Museums are powerful places to ignite curiosity—especially when we slow down, look closely, talk with others, and let questions lead the way. This approach becomes even more valuable when we encounter works that don’t immediately draw us in, feel unfamiliar, or seem hard to access at first glance. In this session, participants will use the thinking routine Looking: Ten Times Two and then combine it with the Question Formulation Technique, or QFT (developed by the Right Question Institute), to generate questions about the artwork. Along the way, you’ll learn the QFT process, experience how it fuels engagement, and see how looking closely supports questioning and the construction of understanding. You’ll engage in the process with two works of art at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego-La Jolla: one that your group finds instantly compelling, and another that feels more distant or challenging. By comparing these experiences, we’ll surface insights from our own learning—insights we can then translate directly into strategies for sparking curiosity, especially when students don’t feel curious yet.
