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The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood
Despite American education’s recent mania for standardized tests, testing misses what really matters about the desire to learn in the first place. Curiosity is vital, but it remains a surprisingly understudied characteristic. The Hungry Mind is a deeply researched, highly readable exploration of what curiosity is, how it can be measured, how it develops in childhood, and how it can be fostered in school.
Children naturally possess an active interest in knowing more about the world around them. But what begins as a robust trait becomes more fragile over time, and is shaped by experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and the learning environment. Susan Engel highlights the centrality of language and question-asking as crucial tools for expressing curiosity. She also uncovers overlooked forms of curiosity, such as gossip―an important way children satisfy their interest in other people. Although curiosity leads to knowledge, it can stir up trouble, and schools too often have an incentive to squelch it in favor of compliance and discipline.
Balanced against the interventions of hands-on instructors and hovering parents, Engel stresses the importance of time spent alone, which gives children a chance to tinker, collect, read about the things that interest them, and explore their own thoughts. In addition to providing a theoretical framework for the psychology of curiosity, The Hungry Mind offers educators practical ways to put curiosity at the center of the classroom and encourage children’s natural eagerness to learn.
Children naturally possess an active interest in knowing more about the world around them. But what begins as a robust trait becomes more fragile over time, and is shaped by experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and the learning environment. Susan Engel highlights the centrality of language and question-asking as crucial tools for expressing curiosity. She also uncovers overlooked forms of curiosity, such as gossip―an important way children satisfy their interest in other people. Although curiosity leads to knowledge, it can stir up trouble, and schools too often have an incentive to squelch it in favor of compliance and discipline.
Balanced against the interventions of hands-on instructors and hovering parents, Engel stresses the importance of time spent alone, which gives children a chance to tinker, collect, read about the things that interest them, and explore their own thoughts. In addition to providing a theoretical framework for the psychology of curiosity, The Hungry Mind offers educators practical ways to put curiosity at the center of the classroom and encourage children’s natural eagerness to learn.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2015
19 people are currently reading
613 people want to read
About the author
Susan Engel
31 books18 followersSusan Engel is a developmental psychologist in the Department of Psychology at Williams College and the founder and director of the Williams Program in Teaching. She wrote a column on teaching for "The""New York Times" called "Lessons" and is a cofounder of The Hayground School in Eastern Long Island.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 28, 2015
I'd expected more from a Harvard University Press publication. The book has too many personal anecdotes and too much speculation, and not enough data; also, the coverage would have benefited from the author being more familiar with ethological research such as e.g. some of the stuff included in Natural Conflict Resolution. However it was interesting enough for me to read it to the end, despite the format, and I assume many people who don't mind reading popular science books might like the book.
August 10, 2018
There are not a huge number of books that address how to cultivate curiosity in school-age children and Dr. Engel does a great job of that. This fact alone makes this an important book for educators to read. The research is laid out nicely. I found the anecdotal segments engaging and relatable.
I am, however, left with the feeling that there is a great deal more to the topic that is left unexplored here. for example, the suggestion throughout the second have of the book is that schools currently suck the curiosity out of students. I will not completely disagree with that assessment but it makes you wonder where all the discovery, curiosity, and exploration of the 20th and 21st century came from.
I am, however, left with the feeling that there is a great deal more to the topic that is left unexplored here. for example, the suggestion throughout the second have of the book is that schools currently suck the curiosity out of students. I will not completely disagree with that assessment but it makes you wonder where all the discovery, curiosity, and exploration of the 20th and 21st century came from.
November 2, 2018
As a teacher, I enjoyed reading about how to identify and develop curiosity in children. It was shocking to read how often teachers stifle their students’ curiosity because their questions are “off topic” or they have so many learning things to accomplish. I know I’m guilty of this, too, and I want to promote more inquiry in my classroom to keep my students’ curiosity alive and well!
January 30, 2022
A good general survey of what we know about curiousity in childhood, tracking from babies up through school, looking at how children explore the world and ask questions, and which factors effect this in their life outside and inside school. Nothing that an interested reader is probably not already aware of if they are interested in this field, but nicely developed and a really good overview.
School comes out of this really badly for diminishing and discouraging children from being curious and inquisitive - and there is much authenticity to this from what I have seen out there in the world.
One thing I really struggle with is in books like this where authors set up theories that heroise a middle class, white view of the world, and then confuse outcomes which could be social economic, with causality... like the classic 'how many books in house, vs. outcomes'. I found the book to be sutblely racist to be honest; such as black girls talk more about 'gossip' from a small study - really? You feel confident citing that as it is might reflect a universal truth? But museum visiting white folks, who have domestic help and famous authors dropping in for supper come out really well - and the author rather pointlessly writes her own experiences in, so we are in no doubt about where she sits. Sometimes the mileau in which one lives is so self-congratulatory and privileged that one might not be aware how awfully it reads in a book with is not supposed to be an autobiography. So that I found hard. But the actual content on curiousity, if you tune out the white middle class self congratulatory stuff, is actually quite helpful and well put together.
School comes out of this really badly for diminishing and discouraging children from being curious and inquisitive - and there is much authenticity to this from what I have seen out there in the world.
One thing I really struggle with is in books like this where authors set up theories that heroise a middle class, white view of the world, and then confuse outcomes which could be social economic, with causality... like the classic 'how many books in house, vs. outcomes'. I found the book to be sutblely racist to be honest; such as black girls talk more about 'gossip' from a small study - really? You feel confident citing that as it is might reflect a universal truth? But museum visiting white folks, who have domestic help and famous authors dropping in for supper come out really well - and the author rather pointlessly writes her own experiences in, so we are in no doubt about where she sits. Sometimes the mileau in which one lives is so self-congratulatory and privileged that one might not be aware how awfully it reads in a book with is not supposed to be an autobiography. So that I found hard. But the actual content on curiousity, if you tune out the white middle class self congratulatory stuff, is actually quite helpful and well put together.
September 8, 2021
I have already recommended this to others in different fields than education. The cutural aspects of how we tell stories was new to me. I was saddened to see how curiosity was killed in the classroom.
And it seems to me you need to encourage the asking of why…
Im interested in the development of teenagers, but and support and encouragement of questions are essential to the open mind.
What I like best is that this has caused me to think further and deeper…
Always a good thing
And it seems to me you need to encourage the asking of why…
Im interested in the development of teenagers, but and support and encouragement of questions are essential to the open mind.
What I like best is that this has caused me to think further and deeper…
Always a good thing
July 11, 2018
This is a must read for all educators!
June 5, 2022
Slap in the face for "aligining the curriculum to the TEK" and any and all SWBATADB. Definitely need to pursue more of these as time goes forward. Definitely did some of them.
December 28, 2025
خليط من فلسفة و أبحاث الكاتبة مع تجربتها الشخصية، لذلك وجدته أقرب للسيرة الذاتية .
لا يخلو من الفائدة و يحتوي على مواضيع مثيرة للانتباه.
لا يخلو من الفائدة و يحتوي على مواضيع مثيرة للانتباه.
June 21, 2015
You can find my thoughts about this book on my blog:
http://leaningstack.blogspot.com/2015...
http://leaningstack.blogspot.com/2015...
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September 11, 2015155.4133 E573 2015
January 12, 2016
Really 3.5
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews