Unconventional teaching ideas that work: The curiosity project (Melissa Shew)

[UPDATE: comments now open!]

By Melissa Shew, Marquette University 

There are only three requirements for the Curiosity Project. The Curiosity Project MUST:

1. Engage and respond to a philosophical question, sincerely asked and pursued
2. Use individual group members’ gifts and talents
3. Be wildly creative

At the beginning of a semester, when I tell students that they will be giving a group presentation and I write these criteria for it on the board, few of them think that they’re capable of creating a 35-40 minute presentation in philosophy, especially at a foundational level. Most don’t even know what philosophy is or why they’re required to take it, let alone how it relates to their lives, academic interests, or the world. They are uncertain, skeptical, and worried. Some are intrigued, of course, but they are in the minority. Most students at the end of the semester, however, are genuinely surprised by what they have accomplished through their Curiosity Projects.

I developed the Curiosity Project eight years ago and have used it in a variety of upper- and lower-division college courses as well as at the high school level. This project is adaptable to a variety of courses and diverse populations, though I think it is of most value in introductory philosophy courses. My anecdotal evidence suggests that students in introductory courses find immense value in pursuing their own philosophical questions in a collaborative project with their peers. They learn how to investigate a philosophical question in a complex and meaningful way that includes rigorous philosophical research through sustained use of philosophy databases and resources. They also often enjoy it and work hard because they feel like they are “hot on the trail” in pursuit of their question. It is very much their own adventure.

This investment in their own education is a manifest rejection of what Paulo Freire calls the “banking model of education,” a top-down model of teaching that mimics oppressive structures as a whole. In this view, the best student is the one who is most obedient, docile, and imitative of the educator in being able to reproduce a body of knowledge, for this reproduction is the standard by which academic success is measured. In contrast, my sensibilities as an educator integrate four different pedagogical paths that I try to live out in the classroom and that motivate the Curiosity Project for me:

1) Socratic pedagogy;

2) Critical pedagogy, especially in affirming the “problem-posing” model of education

   through dialogue (Freire) and bell hooks’ work on engaged pedagogy;

3) Ignatian pedagogy, summed up by St. Ignatius’ statement that an “enduring

   contemplative stance” is essential for education;

4) Feminist pedagogy, in which educators reject the banking method of education “in

   favor of a more complex and social process of knowledge-making through interaction,

   collaboration, and negotiation." In this view, "every learner brings a specific perspective”

   (“Construction of Knowledge,” from “A Guide to Feminist Pedagogy,”

   https://my.vanderbilt.edu/femped/habits-of-head/construction-of-knowledge/).

Indeed, as a result of their work on the Curiosity Project, many students in my classes have decided to major or minor in philosophy, feeling both personally and academically fulfilled by the discipline, recognizing both their desires and abilities to enter into it. Moreover, the project also implicitly encourages students to recognize the importance of the humanities more broadly, which I consider a great good in our current climate of higher education. I’ve had many students pursue upper-division project- and research-oriented and interdisciplinary opportunities as a result of their completion of this project. Additionally, students appreciate that they cultivate a wide variety of skills that can be helpful in pursuing internship, scholarship, and job opportunities.

           

As mentioned at the start of this post, there are only three requirements for this project. The project must:

1. Engage and respond to a philosophical question, sincerely asked and pursued
   1. No hipster, ironic, or “too cool for school” attitudes allowed, period.
   2. Ideally, the central question is both individually meaningful and collectively shared with group members. Recent examples include: “Can a nihilist flourish?” “Is aesthetic expression central to being human?” “What is love?” “Where do we see Stoic principles at work in our world?” “How do fallacies shape how we perceive the world?” “What is authentic education, and why is it so rare?” “Why and how is philosophy dangerous?” “What is success?” “Are we free?”
2. Use individual group members’ gifts and talents
   1. Talents need not be obvious or artistic. Gifts and talents can include a willingness to interview people, an ability to synthesize ideas, a strong knowledge in their major, the ability to facilitate differing opinions among group members, etc.
   2. When I first created this project, I was shocked by how few students thought that they had any gifts or talents at all. Thus, I started telling students that if they find themselves in this boat, they should talk to someone who loves and cares about them to ask that person what she thinks their gifts and talents are. I also tell students that if they are uncomfortable doing this, they can come to me and I will tell them within a few minutes of having a conversation with them what I see as some of their gifts and talents.
   3. I have come to realize the importance of this criterion and the importance of communicating to students that all of them do, in fact, have gifts and talents, even if they don’t realize it. I genuinely understand an aspect of my job as an educator to be to demonstrate care for the whole person, which takes concrete shape through this criterion. I am supported by the first guiding value of Marquette University, which is to “pledge personal and holistic development of students as our primary institutional vocation” (https://www.marquette.edu/about/mission.php). I suspect that most universities, both public and private, use similar language to address the importance of caring for the whole person. Making evident this connection for students in terms of this project can be helpful for them to see how it aligns with core values of the university as a whole.
3. Be wildly creative
4. A presentation really can take virtually any shape so long as it doesn’t amount to death by PowerPoint, Prezi, or some other similar platform. Certainly, a platform like that can be used to flex out different creative aspects or serve as a hub for a presentation, but I make it clear that the presentation cannot simply be a PowerPoint or Prezi. A presentation can include experiential and immersive learning in the classroom, multimedia projects involving our digital scholarship lab (e.g., podcasts, interactive timelines, infographics, creating websites, etc.), thoroughly collaborative and interactive activities, the creation of any number of more explicitly artistic presentations (documentaries, writing and performing songs and one-act plays, etc.), and more.
5. Especially inspired students have really taken this criterion to heart.
6. I try very hard to withhold examples from previous presentations, and I think it’s important to do so.

Standard Trajectory: We do a “philosophical mixer” in class twice for 10-15 minutes near the beginning of the semester so that students can choose who they want to work with. There are 3-4 students in each group. I help group students who need it. In their groups, students write a 1-page, single-spaced plan that identifies their question, the individual group members’ responsibilities, what they will do to realize their project, and a basic outline of their project. This low-stakes assessment is typically due before midterms. They give their presentation at the end of the term. Students receive feedback both from their peers (I give them little slips of paper for comments for presentations and require that students write a great take-away from the presentation on one side and an opportunity for improvement on the other) and from me. I fill out a presentation sheet during the presentation so that students have multiple perspectives about what they created throughout the semester and I hand all the feedback to a group in a little packet. Sometimes students provide feedback through our learning management system instead, but in any event, all groups receive feedback from me and their peers. Finally, each group member typically writes an individual reflection on the project in response to specific prompts from me.

Additional resources:
1) Presentation analysis document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ezdTtkhIGqqlgWDwjx8YXfQ-h-HDlsMtX-w5_dPIzP0/edit?usp=sharing

 

2) Individual reflection guidelines: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AzIOwCX-AON09WhryZ7_LzS-jeB7dCZVEGSl8L53VU/edit?usp=sharing