Summary Practice – Evelyn Castillo

Part 1 MLA Citation: 

“‘Schools Are Killing Curiosity’: Why We Need to Stop Telling Children to Shut up and Learn.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Jan. 2020, www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/28/schools-killing-curiosity-learn. 

Part 2 Summary

In the article “Schools Are Killing Curiosity’: Why We Need to Stop Telling Children to Shut up and Learn”, Wendy Berliner argues that schools are unsupportive of children being curious during class. The authors explain that children in classrooms are discouraged from asking questions that cultivate children’s curiosity which leads to the loss of learning opportunities. The author provides research from the University of Michigan to explain that curiosity is a key point to children’s learning development. The research Berliner mentions aligned with her perspective in children’s curiosity leading to better academic performance. According to Berliner, children are born curious and only few teachers encourage this. She mentioned that although parents are doubtful of teachers promoting curiosity, parents later find their children to be more talkative and creative. The author concludes her article by quoting a professor in neuroscience emphasizing her strong opinion on how children should be encouraged to ask questions to promote and validate their curiosity.