Learning through Wonder

Deeper learning doesn’t start with answers, but with wonder and curiosity that make knowledge endure.

Hopefully, we each had at least one of those special teachers who will forever stand out in memory even when others become dusted with time. These were the teachers whose eyes lit up with delight, passion, curiosity, and purpose when engaging with course material. They breathed life into what others simply taught and tested. Better yet, they read between the lines of textbook information and curriculum standards to see the life that already existed there and called it forth.

Good teaching is drawing out the magic in the ordinary and inviting students to wonder in both senses of the word: to push past the initial facts with curiosity and to engage with a level of delight or awe.

Designed for Wonder

Although wonder is not necessary for learning, we miss opportunities to thrive without it. We learn constantly in our day-to-day lives; students cram information for tests and adults make constant mental notes for the sake of their many responsibilities. Information is filed away, and even sometimes absorbed with understanding, but not engaged with on a deeper level. We remember dry facts only as long as they are practically applicable, rather than learning with meaningful depth. Making space for curiosity and creativity is often treated as an optional luxury by schools and individuals alike.

If this model of memorizing, testing, and moving on seems to work, then why fix it? The Oxford English Dictionary describes learning as acquiring knowledge and skills, but a holistic and scriptural view pushes beyond mere acquisition.

Humans were created with minds, bodies, hearts and souls. Thus, God calls us to learn about and engage with Him and His created world with our full selves. He does not want us to solely know Him on a factual level or to simply memorize the names of items in His created world. Instead, we are invited to engage with our whole selves, to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8) and to pursue discovery of the ways that nature declares His glory (Ps. 19:1, Rom. 1:20). True learning is taking presented information and engaging with mind, heart, and body in order to grasp a personal understanding that shapes us.

Magic in the Ordinary

It is easy to see that humans are designed for holistic learning, but what motivates a learner to fully engage in this way? Curiosity–this is the fertile soil from which learning grows. Most often, we do not know because we do not ask, and we do not ask because there was no inspiration or time given to pause and wonder. Thinking back to those special teachers, they knew how to tell the stories that the facts wrung dry. Storytelling presents information in a way that captures imaginations and facilitates the time and space for learners to grow curious. From there, true learning takes shape.

All ordinary things carry a story for those willing to pause, truly look, and wonder. This is why people often comment that a child at his or her first birthday party is more excited about the wrapping paper than the new toys inside. Although it is natural for experiences, items, and facts to become commonplace with time, stories help us to engage with renewed curiosity as we see those ordinary things in a new light. This is true magic.

Whether it’s telling the story of how magma bubbles up from the earth, becoming molten rock and later an island, or a complex, fictional story with heroes and villains that centers around a volcano eruption in the plot–students engage with stories as footholds of knowledge. Curious, they are spurred on to ponder and learn more with wonder than with blatantly-told facts.

Odd School

This is the mission of Odd School Studios–to set the stage for learning through stories that captivate, motivate, and inspire. Human flourishing according to God’s good design includes stories as part of holistic learning. Through them we are engaged heart, mind, body, and soul as we are inspired to listen, ask questions, seek further knowledge, create from new insight, and are shaped by deeper understanding. When learning emerges from storytelling, we are enabled to dig in with curiosity and delight.

Next week’s essay unpacks Odd School’s first story and how we hope it awakens wonder in the hearts and minds of those who read it.