How would you define curiosity? Is it a feeling, a skill you can develop over time or some wild desire sabotaging your success from within?
I came across an article titled: “Curiosity makes freedom, not jobs or education” by Łukasz Tanaś (Poland, 2018), and I was hooked because it shared, among other things, what curiosity is not.
5 Things That Curiosity Is Not
- Curiosity is not predictably satisfied like hunger, affiliation or sex drive are.
- It is not measurable as it relies on each individual’s perception of a ‘gap in knowledge’ and follows its epistemic map every time instead of tasks or recognition.
- It can’t be bottled because it is non-cyclic. In other words, we’ll remain unable to predict how or when our very own ‘gap in knowledge’ will emerge again. So, how can we nurture it? I mean, do we even have a say in such evolutionary matters?
- Curiosity is not role-dependent or task-based but motivated only by its pursuit: the resolution of its gap. So it will never be triggered by obligations or rewards.
- Its consequences are not immediately observed, therefore it is unclear what we, humans, along with other animals, gain from curiosity’s whereabouts.
But schools and managers insist curiosity must have a function to make sense. They usually expect a return they can measure, optimize and upgrade: enforce motivation or enhance learning and productivity, for example. In short, they expect curiosity to become what it is not so…
My First Short on YouTube
This my also the second video on my new YouTube channel for learning experiences.
Creativity is about finding new ways to address the usual and schools don’t like that. So I decided to continue with my teaching practice elsewhere. Teaching, for me, is about enabling curiosity and hopefully, this new project will help your creativity thrive.
Featured Image: Photo by Pat Farrell on Unsplash
