We're all naturally curious beings, but our day to day lives often get stuck in predictable routines that can dull our minds. And what's a great way to wake up our curiosity? The unexpected. Something that makes us pause and wonder, something that requires us to reconsider what we know about the world.

Like the company that added the ability to hear a duck quack when calling their toll-free number. Or The Fun Theory initiative, which among others included the world's deepest bin to motivate people to throw garbage into the trash bin. Take a look below and pay attention to people's reactions.



I love this example because it shows a lot of people inspecting the bin, trying to figure out how it works.

And that makes me wonder why is there so little of such wonder in our schools? The place, where such behavior should be expected; the people in the video above show a very clear desire to understand the bin, to learn why it behaves in an unexpected way. Do our students have such a desire to learn in our schools? And if not, what can we do to bring the unexpected and the wonder in our schools?



Originally published at http://ialja.blogspot.com/2009/10/power-of-unexpected.html