Curiosity

Teachers want to inspire curiosity in their students. Homeschooling parents want to allow their children's curiosity to remain untrammeled by brick-and-mortar school practices. Is curiosity really all that important?

According to this study, curiosity is just as important as conscientiousness in predicting good academic performance. I don't doubt it, having been pestered by dd4 for weeks until I finally helped her build a crane out of spools, wood, and tape today; she got the idea from a book of science projects she likes to browse. She and dd7 have since discussed what simple machines are incorporated into the crane.