Curious Demonstrations by Arianna

Curious Demonstrations by Arianna - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

“I don’t wanna do this!” the first-grader wails, flinging his homework across the table.

I calmly gather the papers and set them back in front of him, remembering the same disgust for arithmetic I’d had as a child. He has such a mind for numbers but lacks patience for the tediousness of actually solving the simple addition problems in front of him.

“I know. But you have to do it so that you can keep getting better in school. If you learn these combinations now, it will be SO easy for you when you learn new things!”

The six-year-old buries his face in his arms, ignoring me. He does not care about getting good grades -- they are just letters to him. Trying to convince him to plan for the future by working hard today will do no good. Children do not think ahead like that; they tend to live in the moment, and this moment of remembering what three plus two equals is not one he enjoys.

I take the paper and write a random three-digit multiplication problem, solving it the long way. He watches me with confusion, so I talk myself through it, “Four times five equals twenty. Carry the two. Four times nine equals thirty-six. Plus two is thirty-eight. Carry the three...”

“What are you doing?” he asks in amazement.

“Multiplication. It’s like addition but way cooler. You’re going to learn how to do it someday. And I think you’ll like it.”

“Really? It looks hard...” he sounds doubtful.

“Oh, it’s super easy if you already know how to do addition really well.”

I avoid eye contact, erasing the problem with his big eraser. He quietly takes the pencil, reading the problem he was stuck on.

“Three plus two...equals...” he scrunches up his face thinking deeply. Suddenly it clicks and he excitedly yells, “FIVE!”

I smile encouragingly that three plus two does indeed equal five. Addition may seem boring to him, but seeing something new and exciting he can do with it has sparked an interest.

Children may not possess foresight, but they do possess curiosity. Telling them that they must learn this so that they may understand that does no good. But showing them something foreign and more advanced and telling them that it’s easy will pique their interest in the basics.

Curiosity -- this is the motivation for anybody who is trying to learn anything. Whether a person is learning how to crochet or how to solve an algebraic formula, they strive toward something better -- learning a basic stitch will lead to making a blanket and learning basic algebraic formulas will help solve more dramatic ones. The best tool at any teacher's disposal is the curiosity of his students.