Judith van den Berg
In which situations does curiosity feel welcome?
Judith van den Berg combines artistic exploration with psychological and educational insights. Her dialogical and experimental way of working opens up the possibility of seeing things in different ways. She calls these different ways ‘various views’. When analyzing her previous and current work she realized that she designs exploratory situations for specific groups of participants, and she realized the importance of curiosity in these situations. She wondered what would be needed in a situation in order for curiosity be aroused. This question led to her research project ‘In which situations does curiosity feel welcome?’
Van den Berg was invited to do a research project at the Kinderfaculteit Pendrecht (KFP). There she designed ‘Studio Superkracht’, a new research institute. In Studio Superkracht she acted as a co-researcher together with a group of children aged 8-10. In 10 lessons, the participants experimented with curiosity and related themes. The exploration of curiosity itself fueled the participants’ curiosity and increased their awareness of curiosity.
The main focus of her research has been the design of situations in which curiosity feels welcome. A ‘situation’ can be described as ‘a set of circumstances experienced by a particular person or group’. To mention a few circumstances that can arouse curiosity: using both familiar and unknown elements, having exploration as the goal of an activity, making sure ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ do not come into play, and using appropriately sized steps (not too big, not too small). In addition to these more general findings, she also discovered circumstances specific to her own work. Van den Berg hopes her research will inspire others to explore the many dimensions of curiosity.
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Judith van den Berg combines artistic exploration with psychological and educational insights. Her dialogical and experimental way of working opens up the possibility of seeing things in different ways. She calls these different ways ‘various views’. When analyzing her previous and current work she realized that she designs exploratory situations for specific groups of participants, and she realized the importance of curiosity in these situations. She wondered what would be needed in a situation in order for curiosity be aroused. This question led to her research project ‘In which situations does curiosity feel welcome?’
Van den Berg was invited to do a research project at the Kinderfaculteit Pendrecht (KFP). There she designed ‘Studio Superkracht’, a new research institute. In Studio Superkracht she acted as a co-researcher together with a group of children aged 8-10. In 10 lessons, the participants experimented with curiosity and related themes. The exploration of curiosity itself fueled the participants’ curiosity and increased their awareness of curiosity.
The main focus of her research has been the design of situations in which curiosity feels welcome. A ‘situation’ can be described as ‘a set of circumstances experienced by a particular person or group’. To mention a few circumstances that can arouse curiosity: using both familiar and unknown elements, having exploration as the goal of an activity, making sure ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ do not come into play, and using appropriately sized steps (not too big, not too small). In addition to these more general findings, she also discovered circumstances specific to her own work. Van den Berg hopes her research will inspire others to explore the many dimensions of curiosity.