Fostering Curiosity
Today’s devotional
A student asks a question that pulls the discussion away from the planned route. You may need to return to the lesson, yet the question can reveal a moment of genuine attention. Something has become worth wondering about. The challenge is to honor that interest while helping it grow into careful inquiry.
Proverbs urges its hearers to seek wisdom and understanding with commitment. Wisdom deserves more than a quick answer gathered to finish an assignment. It involves learning how to listen, examine, connect, and judge. Curiosity becomes formative when we help students stay with a question long enough to discover what responsible understanding requires.
On the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus asks his companions what they are discussing. He makes room for their account before opening the Scriptures with them. Their questions and disappointment enter the conversation. We can learn from that patient attention without treating ourselves as the source of every answer.
An inquiry task needs enough structure to sustain exploration. Students may need background knowledge, useful resources, a way to record observations, or guidance in distinguishing evidence from guesses. Freedom grows more meaningful when learners have support for using it well. A teacher’s question can help them notice what they have not yet considered.
Choose one question worth carrying beyond the first response today. Ask what students think, what evidence could help, and what remains uncertain. Allow a discovery to change the conversation when it deserves to. In a classroom shaped by faithful curiosity, knowing can become an invitation to deeper wonder and more careful love for God’s world.
Adapted from Original devotion 15: Fostering Curiosity in Nurturing Hearts & Minds by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice what these words reveal about God and the life before you.
Proverbs 4:5-9 · WEBU
5Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
6Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.
7Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
8Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
9She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
Luke 24:13-19 · WEBU
13Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
14They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.
15While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.
16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”
18One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”
19He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
Pause and respond
For reflection
Which student question could become a worthwhile inquiry rather than a brief interruption?
A practice for today
Invite students to generate questions about the current topic. Select one that can be investigated, identify useful evidence together, and leave space to name what the inquiry has not yet answered.
A prayer
God of wisdom and wonder, keep our questions alive and our inquiry honest. Help me listen to what students are noticing and guide them toward careful understanding. Give us patience with uncertainty and delight in discovery, so that learning deepens gratitude and responsible attention to your world. Amen.
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