The M I Curious series on my local Public Radio station is a cooperative exercise in problem finding. Modeled after the Curious City series at WBEZ in Chicago, M I Curious asks, “What do you wonder?” It invites listeners to submit questions, puts the questions to a vote, and then selects those for investigation.
It is exciting to see a program that celebrates curiosity. Just browsing through the list of past questions sets my brain spinning. But how much more interesting would it be to set up a “Curious” program in your class, school, or district? A school’s Curious program could be part of a class web page or as low-tech as a bulletin board. Think about how students could submit questions just because they are interesting, and select one for class investigation. You could investigate a Curiosity question once a week or once a month—however often you explore one, it sends a message that curiosity matters and questions are worth exploring. And modeling your efforts after a radio program makes it clear others value these things as well.
I’d love to hear about your experiments with Curiosity programs. What do your students wonder?