WONDER-FULL EDUCATION “On the cutting edge of books adopting an international perspective. ... The multicultural perspective is valuable for curriculum scholars and teachers the world over. This book is revolutionary in the best sense of that word.” William E. Doll, Jr., Louisiana State University (Emeritus), USA, and University of Victoria and University of British Columbia (Adjunct), Canada “...A novel, timely and worthwhile book – full of wonder in itself. It is a manifesto for bringing awe and wonder back to education – and illuminating the poetic and inspirational in all subjects. A valuable and original addition to the literature, it will appeal to both beginning teachers and experienced researchers.” Paul Ernest, University of Exeter, UK For many children much of the time their experience in classrooms can be rather dull, and yet the world the school is supposed to initiate children into is full of wonder. Many forces conspire against making everyday schooling wonder-full. This book offers a rich understanding of the nature and roles of wonder in general, and provides multiple suggestions for how to revive wonder in adults (teachers and curriculum makers) and how to keep wonder alive in children. Its aim is to show that adequate education needs to take seriously the task of evoking wonder about the content of the curriculum and to show how this can routinely be done in everyday classrooms. The authors do not wax flowery; they present strong arguments based on either research or precisely described experience for the importance of wonder as a central educational concept, and show how this argument can be seen to work itself out in daily practice. The emphasis is not on ways of evoking wonder that might require virtuoso teaching, but rather on how wonder can be evoked about the everyday features of the math or science or social studies curriculum in regular classrooms. Kieran Egan is Professor and Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Education, and Director, Imaginative Education Research Group at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Annabella Cant is a PhD candidate in the Curriculum Theory and Implement- ation Program, and Associate Director, Imaginative Education Research Group at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Gillian Judson is Lecturer and Director, Imaginative Education Research Group at Simon Fraser University, Canada. This page intentionally left blank WONDER-FULL EDUCATION The Centrality of Wonder in Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum Edited by Kieran Egan, Annabella Cant and Gillian Judson First published 2014 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Taylor & Francis The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wonder-full education : the centrality of wonder in teaching and learning across the curriculum / edited by Kieran Egan, Annabella Cant, and Gillian Judson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Learning, Psychology of. 2. Wonder in children. I. Egan, Kieran, editor of compilation. LB1060.W654 2013 370.15´23–dc23 2012050551 ISBN: 978-0-415-82029-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-82030-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-49850-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by HWA Text and Data Management, London CONTENTS Preface vii PART I The Nature of Wonder and its Educational Uses 1 1 Our Hearts Leap Up: Awakening Wonder Within the Classroom 3 Laura Piersol 2 Wow! What if ? So What?: Education and the Imagination of Wonder: Fascination, Possibilities and Opportunities Missed 22 Dave Trotman 3 Reclaiming the Value of Wonder in Science Education 40 Yannis Hadzigeorgiou 4 Wondering About Wonder in Mathematics 66 Dov Zazkis and Rina Zazkis PART II Engaging Wonder in Everyday Classrooms 87 5 Opportunity to Teach: The Joy of Teaching What You Know Deeply, Find Fascinating, and Want to Share 89 David C. Berliner vi Contents 6 Renewing the Sense of Wonder in the Minds of High School and College Students 97 Keiichi Takaya 7 From “Unknown Questions” Begins a Wonderful Education: Kyozai-Kaishaku and the Dialogic Classroom 110 Kiyotaka Miyazaki 8 The Talking Table: Sharing Wonder in Early Childhood Education 122 Fleur Griffiths 9 The Upside Down Picnic Table: The Wonder of Learning Through Improvisational Play 135 Lynn Fels PART III Dimensions of Educational Wonder 147 10 Wonder, Awe and Teaching Techniques 149 Kieran Egan 11 Wonder for Sale 162 Annabella Cant 12 An Educational Leadership Perspective: Managing and Revealing the DNA of Wonder in Teaching and Learning 178 Di Fleming 13 The Keys to Wonder-Rich Science Learning 190 Lynne Bianchi 14 Creative Imagination in Play-Worlds: Wonder-Full Early Childhood Education in Finland and the United States 203 Pentti Hakkarainen and Beth Ferholt 15 Wonder as a Gateway Experience 219 Bronwen Haralambous and Thomas W. Nielsen About the contributors 239 Index 243 PREFACE The idea of writing this book originated in our acknowledgment of the lack of literature on the topic of wonder in education. Our team of editors was extremely curious about what other teachers, professors, and philosophers of education thought about the pedagogical role of wonder. It was rather surprising how many authors responded so positively to our invitation to contribute to this book; many expressed interest and excitement about addressing this topic. The resulting chapters revolve around the relationship between wonder and schooling: how wonder can be integrated more frequently in the curriculum, how teachers can evoke students’ sense of wonder with different curricular content, and how schools can nurture and utilize the capacity of students to sense wonder in the world. The philosophical and practical readings the book contains are intended for a large international audience: teachers and administrators, early childhood educators, undergraduate and graduate students of education, and parents. The book is structured in three sections. Part I, The Nature of Wonder and its Educational Uses, invites the reader on a philosophical and pedagogical journey into the nature of the sense of wonder as a valuable pedagogical tool. This section includes two practical examples of wonder being employed as part of science education and mathematics. Part II, Engaging Wonder in Everyday Classrooms, starts with two philosophical chapters that discuss topics including the joy of teaching, the fascination felt while learning from a passionate and knowledgeable educator, and ways of rekindling the sense of wonder in high-school and college students. The next three chapters in this section describe some practical ways to infuse viii Preface wonder in the teaching relationship between students and teachers, and students and the curriculum. In Part III, Dimensions of Educational Wonder, the reader will find chapters that continue the conversation on wonder as a pedagogical tool; building from, and developing further dimensions of, the pedagogy of wonder. Each chapter in the book—even if different in its approach, style, and even perspective—connects to the others by a common thread: the necessity for wonder’s prominence in the educational environment. What distinguishes this book from other educational literature is the unique distinction it makes between wonder as a childish feeling of joy and surprise, and wonder as a powerful learning tool that has the potential to change the schooling experience of both students and educators. Wonder is not an educational frill but lies at the heart of learning. PART I The Nature of Wonder and its Educational Uses This page intentionally left blank 1 OUR HEARTS LEAp Up Awakening Wonder Within the Classroom Laura Piersol Exploring the forest with a group of grade 6 students, I notice a cluster of boys grouped around a spruce tree talking with fervour. “Call her over!” I hear one boy say. I walk toward them. “Come! Look what we found!!” another one shouts to me. I arrive at the foot of the tree and they push back some branches. There are small dark objects delicately placed on many of the boughs. “They look like elf ears,” one boy remarks. “Hey, there are some on this tree too!” a girl shouts from 50 feet away. “Here too!” another boy calls from down the winding path. “What are they?”, “How did they get here?”, “Can I eat it?”... I have no idea. We are filled with wonder. In my practice, I have continually experienced the importance of “wonder” as a learning tool. Wonder can be a hard concept to articulate. For me, wonder begins as a wave of “surprise caused by something unexpected or unfamiliar”1 or by an example of amazing achievement. At first, I delight in this feeling and briefly hold it like a worn stone, tracing my fingers over it as it lays fixed before me. I am momentarily frozen by the feeling that I am holding. As Albert Schweitzer writes, “If you study life deeply, its profundity will seize you suddenly with dizziness” (1969, p. 115). Yet, the moment I begin to contemplate it, I move from holding the wonder to letting it hold me; it shape-shifts from a noun to a verb through me.