Editing Videos for Involuntary Curiosity: 3 Chemistry Examples

When reading the research on Curiosity, Involuntary Curiosity ​is of particular interest to us teachers.

Defined by Loewenstein (1994) as curiosity that "...arises spontaneously as a result of a curiosity inducing stimuli", it isn't difficult see how honing the art of curating such moments is a powerful lesson planning tool. 

Specifically, editing a video to reveal only a specific portion of a clip is a useful technique.

Often times a powerful video, if showed in its entirety, can simultaneously engage AND demotivate students by "inducing" curiosity, while also explaining the content that underlies the phenomena.

Rather than showing  the entire video, the goal is to strategically curate the perfect portion of a video clip to tunnel students into asking the question you want them to ask.

To intentionally withhold the perfect amount of information.

Below are a few examples from the past two weeks in my chemistry class (note: videos are downloaded using savefrom.net and trimmed using Quicktime) 

Example #1

• Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about intermolecular forces.
• Video Before Editing: Click here.
• Video After Editing: Click here (strategy: video trimmed)
• Complete Lesson: Click here (see parts 1,2)

Example #2

• Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about the relationship between  the pressure and volume of a gas.
• Video Before Editing: Click here
• Video After Editing: Click here (strategy: sound removed)
• Complete Lesson: Click here (see parts 1).

Example #3

• Goal: Spark Involuntary Curiosity about molecular geometry and covalent bonding.
• Video Before Editing: Click here
• Video After Editing: Click here (strategy: ended video early)
• Complete Lesson: Click here (see parts 1, 2)

​​http://www.cyclesoflearning.com/home/involuntary-curiosity-sparks-loewenstein-94