a lesson from the past

i watched a very interesting and motivating youtube clip on jean piaget. i was originally looking for clips showing piaget's different stages of cognitive development, but found this interview / speech that he was doing.

it made me really think about what we as educators are doing. when i consider my own practice, i have become pretty good at teaching my students how to learn about what is already known. they know how to learn from my lectures and the text book. but there is an inherent problem in this because there is a logical leap that we have to make. we can be REALLY good at teaching our students how to learn what is already known. but how do we teach them the ability to learn what is not yet known? that is the basic foundation of all human advancement.

how do we teach students to become inquisitive and search? i haven't yet been able to fully wrap my mind around this yet, but i'm beginning to think about steps we can take in the classroom that will not only take their learning out of the room, but also how to make it more inquiry based. but as i consider it now, the task isn't yet complete even then. what sets an inquisitive individual apart from one who isn't?

perhaps the greatest lesson we can teach is how to be curious.