Editing Videos for Involuntary Curiosity: 3 Chemistry Examples

 When reading the research on Curiosity, Involuntary Curiosity ​is of particular interest to us teachers.

Defined by Loewenstein (1994) as curiosity that "...arises spontaneously as a result of a curiosity inducing stimuli", it isn't difficult see how honing the art of curating such moments is a powerful lesson planning tool. 

Specifically, editing a video to reveal only a specific portion of a clip is a useful technique.

Often times a powerful video, if showed in its entirety, can simultaneously engage AND demotivate students by "inducing" curiosity, while also explaining the content that underlies the phenomena.

Rather than showing  the entire video, the goal is to strategically curate the perfect portion of a video clip to tunnel students into asking the question you want them to ask.

To intentionally withhold the perfect amount of information. 

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Below are a few examples from the past two weeks in my chemistry class (note: videos are downloaded using savefrom.net and trimmed using Quicktime

Example #1
Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about intermolecular forces. 

Example #2
Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about the relationship between  the pressure and volume of a gas. 

Example #3
Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about molecular geometry and covalent bonding. 

cross posted at www.cyclesoflearning.com

Ramsey Musallam teaches science and robotics at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California, with the aim of fostering inquiry-based learning environments fueled by student curiosity. He presents widely on sparking student curiosity and teaching with technology. Musallam is a Google Certified Teacher, a YouTube Star Teacher, and a Leading Edge Certified Teacher. Watch his TED talk here and read his blog at www.cyclesoflearning.com.