Capturing Learners Natural Curiosity

Change takes courage. Leaders from Creighton School District took the plunge into learning through inquiry and exploration with two APW facilitators. They spent their entire day putting themselves in their students' shoes, feeling what it was like to learn science from scratch. They creatively engineered a physical model and had fun learning that failure is a part of the process! When taken outdoors to conduct field science investigations, they learned their discoveries ultimately led to more questions. Throughout the day, they experienced learning that was at times exhilarating and at others infuriating. As leaders they need to know how their students and teachers feel when confronted with such challenges. With so many limits and structures in place in our current school system, how do we sustain curiosity and provide a scientific foundation for thinking, as the Arizona Science Standards ask us to do? Creighton administrators are trying to answer that question by embracing change, becoming curious learners, unashamed of not knowing, and by developing and using thinking skills that will help them figure things out, now and in the future.