.151&utm_campaign=client-rss

How Improving Muni Also Makes Life Better for Drivers

How Improving Muni Also Makes Life Better for Drivers By Andrea Buffa Photo credit: We Ride Australia If you mostly drive to get around San Francisco, you may be wondering, “what has the SFMTA done for me lately?” San Francisco is a “ transit first ” city, so at the SFMTA we focus our resources on making it easier for San Franciscans to get around by public transit as well as by biking, walking and personal mobility device. While it may seem like adding transit lanes and protected bike lanes doesn’t have anything to do with driving, in fact, it does.  Since San Francisco doesn’t have room to give more space to roads, we have to change the way we use the limited space on our existing streets. (Not that adding more roads reduces traffic anyway – check out this article .) City Traffic Engineer Ricardo Oleo puts it this way: “When you have a city like San Francisco that was built with density in mind, having everyone drive is not a viable option. There’s not enough room to have th...

SFMTA Staffers Share their Favorite SF Bike Rides

SFMTA Staffers Share their Favorite SF Bike Rides By Eillie Anzilotti Happy Bike Month, San Francisco! To celebrate, we’re sharing some of SFMTA staffers’ favorite rides through the city. From protected bike lanes to quick-build projects to Slow Streets, the JFK Promenade, and the Great Highway, all of the routes roll through projects that the SFMTA has completed in the last several years to make biking through San Francisco easier, safer, and joyful. We hope you get some inspiration for your next ride--and share your favorite route with us! For easy trip planning, we’ve included each ride below on an interactive map .   Jeffrey Tumlin, Director of Transportation: “I explore all of San Francisco by bike, but this is a standard trip: Starting from the Castro, I head up the Slow Street on Noe, where I like to admire the trees and people watch in Duboce Park. Then, I ride north on Scott to Fell Street along the Panhandle. When I reach the new JFK Promenade, it’s amazing how ...

Public Artwork Unveiled Inside New Station in Yerba Buena

Public Artwork Unveiled Inside New Station in Yerba Buena By Enrique Aguilar Have you had a chance to explore the Central Subway's new stations? Special weekend service is Saturdays and Sundays, from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. midnight, through the end of the year. Ride the trains and be mesmerized by beautiful artwork at each new station.  Muni customers will encounter public art when using the four new Central Subway stations to reach their destinations. The art was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission and funded by the City’s Art Enrichment Ordinance, which allocates 2% of the total eligible costs of public works projects for public art. Public art helps draw out the identity of a space, aids in understanding a neighborhood's historical or cultural significance, and builds a connection between the visitor and surrounding community.  The Yerba Buena/Moscone Station includes artwork by Catherine Wagner, Leslie Shows and Roxy Paine. The installations can be found on th...

Muni Service Changes Starting June 13

Muni Service Changes Starting June 13 By Mariana Maguire Beginning Saturday, June 13, the SFMTA will increase Muni service and frequency, add select routes into service and extend some current routes to continue to support essential trips. A key goal of these service increases is to support the community’s economic recovery by providing more connections to neighborhood commercial districts as businesses begin to reopen. We are also adding more frequent service on targeted routes to help address crowding and improve onboard physical distancing. These service changes will improve transit access through Chinatown, SoMa and the Excelsior neighborhoods, identified by the Muni’s Service Equity Strategy as neighborhoods that rely on transit service the most based on the percentage of households with low incomes, private vehicle ownership and race and ethnicity demographics. Although Muni continues to be for essential trips only, many people have no choice but to use transit to r...

Safer and Easier Parking in Every City-Owned Facility

Safer and Easier Parking in Every City-Owned Facility By Pamela Johnson Parking at any of our 22 city-owned facilities is now easier and safer than ever. Late last month we completed the Parking Access Revenue and Control Systems (PARCS) project. This four-year effort replaced aging parking equipment with modern technology and significant operational upgrades. Customer using new PARCS kiosk at North Beach parking garage Patrons will notice enhanced lighting, new wayfinding signs, audible alarms, cameras, gate arms, and payment machines with two-way digital intercoms . Behind the scenes is an all-new parking management system and 24/7 command center, connected to every machine. Can’t find your ticket to pay for parking?  No worries! Thanks to license plate recognition technology, cameras located at every facility’s entrance capture patrons’ plate numbers as they arrive . If a customer loses her ticket, the manager is able to re-issue a ticket based on her license plate...

How Muni is Tackling the 10 Worst Delay Hot Spots Across SF

How Muni is Tackling the 10 Worst Delay Hot Spots Across SF By Cassie Halls The SFMTA has had its fair share of ribbon-cutting ceremonies  over the last two years. These celebrations draw attention to some of our biggest projects. Also attention-worthy are some of the more incremental efforts happening at the agency. One such effort led by the Muni Forward team is the Transit Delay Hot Spots Program , launched in February 2020 . Muni Forward is known for corridor projects such as the L Taraval Improvement Project , 16 th Street Improvement Project , and M Oceanview Transit and Safety Project . These efforts are increasing the already sizeable 80 miles of transit reliability upgrades since 2014. There are also other ways we’re working to slash travel times and improve reliability across the Muni network. The Transit Delay Hot Spots Program aims to tackle the 10 worst “delay hot spots” each year, where buses crawl between stops at four miles an hour or less. We’re looking cl...

With Memorial Day Around the Corner Muni is Still for Essential Trips

With Memorial Day Around the Corner Muni is Still for Essential Trips By Erin McMillan With Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, many of us are eager to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and wide open spaces. But as we enter the biggest holiday weekend since the shelter-in-place order, it’s still important to be acutely aware of how our individual actions can and will affect our communal ability to address the impacts of COVID-19. While we hopefully will arrive at a new normal soon, the shelter-in-place order is still in effect and it’s still important as ever that we remember to physically distance ourselves while out in our neighborhoods and to only make essential trips.   In early April, we temporarily reduced Muni service to our Core Service network which serves the highest ridership lines and supports essential trips to places like hospitals, healthcare facilities, grocery stores, restaurants and other essential services. Thanks to increasing staffing availabili...

SFMTA Supports San Francisco Small Businesses Through Construction and COVID-19

SFMTA Supports San Francisco Small Businesses Through Construction and COVID-19 By Sophia Scherr Local small businesses are what give San Francisco its eclectic and unique charm. Running a small business in San Francisco isn’t an easy feat either, especially over the past year. Therefore, it’s imperative that SFMTA’s projects not only provide resources to businesses that are impacted by construction but are also responsive to COVID-19 concerns as well. Through our partnership with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), we have been able to provide an additional layer of support to businesses along project corridors including the Geary Rapid Project , Van Ness Improvement Project and L Taraval Improvement Project .  The SFMTA project teams have made it a standard practice to include dedicated support as part of every major capital project. OEWD staff undertake door-to-door outreach and provide information and assistance with grant applications and other city re...