Curiosity and Exploration - Passing the Legacy to Our Students

Room to Grow - a Math Podcast

In the first episode of Season 2, Curtis and Joanie discuss one of Curtis' favorite ideas - fostering curiosity and exploration in the math classroom. It's a common idea that math teachers can support students in "exploring the world through math," but in this episode we think about turning that phrase on its head and wondering how we can "explore mathematics through the world?" With this goal in mind, educators could provide experiences where they are asking the questions that drive their learning.

Creating these experiences for students requires intentional teacher planning, and doesn't mean that we allow the learning to be a free-for-all! Teachers will need to find balance between providing the structure required to keep the learning focused, while allowing students the freedom to explore, question, and engage in the learning. And since math classrooms are already packed with content, we discuss how to find the time to include curiosity as part of the learning experience. We hope these ideas help you to pass along a legacy of curiosity to your students!

Resources to explore:

• To help identify the big mathematical ideas for your course or grade level, check out the Focus By Grade Level documents from Achieve the Core: https://achievethecore.org/category/774/mathematics-focus-by-grade-level
• For more practical steps on developing student curiosity in your math classroom, check out this blog post from David Wees: https://davidwees.com/content/how-do-you-help-develop-mathematical-curiosity/
• Read about the brain research that supports the importance of curiosity in education: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-curiosity-enhances-learning-marianne-stenger

Share your feedback, comments, and suggestions for future episode topics by emailing [email protected]. Be sure to connect with your hosts on Twitter and Instagram: @JoanieFun and @cbmathguy.