Lesson Idea | The Power of Curiosity

Subjects and Themes

Art
English language arts
Social studies
Compassion
Curiosity
Empathy

Materials

Quote from essay
“Asking Questions” cartoon by Grant Snider
“I Wonder” worksheet

SDGs

Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Standards and Frameworks

SEL Competencies
NCSS Themes
CCSS ELA Standards

What Students Will Uncover

The significance of embracing curiosity and celebrating questions

Essential Questions

What does it mean to be curious?
Why is it important to ask questions?
How are your questions and answers shaped by your own worldview?

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, students will explore the power of questions. By examining a quote from Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger’s essay, “Learning and Teaching from the Heart in Troubled Times,” students will investigate the difference between questions and answers and participate in learning activities to consider the meaning of the word quest. This lesson will invite students to develop their curiosity and empathy.

Key Issue

Embracing questions about the world and ourselves can foster curiosity and empathy.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
Explain what it means to be curious.
Explore the word quest, as connected to the word questions.
Recognize that questions are important for learning, growth, and fostering curiosity.

Lesson

Setting the Stage: Lesson Introduction

Explore this exercise with students.
1. Tell students they will explore Grant Snider’s cartoon titled “Asking Questions.”
2. Display the cartoon and read it aloud to students.
3. Ask students: What is your favorite part of the cartoon? Why?
4. Ask students to complete these sentences:
-I wonder…
- I’m confused by…
5. Ask a few students to share their responses.
6. What do you enjoy about asking questions? What do you find challenging about asking questions?

Engaging with the Story
Introduce students to author Elie Wiesel and explore the meaning of the word quest.
1. Tell students they will read a quote from Elie Wiesel, who was an author and professor at Boston University for forty years. The quote includes the word quest.
2. Ask students to define the word quest in their own words.
3. Share one definition of the word quest with students: “a long or difficult search for something.” The “long or difficult search” can be when a person is looking for something, or it can mean a search for meaning within oneself. Share with students that characters in many stories and books are on a quest. Some characters are searching for a treasure or solving a mystery.
4. Ask students to think about their favorite stories whose characters are on a quest. What are the characters searching for?

Delving Deeper: Learning Activities
Encourage students to examine the themes raised in the quote from Elie Wiesel.
1. Share the following quote with students:
Questions connect us to one another, while answers separate us. Questions open us, while answers close us. There is quest in question.
Elie Wiesel
2. Ask students: What might it mean for questions to “open us” and for answers to “close us”?
3. Ask students to revisit their definitions of the word quest. What might it mean for the word quest to be inside the word question?
4. How was the character in the cartoon “Asking Questions” on a quest?
5. Do you think questions are important? Why? How do you feel when you are asking a question?

Reflecting and Projecting
Challenge students to consider the quote’s broader implications and to integrate their knowledge and ideas from various points of view.
1. Give students sticky notes. Students will write two questions on individual notes. The questions can come from the classroom conversation or they can be new questions. Add the notes to the board to create a list of the questions. In a virtual setting, use Padlet, Google Docs, or Google Slides.
2. Students will select a question that interests them from the list. The question they select can be one of their own or one from their classmates.
3. As an exit ticket, have students write why they chose the questions they did. Students will then begin a short research project to find potential answers to the questions they chose. To guide students in this process, share the “I Wonder” worksheet.

What’s Happening Now
Provide students with follow-up activities.
1. Display Ariel Burger’s original illustration (from the Yiddish folktale “Sara Chana at the Tip of the Church Tower) so all students can see it. This illustration accompanies Ariel’s essay.
2. Allow students to respond to the following questions, which are part of Project’s Zero’s Visible Thinking Routine, designed to encourage exploration of a work of art. Tell students to take their time and list all of the ideas that come to mind. Then have students share their responses with the class.
What do you see?
What do you think about that?
What does it make you wonder?

Companion Texts

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth
The Blue Pool of Questions by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat

Resources

Ariel Burger.com. (Website)
Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger, Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom.
Warren Burger, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom.
Grant Snider, “Asking Questions.” (Cartoon)
“Open-Ended Questions: What Do You Think?” Fred Rogers Center. (Organization)
Connections to National Curriculum Standards and Frameworks

SEL Competencies (CASEL)

Self awareness. The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior.
Social awareness. The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior.
Relationship skills. The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups.

NCSS National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity. Questions related to identity and development, which are important in psychology, sociology, and anthropology, are central to the understanding of who we are.

Common Core English Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-W.3.4. With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
CCSS.ELA-W.4.4-5.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-SL.3.1-5.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grades 3–5] topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.