How often in the hectic school day do you take the time to find out what kids are thinking about? How often do you start a lesson by asking students what they wonder about the topic at hand? How often do you encourage kids to hypothesize or ask questions? If you are the one doing the talking, explaining, and questioning, you may be missing a treasure trove of information that can improve student engagement and learning.

A recent Atlantic article by University of Michigan law and philosophy professor Scott Hershovitz detailed the fascinating reasons we shouldn’t be so quick to underestimate the cognitive capacities of kids. 

Isn’t it about time that we give kids the credit they deserve for being sophisticated thinkers? If you’ve spent an afternoon with a curious child, one of the things you know is that they love to ask questions about things we take for granted. Hershovitz uses an example from The Philosophy of Childhood by the late philosopher Gareth Matthews to illustrate this.

Matthews told his 4-year-old daughter, Sarah, that their cat, Fluffy, had fleas. Sarah asked where they had come from.

The fleas must have jumped from another cat onto Fluffy, Matthews told her.

“How did that cat get fleas?” Sarah asked.

They must have come from a different cat, Matthews said.

“But Daddy,” Sarah insisted, “it can’t go on and on like that forever; the only thing that goes on and on like that is numbers!”’

This idea that Sarah expressed is a philosophical idea that many have grappled with over the ages. Sarah was thinking like a philosopher!

While student questions might slow down the lesson or start to grate on your nerves, you have to admit it is a wonderful thing to see evidence that youngsters care about the why’s and how’s of the world. Kids sometimes say the most ingenious things. Isn’t that one of the great delights of working with children and adolescents? 

What if we encouraged all our students–even the ones past the age of nine–to continue moving through the world with wonder and curiosity? What would a science or math class look and sound like? Who would be doing most of the talking? Asking lots of questions? Expressing doubt or skepticism in order to better understand or make meaning? As a teacher, would class be much more fulfilling for you, if kids were really into it?

Perhaps we need to consider the idea that kids may care more than we think; may have lots of questions, and that letting them talk, reason, explain, and question during class as often as possible is what great education is all about. Maybe we could remind ourselves and our students that not knowing is an opportunity for learning and mistakes are an important part of the process. The goal isn’t to suppress creative and fearless thinking in the name of ‘covering the curriculum’ or ‘getting through the lesson on time.’  Instead, perhaps the key is to help students hold on to curiosity, fearless conjecturing, and creativity for as long as possible, so they grow into discerning life long learners and well informed citizens. 

Teaching is not about getting ready for a test, no matter how high the stakes. It is about encouraging, inspiring, and nurturing learners to become informed, decipher fact from fiction, think for themselves, solve problems creatively, and work with others. These are innate tendencies in all children. Let’s not squelch them in school.

Read the original Atlantic article here.