Collaborative Innovation: What Turns It Off And What Turns It On

The benefit of curiosity as an orientation is that, even when beset by some of the negative influences described earlier, curiosity can incorporate even those debilitating issues as something to be curious about. A curiosity orientation can be applied to any situation with these 3 simple steps:
1. Be interested: That’s interesting! – this turns on the curious mental state.
2. Ask: What is this really all about? – acknowledges that there is more to the situation than meets the eye.
3. Wonder: What can I create with this? – engaging the sense of possibility for change, growth and creativity.

As an example: In the dramatic film production, The Freedom Writers (DeVito, 2007), which is based on a true story, the film begins in the childhood years of one of the students witnessing a drive by shooting. Her voiceover tells us, “… and I saw the war for the first time.” The story follows the experiences of teacher, Erin Gruwell, in her struggles to teach English at the Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California, in 1961. Minority students were bussed in from disadvantaged neighborhoods.

In a memorable scene, Gruwell draws a line on the floor and asks students who know someone who has been killed to step over the line. Every student steps across the line, except for one Caucasian boy. As Gruwell increases the number of people who they know that have been killed, many students remain across the line. Their pain and discomfort and their total lack of curiosity is obvious. Their lives are about survival, not adventure or exploration.

Attachments

Download Article