By engaging in debate, students will become more curious about the world around them and develop a deeper understanding of complex issues. Education should invite students to question authority and not to unquestioningly accept ideas fed to us by the media, government or big business. UK-based serial entrepreneur Jess Butcher recommends inviting students to debate and open a dialogue about their findings. This approach can create entirely new insights. Offer up new or unknown problems This enables students to explore and investigate something they may have not encountered before. It can spark their curiosity and encourage them to ask questions and seek out more information. When students are presented with a problem that is new or unknown, it can be an opportunity for them to work together to find a solution. It can also offer a sense of accomplishment; this can further encourage their curiosity by giving them the confidence to take on new challenges and explore new ideas. Projects should align with students’ interests Empowered students working on their own or in teams feel entirely and unapologetically themselves. When given time and space, students push boundaries that they didn’t know existed and are inspired to search for answers. Fostering a systematic and protracted approach ensures that they will dissect the latest studies, frameworks, tools, videos and images. Curating relevant information will enhance their confidence and incite curiosity in others when they share their newly discovered insights with the rest of the class. If a student feels they can play an active part in deciding what they are pursuing, that helps them to be more invested in what they’re learning.
Devise a mystery for your students to solve Actively protect the spirit of enquiry and give students some exciting mysteries to unpack. The aim is to maintain a state of doubt, inspire them to carry on systematic and protracted inquiries and welcome the unknown. Perform magic tricks in the class and then ask students to work in teams and uncover how you did them. I’ve done this myself and I had teams so engaged in this task that they skipped their break to solve the mystery (for those of you who are in education, you can understand how rare this is nowadays). These experiments pay off since the students’ curiosity is activated and cultivated. I noticed that they feel a greater sense of accomplishment when they figure stuff out on their own. By solving puzzles along our journey, we often uncover diverse new pathways, surfacing ideas, problems and solutions that may be loosely related to the mystery and each other. The path to the destination – and even the destination itself – may be unclear. I won’t claim that purposeful curiosity is always fun; it can also be difficult and frustrating. But that is where its value is. When we dedicate considerable time to investigate, to find answers beyond the obvious or expected, it can be exhilarating and deeply satisfying. Present students with incorrect facts or fake news This can challenge their assumptions and encourage them to dig deeper; students can learn to question what they think they know and seek out the truth. Get students to ask questions. Daily, our job as business school educators is to question the protagonist in our teaching by creating a space where students are encouraged to ask clarification questions, eg ‘Can you explain that further?’ as well as questions that force us to think of alternative ways, eg ‘What is the counter argument?’ ‘Are there other ways to see the same thing?’ ‘What are the red flags or inconsistencies in the article?’ ‘What do reputable sources say about this?’ We should consider purposeful curiosity not as a nice add-on, an extra, or something that deviates from the teaching experience, but as something central to it. Nothing is out of bounds – there are no stupid questions. It’s not the educators’ responsibility to model questions; it’s a shared responsibility – students should do it too. Education is about creating the space where curiosity is welcome. Use lively debates to spark critical thinking Discussion can be a great way to explore different perspectives and encourage critical thinking. Students can learn to embrace uncertainty and become comfortable with differing opinions. Debates can foster curiosity in the classroom by encouraging critical thinking, exposing students to different viewpoints, providing a safe space for discussion and developing communication skills.
Constantine Andriopoulos believes that curiosity is a catalyst for creativity
38 | Ambition JULY/AUGUST 2023
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