A teaching strategy for encouraging participative curiosity in the classroom
Dr. Abby Jorgensen
May 2024
Cookie dough is delicious.
Even though it is technically considered unfinished, it brings sweetness, the dual nature of creamy and crunchy, the coolness of summer, and the deepness of brown sugar. It brings smooth yet sweetly gritty explosions of flavor to everyone who has the pleasure of enjoying it.
Things need not be completed to be important. Beautiful. Fun. Worth sharing with others. Rewarding.
The same is true of our understanding of ideas. When we prioritize curiosity, we need not have the right answer or the end result every time we speak. The more we grapple, wrestle, and wonder, the more we have toned and curated our curiosity. And the more we do so in groups, the more we strengthen our mutual curiosity.
Curiosity is the second most important value in my classroom. Most important is the respect for the dignity of every human being. That value, as primary, provides guidance for our curiosity, orienting it toward the good of the other and – because of that first orientation – toward the good of ourselves as well. Curiosity without this value of respect can look like horrifically unethical experiments, knowledge for power’s sake, and the evil of pride. It is the dignity of the human being that provides guidance for our curiosity, shepherding it toward the good of the other and therefore the good of ourselves.
Curiosity, in my words, is the eager desire to better grasp at the reality of a situation – whether our own situation or that of someone else.
In my classroom, you are not rewarded solely for getting the answer to a question correct or for asking the most insightful question. Rather, you are rewarded according to your curiosity. Demonstrating our eager desires to better grasp reality can involve making ourselves vulnerable, by asking for clarification on a point that confuses us, or by taking a guess that may be wrong (even in front of others)!
This is cookie dough.
These unfinished, not fully thought out ideas have not quite finished baking. And yet we still see immense beauty, importance, and worthwhileness coming forth from our cookie dough moments. Which is why, in my classroom, such ideas, thoughts, and questions are rewarded.
Suppose you have a question that you might consider to be a “dumb” question.
Or you need someone to re-explain something it feels like we have been over a hundred times.
Or you want to guess at an answer or an explanation or an example, but you also don’t feel confident that you’ve got everything quite right.
In these kinds of cases, you can mark this in my classroom by calling it a “cookie dough” thought.
For example,
“This is a cookie dough thought. Can we apply the same principle to another case, or is it only relevant to this one case?”
or ,
“This is a cookie dough concept for me. Can you go back over the definition please?”
Or,
“Here’s my cookie dough answer. I think it’s boundaries.”
This framing invites us all into your curiosity, giving us a way to grapple together toward reality and, as a team, exercise our sociological imaginations in new ways.
Pursue participatory curiosity. Engage in cookie dough.
For instructors:
If you’re interested in using the cookie dough policy in your course, you can find sample syllabus langaugage below.
“Engage in cookie dough ideas. Cookies need not be fully baked in order to be delicious and delightful. In this classroom, we will welcome ideas that are not fully thought out and will engage them. You do not have to stick to an idea you suggest; you are allowed and encouraged to change your thinking. However, even spontaneous, not-fully-thought-out ideas may only be presented in the classroom if they are phrased in a way that honors and is respectful of every human’s inherent worth and dignity. For more information, check out www.cookiedoughpolicy.com.”