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So, what did you learn today?
And when's the last time anyone asked you that?
It's been years since I was asked "What did you learn today?," but I keep learning.
Yesterday, at the American Museum of Natural History, my mother asked me and my partner "How do you know all this?" as we talked about the fossil we'd gone to see, and history of dinosaurs, and their relations to birds, and such.
As it happens, my mother has a more advanced education than either of us, and she and I went to the same high school. But I know all this stuff because it caught my eye, and I read about it, and followed cross-references, and go to museums, and otherwise find out more about things because finding things out is fun.
Where does that attitude come from? How can we nurture it? How do you teach curiosity? How do you teach people to look for those connections?
[This started as a reply to a Metafilter thread, and I decided I wanted my friends to see it.]
And when's the last time anyone asked you that?
It's been years since I was asked "What did you learn today?," but I keep learning.
Yesterday, at the American Museum of Natural History, my mother asked me and my partner "How do you know all this?" as we talked about the fossil we'd gone to see, and history of dinosaurs, and their relations to birds, and such.
As it happens, my mother has a more advanced education than either of us, and she and I went to the same high school. But I know all this stuff because it caught my eye, and I read about it, and followed cross-references, and go to museums, and otherwise find out more about things because finding things out is fun.
Where does that attitude come from? How can we nurture it? How do you teach curiosity? How do you teach people to look for those connections?
[This started as a reply to a Metafilter thread, and I decided I wanted my friends to see it.]
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