The Curiosity Project

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education”. – Albert Einstein

The more anonymous, structured and mark-driven our world and our education system becomes the less chance curiosity has of inspiring original thought and new ideas. Many students and faculty have become obsessed with “doing it right” as opposed to learning how to learn, investigate, evaluate, understand and question, and take intellectual risks, life skills that would serve them well if they felt excited to use them.

“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning” – William Arthur Ward

I believe that more than ever people have to be encouraged to venture forth into the land of learning for learning’s sake. This is a place where you can investigate topics that interest you and follow those topics down long and oftentimes winding roads, places where u-turns, hidden side roads, and venturing off the map are a cause for excitement not a distraction from the destination. This is the experience I am creating for my students at UPEI.

If you give people tools, (and they use) their natural ability and their curiosity,
they will develop things in ways that will surprise you
very much beyond what you might have expected.
– Bill Gates

In the past eight years, our students have written integrative and applied academic papers, short stories, and novellas. They have created posters, educational materials and curricula, brochures, handbooks, presentations, videos, board games, scrapbooks, and visual art. They consistently surprise us with the directions their work takes them in when the follow our guiding principles:

Be Curious, Inquire Well, Own Your Learning & Share it with the world!