Children are naturally curious beings. Schools offer an enabling environment for the children to exploit their curiosity. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, learners can no longer attend school due to movement restrictions. 

Most schools, such as the GIIS Dubai School, have developed ways to help their students continue with their lessons by offering online classes; this helps them learn at their homes’ comfort.

Therefore, teachers should develop ways to promote learners’ curiosity to ensure learning effectiveness, as it is easy for the learners to relax on their studies while at home. The following are ways teachers can promote interest in their students when learning from home.

• Giving Challenging Assignments

Once a teacher concludes a lesson, the teacher should give assignments. To spike the learner’s curiosity, the teacher should assign challenging tasks to the learner and not anything they find simple.  The challenging questions will require the learners to dig deep and to think critically to find answers. The curiosity to find answers to the challenging questions helps learners gain more relevant knowledge, thus increasing intellectual capacity.

• Allowing Useful Failure   

You will agree that failure is not designed to put learners down. Failure, in most cases, is a motivation to want to do better. For instance, when your students fail in a particular subject area, they will naturally want to know why they failed and how they could have correctly answered the question. Curiosity is spiked in trying to find the cause of the failure. So how do you encourage useful failure? For instance, as you introduce a new topic to your students, you assign a question on the subject and have them answer it. Chances are, they will incorrectly answer the question and will be curious to know how they should have answered it. See, useful failure!

• Encouraging Active Learning

Most schools, such as the GIIS Dubai school, encourage student-centred learning. Learner-centred learning is where the teacher acts as a facilitator to the lesson. Instead of forcing knowledge and information to the learners, the teacher allows the learners to discuss a topic and offers guidance and clarification. Active learning creates a thirst in learners to know more. Today, technology has made learning easier as learners can actively discuss a topic in an online class.

• Encourage Learners to ask Questions

Allow the learner’s mind to wander. Give them time to ask relevant questions about a topic. Towards the end of every lesson, give the learners a chance to ask questions and clarify the areas they may not have understood. Through the questions, you can gauge the effectiveness of the lesson. The student’s questions also open more discussion on the topic, challenging other learners to think. Therefore, once a learner asks a question, the teacher should allow the other learners to answer before giving a final answer as these challenges the learners to think critically.

A curious mind is a knowledgeable mind. Therefore, teachers should incorporate these ways in their online classes during this pandemic to increase learners’ curiosity, which increases the chances of imparting more knowledge to the learners.

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