But the improvisational part of tutoring—which is to say, the fun part—involves being interested: being curious about the student, their project, their discipline, the guidelines and constraints they’re working with, and what we each might learn or realize in the course of our conversation. For me, the best conferences—and they aren’t rare—are those in which I’m learning something that is of no practical use to me, something unrelated to my own scholarly work or to tutoring pedagogy. Something that’s just interesting. Being interesting and being interested “Bookcase, Ruth Mendez Home, New York, New York, 2000.” Photo by Susan Carr. In documenting the homes of people who had lived in one house for forty years or more, Susan, my aunt, had to cultivate an open-ended curiosity about and interest in whatever she might find in each home she photographed. The Infinite Monkey Cage“. Предаването, което вече има над 100 епизода, обсъжда теми от всякако естество, с гости от най-различни сфери на познанието. It has the value of a coffee table book, or a toilet read. Nothing more. If you want science and insights, look elsewhere.

The Importance of Being Interested – Another Word The Importance of Being Interested – Another Word

Teacher preparation policies and practices are useful only insofar as they translate to action in the classroom, which suggests incentivizing the design and adoption of interest interventions and rewarding faculty for the downstream benefits of their efforts toward enhancing student motivation. Getting down into the weeds of creating instructional opportunities that promote and sustain students’ interest or facilitate utility-value connections is time-consuming and requires careful attention to intervention implementation details ( Yeager et al., 2016). Various evaluation policies could reward educators who use evidence-based motivational science to inform their curricula and instructional methods, for example, by providing professional development funds, creating organizational teaching awards, and other meritorious recognition for such efforts. The simplest way to open an information gap is to start with the question. Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham notes that teachers and parents are often “so eager to get to the answer that we do not devote sufficient time to developing the question.” Yet it’s the question that stimulates curiosity; being told an answer quells curiosity before it can even get going. Instead of starting with the answer, begin by posing a genuinely interesting question—one that opens an information gap. The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity by Robin Ince - Signed Edition

It really is greatly written and I love Robin’s style of writing. So easy going, entertaining, a pleasure to read and easy to sink into. Non fiction can be something that people struggle to read but not so with this one. In fact, scientists have shown that passionate interests can even allow people to overcome academic difficulties or perceptual disabilities. One study found that students who scored poorly on achievement tests but had well-developed interests in reading or mathematics were more likely to engage with the meaning of textual passages or math problems than were peers with high scores but no such interests. Another study, of prominent academics and Nobel Laureates who struggled with dyslexia, found that they were able to persist in their efforts to read because they were motivated to explore an early and ardent interest. Mike: Thank you so much for your thoughts and questions—I appreciate the opportunity to think through this with you and clarify what I wrote. I’m glad to hear you think some of the values I articulated here are in the same territory as Bill Cronon’s definition of a liberal education. The book also includes talks to many eminent researchers in their field, astronauts who have had a very unique perspective of earth and those who have had their own stories to tell when it comes to scientific curiosity. With that and Robin’s own thoughts and experiences, it made for very informative and great reading. A very worthwhile read! I loved it.

The Importance of Being Interested - Google Books The Importance of Being Interested - Google Books

But in reading this book, it's very obvious that Robin is a good ninety degrees left of me! Before I go any further, I need to point out that I'm under no illusions of my own neutrality. I’m not a natural conservative (either with or without a capital C) and on the "political compass" test, I get as close to the centre as makes no odds, but my own biases are clear to me; I've got no time for identity politics or pandering to what I've come to think of as the Modern Left. I was rather surprised by Robin's rather obvious political bias, not because it exists (he’s entitled to his own opinions) but because he’s an author of a book on cognition who simply doesn’t seem to recognise his own biases. But it’s so important to keep a curiosity when it comes to science. It is everywhere whether we like it or not. In our lives, in what we do, in what we are. It can be an amazing thing when that spark for science is relighted and something I’m very grateful to the Infinite Monkey Cage podcasts for, which Robin Ince also hosts (would recommend!). It is a brave move to take on the complex, systematic cruelty of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries in a novella, and Claire Keegan writes with a rare power and texture. A teenage girl begs family man Bill Furlong to remove her from the convent to which he delivers coal. Societal mores means he’s urged to keep quiet about the troubling things he’s beginning to see, but Bill’s own childhood experiences compel him to both confront his past and act in his present. A restrained and intensely moral book, full of hope and love. Empireland This is more an homage to science itself, and more specifically how we should always stay curious and question. Cultivating interest should not be an afterthought to the typical learning situation: Interest is essential to academic success. Interventions to develop students’ interest matter in any educational context, but may be most needed in academic domains that many students do not find initially interesting or those domains in which interest typically declines over time. For example, in middle school and high school, students’ academic interests decline, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects ( Brophy, 2008; Eccles et al., 1993).His mind is joyous, eternally curious and making connections that can be deep and humorous at the same time. If you like to laugh and be able to learn something new about science at the same time, or at least see it in a different light, then read Robin’s book. Eccles JS, Wigfield A. Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology. 2002; 53:109–132. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153. [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Sansone C, Thoman DB. Interest as the missing motivator in self-regulation. European Psychologist. 2005; 10:175–186. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040.10.3.175. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] This post rings so true with my work in the high school library of an independent school for 25 years. Assisting high school juniors to be interested and curious about their own current issue research paper for government class requires my own patience and curiosity. Some of them are genuinely amazed to discover my interest in their chosen topic, while others definitely benefit from my questions which require them to reflect, reorganize and redefine their topic. I have not thought of my work in exactly the way you described Michelle but on a good day I would hope that I would be able to use much of what you discuss in your post. Thank you for the inspiration to be interested! Palmer DH. Student interest generated during an inquiry skills lesson. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 2009; 46:147–165. doi: 10.1002/tea.20263. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

The Importance of Being Interested - Booktopia The Importance of Being Interested - Booktopia

We thank Max Knogler, Ann Renninger, and Lynda Ransdell for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. A really good performance from Robin. Great stuff from a man who knows how to get a giggle from a simple turn of phrase. Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2014; 111:8410–8415. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1319030111. [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] To celebrate the publication of Robin’s new book, ‘The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity’ the award winning comedian is joining us on his tour of 100 independent bookshops around the UK. About the Book From the glorious appeal of the stars above to why scientific curiosity can encourage much needed intellectual humility, this optimistic and profound book will leave you filled with a thirst for intellectual adventure. About Robin InceAnswers or seeking answers to questions can be dangerous for some people because the answer May destroy the person's reality, example, God, or free will. I’ve learned a lot by being interested in writers and their projects—not least how I can cultivate my capacity to be interested, and why I should. In the last two or three years, I’ve become an avid birder. I’m not the “big year” sort—I don’t even keep a life list—but I very much enjoy watching and identifying birds. And being interested in birds has made me more attentive. Coots on Lake Mendota in Madison.