Excellent! As I work to teach new thinking, I find myself challenged with having to figure out ways to not only teach the information, but to help students actually learn, process, and contextualize what they learn. I have found this to become an essential co-constructive process that involves ways to trigger interest (curiosity), to tap into that which we had as young children. I have found when I do, learning seems to take place. This is not easy for students at the bachelors level as they have been heavily conditioned with what I call Bulimic learning (where we pour it in and they put it out on the exam). They are often very resistant to the learning process and I have worked to find as many ways as i can to trigger their natural curiosity. I think Ramsey is definitely on track. I have also found use of reflection papers as a way to preceded class room discussion and AI must say, as i have struggled with learning a new way to teach, it has been a bit messy.

Curiosity arise in the HEART. A feel or urge or intentions are felt in the heart. From heart the message conceived by the BRAIN. Then the mind co-ordinates the rest of actions.

Hi John and Sunitha! Thanks a lot for your feedback and discussion! I agree with both of you!

John, your so called "bulimic learning" exactly represents what actually happens in our current teaching/learning process! (unfortunately) it is so true!

Sunitha, you are right about curiosity coming from the heart! So every teacher should learn how to arouse this curiosity in the students' hearts, no? As John said, most of the students are already conditioned to the "bulimic learning".

Thank you both for the insights and thoughts!

@ Matheus,

Yes as you say, every teacher should learn how to arouse the curiosity?

I like to give my observations from my country India and similar cases in our neighbouing too.

Here in India, a school master is the least earner; the first choice of rural youngsters is to go in for teaching! Not because they crave for it. It's mainly because of getting a chance of Government posting with least amount of bribing and to get settle as permanent career option. Here he/she is prone to get transferred within the State (as we have 28 States in India), which is a mandatory option of the Ruling Government so much so that teachers bribe once again to get retained within their travelling limit. Once in every 5years teachers are transferred. Here two things happen. influential ones retain to the nearby villages (from the city) and the poorer and uninfluential ones gets transferred every time such that their (majority) are always sufferers in terms of family deserted and/or travelling time takes half of their everyday energy say 2-3hours per day. So such teachers FROM WHERE THEY GET CURIOSITY TO BEGIN WITH AND HOW MUCH CURIOSITY CAN THEY CREATE/ALERT FOR THIER STUDENTS.

Another view I provide from the cities. Again unaffordable lower middle class and poor class youngsters for teachers posts. Here teaching happen in the Private Schools who's earnings are huge through donations and fees; but in major cases the teachers are not paid as stipulated by the Govt. As per the papers yes it is accordingly but how much reach to the hands of the teachers are most of the time half of it. Unsatisfied and stuck in the hands of the private institution FROM WHERE THE TEACHERS CURIOSITY ARISE AND HOW COULD THEY INCULCATE CURIOSITY AMONG CHILDREN.

Grade 12 is sufficient followed by 2 years teacher's training certificate (TCH) for a teacher to teach upto Grade 4. A basic degree with Scince/Arts/Commerce shall suffice and followed by 2year B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) majority going in as distant education pattern to become a teacher for Grade 5 to Grade 10. Teachers until retirement do not upgrade their teaching abilities. No such programs or exams from the Govt. side

Dear Sunitha,

I totally understand what you are saying, especially because I also come from a developing country (Brazil). Here, we also have problems very similar to those you mentioned above.

I do agree that not having minimum conditions to work makes teaching almost impossible. But this is a totally different discussion (very worth doing though). In the question I pointed out in here, I wanted to show how a teacher can fully and thoughtfully work in order to make positive changes in its environment (previously assuming that exists a social context where the fair conditions to work are already reached).

As I said, what you pointed out is another discussion and it deserves our attention, I do understand you! Unfortunately we have so many problems (difficult to solve) and we need to work on them.

I did mean to make a generic qestion applying to every circunstance. I am sorry if it sounded like this!

And again, lets keep discussing! This is the only way to grow and evolve ideas to better help our world!

Thanks,

Dear Matheus,

Yes I totally agree with you. This forum I appreciate and I'm so eager to learn and understand too. By giving my observations it does not end there. As you and me have merged in this thread like wise there are 33% of the population who have reached certain level are looking forward to bring in new ideas and concepts.

Ramsay way of teaching and learning are overwhelmingly admirable and implementable for our countries. A TEACHERS' FORUM ON RG CAN HAPPEN to discuss and understand for utility.

Here again I give my work-outs:

Out of learning and being with farmers being an urbanite we've been living in the farmland away from 35km from Bangalore city (having bought 5acres land). Last year we started evening tutorials (from lower KG to Grade 10) with Rs.3.00/day and the collected money from 100 children went in as tutor fee and kept as fixed deposit for a selected woman (Rs. 40,000) as her life-time savings.

Among the children I could notice 3 categories:

1) Self-motivated children (that they are bent-upon-to-do-best-learning) - say 10 of them, for whom higher motivations and directions to learn much more and study-plan for 10years were given.

2) 30 children were below average but had learning intentions for the sake of jobs and settlements; who were brought up above 65% level with intentions made to enter for diploma courses after grade 10 as their financial backgrounds were not so sound.

3) 40 children neither shown interest not cared about studies and out of which 20 children were ignorant when I came to learning and they were given courses and practices from primary grade onwards and picked up very well and reached to passing -grade and were smarter and were strengthened through curiosity inculcation as that of Ramsay; the other 20 children could not be brought with passing score but enjoyed being in the tutorials.

4)The last 20 children's parents did not obey to our tutorial pattern rather and felt that if their children did not study was certainly alright to them; so their children discontinued.

We gave only moral support and similar to Ramsay's curiosity and that assurance of everyone were born with similar learning abilities and curiosity but missed out by and that can be improved.

India has 85,00,000 villages and if in all the villages such tutorials can be operated by making young teachers (who are all of 18-20) studying with higher courses (as in my last year's model) Ramsay Repetitions are needed.

Curiosity, Planning, time-keeping, low budget balanced diet and enough sleep pattern were designed to every child.

Here are two quotes that emphasize importance of curiosity (different from mystification in that it is linked to a search for truth) as part of the scientific attitude.

Simon and Newell:

"When the magician pulls the rabbit from the hat, the spectator can respond either with mystification or with curiosity. He can enjoy the surprise and the wonder of the unexplained (and perhaps inexplicable), or he can search for an explanation.

Suppose curiosity is his main response—that he adopts a scientist's attitude toward the mystery. What questions should a scientific theory of magic answer? First, it should predict the performance of a magician handling specified tasks—producing a rabbit from a hat, say. It should explain how the production takes place, what processes are used, and what mechanisms perform those processes. It should predict the incidental phenomena that accompany the magic—the magician's patter and his pretty assistant—and the relation of these to the mystification process. It should show how changes in the attendant conditions—both changes "inside" the members of the audience and changes in the feat of magic—alter the magician's behavior. It should explain how specific and general magician's skills are learned, and what the magician "has" when he has learned them."     

C.S. Peirce:

There are two qualifications which every true man of science possesses, and which, if a man possesses them, he is sure to develop into a scientific man in the course of time, if he ought not fairly to be called such already. 

First, the dominant passion of his whole soul must be to find out the truth in some department, regardless of what the color of that truth may be. 

Secondly, he must have a natural gift for reasoning, for severely critical thought.     ~

I think in order to arouse scientific curiosity among university students, it can be through: questioning the scientific information and asking them to search for confirmation of it. This can also be done by directing them towards new discoveries in the field of knowledge and how they started from simple facts. It can also be done by reviewing the stories of scientists and their efforts in developing knowledge or Through scientific puzzles

It is an interesting way of looking at learning.

Scientific curiosity is one of the important characteristics of the learner that must be taken care of and developed towards the exploration of science

its somewhat lacking ,one that piques interest, particularly for unusual or exotic features