Curiosity has been part of the human story from the very beginning. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were curious too. Genesis 3:6 tells us that when the woman saw the fruit was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Eve's curiosity wasn't wrong in itself - but it was misdirected. It was self-seeking, grounded in a desire to "be like God" (Genesis 3:5), rather than a desire to know God and his world more deeply.

That's why at ICS we don't simply teach curiosity for curiosity's sake. We want to ground it in a better story. God created us in his image and calls us to steward his world, using our minds and creativity to explore and understand it. We want our students to pair curiosity with critical thinking and discernment, and - more than that - to be curious in a way that draws them closer to God rather than feeding self-focused pride. Healthy curiosity should lead our students toward God's wisdom, not away from it.

As author Barnabas Piper puts it, "proper curiosity about the world opens our eyes to the wiles of the world and provides the discernment we need to fight against them. Curiosity about God anchors us in God's strength as we learn more, seek more, and see more of him."

This is the question we keep asking ourselves as a staff: what if the curiosity we nurture in our students didn't just make them better learners, but led them to wonder at God and his world?

One of our own teachers, Justin Cole, recently reflected: "...Rather than simply helping students become more curious, I want them to understand why God has made us curious in the first place and how he has designed curiosity to function. Curiosity is not an end in itself, it is a gift that draws us to explore, understand, and delight in the world God has created, ultimately leading us to know him more deeply."

Wow. So good!

You can help foster this same spirit at home. Next time your child asks an interesting question - about the world, about something they've learned, about anything at all - try asking them what it might reveal about God or the way he's made the world. You might be surprised where the conversation goes.

Foster curiosity → Ground it in God's purposes → Turn toward God in worship