Cultivating Curiosity

Give your students a leg up and improve learning outcomes with this revolutionary, hands-on approach to teaching

In Cultivating Curiosity: Teaching and Learning Reimagined, distinguished educator and author Doreen Gehry Nelson inspires anyone yearning to break away from formulaic teaching. Told from dozens of powerful and personal perspectives, the effectiveness and versatility of the Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning described in the book is backed by years of quantitative and qualitative data.

You’ll learn how applying this cross-curricular methodology can transform your K-12 teaching practice, regardless of changes in content standards. The book includes:

• Discussions about how to launch creative and critical thinking in your students
• Explanations of the methodology’s 6 ½ Steps of Backward Thinking™ that invigorate the teaching experience and dramatically improve learning
• The inception of the methodology and the experiences of K-12 teachers who practice it in their classrooms.

Perfect for K-12 educators seeking a methodology that consistently engages students in applying what they learn, Cultivating Curiosity is also an ideal resource for teachers-in-training, administrators, and post-secondary educators.

FOREWORD Frank Gehry, Architect

Eugene Tucker, EdD

INTRODUCTION

SECTION I Creative Thinking by Design

CHAPTER 1 Not Arts and Crafts

CHAPTER 2 Shaping the Methodology

CHAPTER 3 The City

CHAPTER 4 The Methodology

CHAPTER 5 Owning and Reusing Information

CHAPTER 6 In a Nutshell

SECTION II

CHAPTER 7 Goodbye to Formulaic Teaching

CHAPTER 8 “I’m Not Creative”

CHAPTER 9 A Return to the Sandbox

CHAPTER 10 Breaking Out of the Comfort Zone

CHAPTER 11 It Takes Courage

CHAPTER 12 When Administrators Get It

CHAPTER 13 Try a Little Trickery (It Works)

CHAPTER 14 “But I Already Do This”

CHAPTER 15 A Learning Community of Teachers (Cohort Groups . . . Food Matters)

CHAPTER 16 The Importance of “Why”

SECTION III Trust

CHAPTER 17 Developing a Design-Based Learning Classroom

CHAPTER 18 Making Curriculum Physical

CHAPTER 19 The History Wall

IN CLOSING

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

DOREEN GEHRY NELSON is the Founding Director of the Design-Based Learning Project at Center X at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, where her methodology is implemented in graduate education and professional development for K-12 teachers and principals. She’s been recognized as a top innovator in education by the New York Times, the American Institute of Architecture and is a recipient of the California State Wang Award for Excellence in Education.

Cultivating Curiosity: Teaching and Learning Reimagined is the evidence-based guide teachers have been looking for to help them break away from tired, formulaic teaching strategies. Written by the distinguished educator and author Doreen Gehry Nelson, the book teaches readers how to apply the author’s effective and versatile Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning.

Using the powerful, personal perspectives found within the book, you’ll learn ways to apply this cross-curricular teaching methodology to transform your K-12 practice. You’ll find discussions about how to launch creative and critical thinking in your students, as well as explanations of the methodology’s 6 ½ Steps of Backwards ThinkingTM to reinvigorate your teaching experience and dramatically improve student outcomes.

The author’s powerful methodology is based on decades of real-life experience and grounded in quantitative and qualitative data. It is a tried-and-tested process that has proven itself, time and again, in the demanding environment of the 21st century classroom. It’s been embraced by renowned individuals, including Jonas Salk and Gloria Steinem, and is your key to escaping staid, paint-by-numbers teaching.

Divided into three sections, the book begins with a thorough introduction to The Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning. It then explores strategies and tips for saying goodbye to outdated and formulaic teaching methods. Finally, the author discusses how to develop your own design-based learning classroom.

Cultivating Curiosity is told from the perspectives of real K-12 teachers who used The Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning in their own classrooms and found it immensely rewarding. It’s perfect for K-12 educators seeking a method that engages students in applying what they learn. It’s also a great resource for teachers-in-training, administrators, and post-secondary educators.

Praise for Cultivating Curiosity

“Curiosity is the most important word in education today. Teachers the world over long for ways to cultivate this elusive yet essential path to engagement and authentic learning. Over a brilliant, pathbreaking career, Doreen Nelson has developed and refined an innovative methodology that nourishes curiosity, stimulates creativity, and scaffolds critical thinking.”

—MARCELO OROZCO, CHANCELLOR, University of Massachusetts, Boston

“Doreen Nelson has put pen to paper to share her innovative instructional Method of Design-Based Learning, in this brilliantly written and engaging book. Nelson has given us the gift of understanding how education can inspire students to learn and teachers to teach by igniting the curiosity in both. I can think of no more relevant or important methodology for teaching today.”

—CHRISTINA (TINA) CHRISTIE, WASSERMAN DEAN & PROFESSOR, UCLA School of Education & Information Studies

“Cultivating Curiosity: Teaching and Learning Reimagined offers hope to anyone interested in the connections between our fragile democracy and schooling. Educators at any grade level, parents and policymakers alike, will find this design-based learning methodology a way to integrate disciplines and reflect on governance structures in thoughtful and fun-filled ways.”

—GEORGIA ANN LAZO, ED.D, PRINCIPAL, UCLA Lab School, Los Angeles, CA

“For five years, in cooperation with the Japan UNICEF Association, we used The Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning at the Sendai City Shichigo Elementary School as a comprehensive learning template for reconstruction. We have continued implementing the methodology thereafter, and more than 1,200 children have experienced its power. This book will significantly impact many of our teachers and their students.”

—DR. SHINYA SATO, PROFESSOR, Yamagata University