What Is Curiosity?
Objective
Big Idea
RAP - Review and Preview
I call students to the gathering area and we review the different types of waves that we learned about. I tell students that there are many different types of waves in addition to what we have learned about.
We start to brainstorm different types of waves. Some of the ideas that students will offer are:
- Sound
- Light
- Electromagnetic
- Xray
- Gamma ray
- Radio
- TV?
- Wireless internet?
- Brainwaves
- Cell phones
- Microwaves
- Radar
I tell students that today we will embark on a Curiosity Project about different kinds of waves. Students will be working in partners to find out about different types of waves and to present their findings to the class.
I tell students that in order to conduct quality research, we must be curious about a topic. Curiosity is what fuels our motivation to learn about a topic or to learn a skill.
Guided Investigation
I tell students that we need to define what curiosity is. In order to do this, I have asked teachers around the school if they would answer a couple of questions for teams of students.
The two questions are:
- What is curiosity?
- Is it important? Why or why not?
Students move around the school in teams of four, asking the prepped teachers these two questions. When they return to class, they compile the notes they took, to share with the class.
While waiting for teams of students to return, students begin to talk about which type of wave they would like to investigate and what they are curious about them.
Class Discussion
When students return, we talk about the answers they found from teachers. We make a list of their definitions and whether it is important and why. I type responses to their questions as they share them so that I can print them out as a poster. This becomes a poster in our classroom throughout their investigations.
After this discussion, student pairs list their choice of wave-type they would choose to investigate. I look at the choices and try to assign them as close to their first choice as possible.
Homework
I don’t give homework very often, but for this project, I ask students to go home and ask their parents/guardians the same questions they asked teachers today. They will share their responses during the next science lesson.
