The Curiosity Club

The Curiosity Club is a curricula enrichment programme owned by Curiosity Learning Limited. It was founded in 2015 by John Gordon-Reid and Christopher Lloyd (world history author) alongside the “learning through choice” concept. Curiosity Learning Limited is based in Kent and operates nationwide and in North America.

Aims

● To engage pupils in education by stimulating their natural curiosity;

● To provide pupils with an opportunity to develop key life-skills, to cultivate their character, and to encourage ‘real-world’ learning;

● To support schools, teachers and parents by providing a platform to enrich pupils’ experiences of school, learning and education;

● To promote learning where every child, regardless of background, learning needs or skills, can develop a mindset that empowers and encourages them to carry on learning and thinking for themselves.

The CBI’s First Steps report describes the current education system as “too much of a conveyor belt – it moves children along to a certain place, but does not deal with individual needs…” (CBI, 2012).

Headteachers, teachers, educators and academics are all deeply worried that our young people are being taught to pass exams but, as a result of the system, they are not necessarily allowed to think in their own unique way and on their own terms.

Curiosity Club tackles these issues by giving pupils an opportunity to develop their own personal habits of mind and skills. Whilst they enjoy real-world learning in a way that suits them, they cultivate their character and feel empowered.

What is Curiosity Club?

Curiosity Club is a curricula enrichment programme that gives students aged 9 – 14 a unique opportunity to develop their own self–directed learning journey along a world history timeline spanning 3000 years. As they travel, students are able to choose from a wide range of topics and challenges based on six ‘Subject Lines’ covering Science, Nature, History, Culture, Rights and Sport. Pupils can navigate and manage their own progress and learning, allowing them to focus on what they naturally find engaging and of personal interest.

The Subject Lines intersect at ‘Hubs’ that represent a decade. Pupils hop between Lines as they select from the library of hundreds of ‘Challenges’, which they accomplish at their own pace and in their own style. Outcomes range from movie making and mind mapping to debating and craftwork – flexibility is inherent in the system allowing students to choose how they want to tackle each topic.

Each challenge is focused on three of the seven key learning and life skills that the Curiosity Club is built around: literacy, numeracy, communication, visualisation, experimentation, research and memory. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers and teacher assessment of the finished Challenge is totally dependent upon the efforts of the individual pupil. Working in this way leads to increased engagement, a love of learning and a sense of empowerment.

How does Curiosity Club work?

Curiosity Club is facilitated through a cloud-based platform. Schools, teachers and students access the database by unique login through a straightforward web interface in school or at home. This cloud-based infrastructure gives educators key insights into each individual child’s learning style, capabilities, aspirations and achievements. The data generated on the database provides essential monitoring and a performance overview of all the participants in the system. There is comprehensive support for schools and teachers, who can access the extensive Teacher Notes and Classroom Guide via the database, allowing them to confidently facilitate the Club and assess students.

Students plot their journey and navigate through the world history timeline via the Curiosity interface. They can view details of their journey history, browse Challenges, upload finished work, track their position within their study or class group and even ‘direct message’ assessors or teachers. Every student receives their own Curiosity Chronicle in which they can record their journey and display their completed Challenges. Pupils have the opportunity to earn a full set of coloured pin badges that they can wear or display with pride.

Curiosity Club in Schools

Personalised and Guided Tutorial Sessions

St John’s Primary School, Sevenoaks is running two Curiosity Club sessions per week. Year 6 has been divided into two groups: Numeracy and Literacy. Whilst the Numeracy group is working independently on Curiosity, it allows the teacher to focus on the Literacy group and vice versa. The students are being encouraged to explore their creativity, curiosity and skills through independent learning that is carefully monitored as well as receiving focused support time in a much smaller group size.

This approach enables plenty of one-to-one tutorial time during which the teachers and TA can provide meaningful, personal assessment that really counts. The school, teachers and other members of staff, have been surprised at how rewarding feedback can be for both the giver and receiver, from small things like using a range of punctuation and proofreading to bigger concepts such as reflection and self-challenge. Working in this way ensures that students progress, have fun and enjoy learning.

Learning Enrichment

St Michael's Prep School, Otford was one of the original Pilot schools and they have now completely embraced Curiosity Club as a new teaching technique. As well as excelling in the traditional skills of numeracy and literacy, St Michael’s wants to equip their pupils and prepare them for ‘real-world’ learning. They believe that the seven skills around which Curiosity is based are essential to education. That is why for 2018, Curiosity Club will be fully integrated into their curriculum and deployed to ensure each pupil develops skills as well as knowledge, and is able to enjoy education in the broadest possible manner

Homework Replacement Initiative

Montsaye Academy, Rothwell have run Curiosity Club as a ‘homework’ replacement initiative. Students complete one Challenge a week and submit their work for assessment online or come to the Curiosity Hub on a specified lunchtime. Homework is an emotionally charged word, stirring up dread for some and excitement for others. Curiosity Club can change the dynamic and negative perception of homework by getting Students to recognize that learning in a different environment helps them remember, consolidate and explore what they know.

As the students at Montsaye discovered, working independently, or with a little parental involvement, helps develop a positive mindset, as well as self-management skills. The school experienced a significant upswing in the volume of homework returned and commented on the positivity that Curiosity had created.

Afterschool Club

At St Albans Girls' School, Curiosity Club runs as an afterschool programme. The work that students have produced is outstanding, demonstrating real effort and skill. In many respects, this is not surprising, given the school’s excellent reputation; however, two areas that have since been highlighted were the skills and the mindsets that the students demonstrated throughout their journey. These include attention to detail, resilience, problem-solving, self-challenge, creativity and confidence. It is not so much that Curiosity Club gave students these skills and aptitudes, rather that Curiosity allowed pupils the freedom to develop and demonstrate what they are capable of.

The Curiosity Convention

In May, six schools came together to attend the first Curiosity Convention. Students shared their favourite Challenges and worked on a new task written and prepared for the day. Not only did pupils have an opportunity to lead and work with young people from other schools, but they also got a genuine taste of real world learning, allowing them to apply the skills they have learned throughout Curiosity Club. 100% of teachers thought the event was a huge success and we are looking forward to the next Convention!