Curiosity: Killing Cats or Securing Success?

Optional Resources: Click HERE for overhead sheet. Click HERE for student handout..

Purpose: To motivate my students to rekindle their curiosity.

Preparation:

1. Think of any funny stories of cats getting into trouble with their curiosity. Think of ways that curiosity has gotten you into trouble, but also times it has helped you.  Students love to hear that you’re personally involved with pursuing these traits! 
2. Bring the movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” to show a clip. 
3. Tape a candy bar or dollar bill under a desk or somewhere in the classroom.
4. Three pieces of gum or three suckers for the winning team of the final game.

Introduction

Today I want to recommend a trait that on the one hand gets people into trouble, but on the other hand may prove critical to your personal success. That trait is “curiosity.”

Discussion: Have you ever heard the phrase, “Curiosity killed the ____” (Let them guess. Answer: “Cat.”) Do any of you have cats at home? Are any of them especially curious? Do any of you have stories of how curiosity got your cat into trouble, like falling into a trashcan or commode, or crawling into the dryer? (Share any stories you know to get the ball rolling.) When someone says to another person, “Curiosity killed the cat,” what does he mean? (“Stop doing that, because curiosity can get you into trouble.”)

Small group discussion: In groups of 3 or 4, discuss some ways that curiosity can get people into trouble. Share personal examples if you have any.

Large group discussion:  What ideas did your group come up with? (Examples: 1 - When people are doing something bad, a curious person could nose around and find them out, getting into trouble. 2 – Parents warn kids about curiosity in order to keep them from getting hurt. 3 – Curious students can sometimes embarrass teachers by asking questions they can’t answer. 4 – Curious students can take up too much class time with their questions.)

Transition: As children, I think we’re all naturally curious. That’s why as babies we found obnoxious things on the floor and tasted them, tried to touch everything we saw, and asked “why” a million times. How did our curiosity help us in our early years? (Our intense curiosity motivated us to learn.)

But for many of us, as we grew older, we began to lose our curiosity. After being told, “No!” “Put that down!” and “Don’t touch that!” hundreds of times by frustrated adults, many of us decided it was easier to stop touching things and to stop asking questions. And eventually, something terrible happened. (dramatic pause) Our curiosity died.

Today I want to challenge each of us to rekindle this sometimes dangerous trait of curiosity. Why? Because it just might be one of our greatest keys to success.

1. The Importance of Curiosity

Small group discussion: Again in your small groups, discuss some ways that curiosity can benefit us. Why is it good to be curious?

Large group consolidation: (After you hear the discussion dying down.) Tell me some of the benefits of curiosity that your group came up with. (Write their answers on the board. Then, use some of the below material to expand upon their ideas.)

Curiosity…

A. …Makes Life More Interesting (Adds Zest!)

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” (Ellen Parr)

Discussion: How does being curious make life more interesting?

Story: Georgia O’Keeffe is recognized as one of America’s most important and successful artists. If I were to show you some prints of her famous paintings of flowers or Western landscapes, you’d probably recognize them. How did she become such a great artist? I think that it started with a great curiosity that only grew with age. She could look at things that everyone else saw, but see things that nobody else could see.

According to one biography,

“Georgia always noticed the way light and shadows played upon the objects around her. Her first day of school left her with memories, not of the other children or the teacher, nor of the butterflies in her stomach, but of the walk there. It was a muddy spring morning and she stopped to look at the deep ruts passing wagons had left in the rich brown mud of the road, the way the ruts filled with water that sparkled in the sun. The colors and patterns of nature made her stop and look. Sometimes she spent hours staring at a single flower until she became lost in its little world. (Brooks, Philip, Georgia O’Keeffe: An Adventurous Spirit, by Franklin Watts: New York, NY: 1995, p. 13)

How do you think Georgia’s curiosity made things more interesting to her? (Most of us would have seen the mud-puddle and thought, “Don’t step in it!” Georgia’s powers of observation helped her find extra-ordinary beauty in what most would see as “just a flower” or “Just a nasty mud puddle.”)

B. …Makes Learning Fun

Game: Treasure Hunt

Before class, tape a candy bar or a dollar bill to the bottom of a several chairs or other good hiding places. Tell the students that you've hidden a prize in the room. The rules are, "Finder's keepers, loser's weepers…Go!” [If they can't find it, tell students when they’re "hot" (close to the prize).]

Debriefing: Why do we get so motivated to look for hidden treasures? (We know something's there that we want. We also like the competition!) To a curious person, how is hidden knowledge sort of like the candy or money in our game? (Curious people are motivated to search for knowledge like others are motivated to search for candy.) How then does curiosity help us to enjoy our education more?  (Curious students have a natural desire to learn, thus making classes more interesting.)

Wouldn’t school and life be more fun if we had so much curiosity that we loved learning new things with the same intensity that we were looking for candy/money?

C. …Makes Us Successful

Discussion: What’s an area of life in which you’d like to be successful? (Teacher: Write these on the board. To get the ball rolling, you might mention a few areas such as: making money, making friends, having a successful marriage and family, getting really good at the guitar, being successful at a sport, skateboarding, etc.)

[Now, point to each area of success and ask, “How can a healthy curiosity help someone be a successful guitar player (wait for some response), a successful businessman (wait for a response), etc.]

Success at video games: Andrew, a senior in high school, says that curiosity helps him succeed at online games.  According to Andrew,

“When I get input from other players by typing questions, I find all kinds of ways to improve. Players ahead of me give me insider tips to achieve higher levels that I would have never thought of, sometimes getting me there 3x or 4x faster than I could have done it myself.”

Success in life:

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity. (Eleanor Roosevelt, One of the 20^th Century’s Most Influential and Admired Women)

I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious. (Albert Einstein, world’s most recognized theoretical physicist.)

Discussion: How do you think Einstein’s curiosity helped him to be a successful scientist? (His curiosity led him to spend lots of time wondering what things would look like if he were traveling on the top of a bullet at the speed of light. This insatiable curiosity ultimately led to his discovery of the theory of relativity.)

Success in music:

Some English teenagers had formed a band, and wanted like everything to learn to improve at their instruments. One time they hopped on busses to get them all the way to the other side of Liverpool, because they’d heard that someone there knew how to play a chord they wanted to play on their guitars. That intense desire to learn helped to transform them from a mediocre band to the most popular and influential band of their day, “The Beatles”. 

2. Curiosity Busters (Hindrances to Curiosity)

There can be no doubt that curiosity can be very important for our success. So what hinders our curiosity and what keeps us from acting on our curiosity?

·        Pride

By acting on our curiosity, we risk looking stupid. Here’s an example from a current movie.

Movie Clip: (Play a clip from the early part of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” where Will Turner is coming up the hall to present the sword, sees something on the wall he’s interested in, and accidentally knocks it off the wall. Keep rolling the film till after he presents the sword.)

Debriefing: What did Will do for a living? (Made swords) How did his curiosity almost get him into trouble? (By touching the decoration, he knocked it off.) How do you think his curiosity may have helped him to become a great swordsmith? (He was an assistant and wanted to learn.)

Often we’re curious about things, but fear asking good questions or exploring more deeply because we’re afraid of looking like a fool. If we get over our pride, it’s easier to risk looking like a fool.   

·        Fear

Story: As a schoolboy, Albert Einstein's science teacher was infuriated that Albert kept asking questions that he couldn't answer. Although the teacher couldn't expel Albert for asking questions, he told young Albert that the teachers preferred that he leave the school. (Albert Einstein: Young Thinker, pp. 131ff.)

Story: Thomas Edison, probably the greatest inventor who ever lived, ran into the same problem. His curiosity and quest for knowledge led him to average inventing something every 10 to 12 days of his adult life! (Uncommon Friends, p. 19)

But his curiosity got him into trouble at school. As a 7-year-old, he exasperated his teacher with his incessant questions. In his teacher's mind, an ideal student sat quietly and mindlessly memorized lectures. She told the school supervisor that Edison was retarded.

Curiosity pays off in the end, but we must be bold enough to risk looking foolish on our way to success.   

3. Rekindling Our Curiosity

Want to rekindle the curiosity that you may have lost along the way? Here are some ideas.

A. Move From Passive Listening to Active Seeking.

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. (Solomon)

Does Solomon say the wisdom has to come from a book? (No.) What other sources can you learn from? (Other people, TV cooking programs, biography, well-chosen videos, chat rooms, etc.)

Be curious always, for knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it. I want to be remembered as being curious to the end. (Warren Bennis, Distinguished Business Professor and Best-Selling Author)

B. Ask Good Questions

You've got to ask! Asking is, in my opinion, the world's most powerful -- and neglected -- secret to success and happiness. (Percy Ross)

The important thing is not to stop questioning…It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. (Albert Einstein)

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. (Samuel Johnson)

Steven Spielberg is the most successful movie director of all time. As a child, he had an aunt who babysat him. Listen to her observations:

''From the time he was able to open his mouth his first word, I think, was ‘Why?' You just had to answer every question, and then there would be more. Most of what I remember is Steve's curiosity and inquirious (sic) nature. He was just curiouser and curiouser….'' (Spielberg, p. 37,40)

Story: A kid was growing up in a poor neighborhood, but his mom wanted him to excel. She would ask him each day when he came home from school, ''Did you ask any good questions today?'' The child, Isador Isaac Rabi, became one of America's outstanding physicists.

C. Be Curious About Everyone

When we label people as (use the names of subcultures in your school) “jocks,” “nerds,” “cheerleaders,” “dopers,” etc., we often stereotype them rather than realizing that every person in our school knows more about something than we do. The “jock” might have a hobby of photography. The cheerleader may be fascinated with biography. Great wisdom-seekers are curious about everyone, even those they are tempted to think are “beneath” them.

Story: Steven Spielberg is so incredibly creative that you’d think he just walks around telling the actors to sit quietly and listen to his ideas. Yet, listen to actress Drew Barrymore tell how, when she was a small child, Spielberg worked with her and the other children in the movie E.T.:

All of us were free to offer input, but he especially seemed to like the silly things the kids came up with. Like in the scene where Henry, Robert, and I are hiding E.T. in the closet from our mother, Henry tells me that only kids can see E.T. There wasn't a line to go with that, and Steven told me to just make something up. So when we did the scene again, I just shrugged and said, ''Gimme a break!''

He'd often take me aside and say something like, ''You're talking to me now. Do you really like this? Or do you have a different idea? Do you think it could be done a different way?'' Eventually I'd add something and Steven would smile and say, ''Good, let's combine ideas.'' It made me feel so good. For once I didn't feel like some stupid little kid trying to make people love me. I felt important and useful.'' (Drew Barrymore with Todd Gold, Little Girl Lost, Pocket Books: New York, 1990, p. 58)

The point? If genius movie-maker Steven Spielberg is humble enough to get ideas from children, can’t we be curious enough to get input from all the people we meet, even those who are in lower grades. There's no person we come across who's too young or too ignorant to learn from. Every person has ideas and experiences that we can learn from.  Let's treat them with some respect! (Written by Steve Miller, Copyright May 6, 2002)

For Discussion:

1. Why do some students look down on those younger than them?  
2. What can we learn from younger students, little brothers or sisters?
3. How does it encourage younger students when we ask their advice or take an interest in them? 
4. Is there a younger student you could get to know today? Are you curious enough to ask about their interests and to learn from them?

Conclusion

The Curiosity Game!

Supplies: Paper and pencils, prize for winning team (bubble gum or suckers?)

Purpose: To help students practice curiosity and realize all that they have in common with their classmates. 

Divide into groups of about three people. Students should not be in their group of closest friends. Each team appoints a secretary, who needs a sheet of paper and pencil. Their challenge is to come up with a list of interests/experiences that they  have in common. The team with the longest list wins. Items that virtually every student has in common (all have tongues and legs) won't count. Items that count include items such as interests (for example, enjoy some of the same bands or music styles, the same sport, a hobby, a video game) experiences (come from a large family , moved here from another state or country), etc.

Give them about three minutes, so that they have to work quickly. Giving a one minute warning and thirty second warning will add to the excitement. 

"The winning team gets a free, all expenses paid group vacation to the Bahamas! Just kidding. Here are your suckers. Congratulations!"

Starting with the winning team, ask a volunteer to read the interests or experiences they had in common.

As they list each item, stop them occasionally and ask, “How could they learn from each other in this area of interest, if they were only curious enough to share their experiences and wisdom?”

Move on to the next team and ask the same thing for certain areas of interest.

If we were curious enough to continually get to know other students and teachers, we’d find that we have a lot to learn from each other, in both our similar interests and different interests. The truly curious person realizes that every person she meets is sharper than her in some way. She’s dying to learn from that person what she doesn’t know.

Action Point

Successful people like Spielberg and Einstein and Edison are curious enough to continually learn through observations and asking questions. Look around you at your fellow students. As ordinary as they seem, each one has a wealth of experiences that we could all learn from. This week, let’s try to rekindle that childhood curiosity by getting to know others and learning from them. Over the next few days, I’ll ask what you’re learning with your curiosity.

Addendum: Optional Story or Follow-up Story for Next Week

Learning – Be Curious About Everyone

In the early days of Rock, the popular Isley Brothers band toured Europe with a young keyboard player who wanted them to listen to the briefcase of songs he'd written. But they never did. They said, ''We figured this guy with the big glasses, how could he write something that would be funky enough for us?'' Now he regrets missing out on all those great songs. The keyboardist was perennial best-selling singer/songwriter Elton John. (Written by Steve Miller. Source: Kot, Greg, ''How the Isley Brothers became – and stayed – the first family of R & B'' Chicago Tribune, November 4, 2001, Sec. 7, p. 1.) 

Are we humble enough to respect and learn from those who we think are ''beneath us?'' Today, let's realize that every person is smarter than us in some way, has skills we don't have, or has experiences we could learn from. Let's start learning from each other rather than cutting each other down. 

For Discussion:

1. Why do you think the Isley Brothers failed to recognize Elton John's musical genius?  
2. Why do we often wrongly label people as losers?
3. What are some things we can learn from fellow students? 
4. During lunch or a recess, consider getting to know somebody new, or asking an acquaintance about his or her interests.