Asking Questions is a Powerful Tool for Building Knowledge
Early on, children begin to develop epistemic curiosity–the desire to know how and why. By age two, most children’s inquiry gains a powerful tool: the ability to talk, and therefore ask questions. In schools, we need to encourage inquiry to continue building a love of learning and intellectual curiosity. Child development expert Susan Engel, Ph.D., tells us why and how.
More Videos Featuring Susan Engel, Ph.D.
Susan Engel, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology & Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is also the author of the Intellectual Lives of Children (2021) and The End of the Rainbow (2016), among other books. She joined us at a Seedlings Facilitator gathering to share with us the many possibilities for engaging students in cultivating their natural inclinations for inquiry, invention and ideas.
Children Create Collections to Build Knowledge and Ideas
Children’s collections are their way of building knowledge. Sometimes those are things like pine cones and sometimes they are answers to their questions about specific topics. As children get older they begin to narrow what they are curious about. That narrowing of curiosity is essential to their ability to build ideas, says developmental psychologist Susan Engel, Ph.D.
