Curiosity = Engagement

​Psst… wanna know the secret to engagement?    
It’s Curiosity!

f you’re like me, you’ve spent some time in the last couple of years pondering the mystery of the elusive ‘engaged student’. I think I’ve finally got it figured out. Over the last few months, I’ve read three seemingly unrelated items that led to an ah-ha moment.; leadership philosophy, design thinking implementation strategy, and reports on rising teen depression. There seems to be a common thread to them all; Purpose.
Item #1  I recently read Simon Sinek’s Start With Why. For those of you unfamiliar with Sinek’s work, he’s a motivational leadership guru who focuses on the concept of Why. Your ‘Why’ being the purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do.  His 18-minute TEDTalk lays it out.
In his book, Sinek compares motivation by manipulation and motivation by inspiration. Manipulation is the process of influencing behavior based on a tangible reward. Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. Notice manipulation is controlled by an exterior force, and inspiration is intrinsic.
Item #2: I’m currently reading LAUNCH. In this book on integrating the design thinking process in k-12 classrooms, AJ Juliani and John Spencer start by deconstructing curiosity and creativity. They demonstrate how young children are exceedingly curious. They have tons of questions, and they are constantly conducting experiments; Why is the sky blue? and What do bugs taste like? are pretty universal inquiries for the pre-k set. Inspiration driven by curiosity is what motivates this tender age. As they get older, inspired curiosity takes a back seat, although not necessarily by choice. Kids learn there are such things as stupid questions and often get admonished for their curiosity when it doesn’t align with the ‘time and place’ they happen to be in.  
Item #3: There is an alarming rise in teen-age suicide and self-harm that correlates to a marked rise in depression and anxiety. There are many factors being considered in this trend, but no real data exists yet to explain it. My theory is this:
Just like adults, teens grow anxious, depressed, apathetic, and bored when they don’t feel a sense of purpose. Before the internet, access to purpose was much easier. Access to the world was fairly limited, so opportunity was more limited. This may sound like a bad thing, but compare that to nowadays when opportunity is so large scale.  It’s easy to feel like no matter what one does unless it goes viral or gets 100+ likes it just doesn’t count. Or one is so overwhelmed by the options, they do nothing. Which leads not only to a lack of fulfillment, but a feeling of failure as well.
At school, this perceived lack of purpose manifests most commonly as lack of engagement. Think about student engagement for a moment. The highest levels of student engagement occur in one of two situations: when grades are on the line (manipulation) or when a student is doing something fulfilling (inspiration). The rest of the time, they’re just going through the motions to a greater or lesser extent.
So what can educators do to shore up a teenager’s sense of purpose?
Student-centered learning.

By designing activities and lessons that allow students to tap into their natural sense of wonder and curiosity, we allow them to be inspired. Inspiration leads to inquiry. And just as when they were young children, the learning process naturally unfolds from there.

This is when educators step in to guide from the side. We coach, advise, question, redirect, demonstrate and conference. But it isn’t a free-for-all, there are learning outcomes, but when we control how the targets are reached, we strip our students of their sense of purpose. What’s fulfilling about learning something you already know, memorizing facts, copying or annotating teacher-created notes or ‘researching’ what the teacher wants to know on a teacher-designated Website?

So, how to ramp up engagement? The ISTE standards provide guidelines for the types of behaviors and competencies that will give your students the confidence and self-esteem to recognize their value and purpose within a global context.

Empowered learners set and track their goals, discover, record and analyze data to construct knowledge which is then shared as process or product. They complete this cycle repeatedly until they arrive at a final product or process and share their discoveries and creations with a real audience via blogs, audio or video productions, tweets, snaps and websites.

Not sure how to get started? Step out in the hallway, listen to what classes are creating a buzz and go visit your colleagues to see what it’s all about. Or invite an instructional tech specialist in to observe your class or help you tweak a lesson.
​
Curiosity>inspiration>inquiry>empowerment>purpose>engagement