Fostering Curiosity at Home and at School
Posted by annamarkowitz
January 03, 2012, 8:27 pm
Author John Barell will be leading a workshop at our upcoming 6th Annual Education Expo on "Fostering Curiosity at Home and at School".
John Barell is the Author of several books including "Developing More Curious Minds" and "Problem Based Learning". He teaches at Montclair State University and worked for several years as a consultant to The American Museum of Natural History in New York City helping teachers and students develop their inquisitiveness about the wonders of earth and space.
Here is a story that Barell would like to share to peak your curiosity for his upcoming workshop:
“Once upon a time there lived a very curious young boy. His parents emigrated from Poland and he was raised in Brooklyn at the beginning of the twentieth century.
This young lad, named Isidore I. Rabi, grew up to be fascinated with all things mechanical and, subsequently, his curiosity led him to explore the characteristics of the atom, specifically the electron.
In 1944 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics while he was working on further developing the science of radar at MIT. His work and that of many others led to victory in World War II. Rabi also worked with Oppenheimer on the atomic bomb.
Somebody once asked him how he grew up to be a famous scientist. His parents were relatively poor and without much schooling.
Rabi told this story:
`My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: `So? Did you learn anything today?’ But not my mother. She always asked me a different question.’
This workshop will explore the question this wise mother asked her young son as well as other approaches to fostering curiosity at home and in school.”
