Awe and Wonder in Education: Why It Matters for Your Child

When was the last time your child felt truly amazed?

Discover how awe and wonder can reignite curiosity, engagement, and wellbeing.

At School Beyond Limitations (SBL), we believe that fostering awe and wonder in education is essential to help students thrive. In today’s fast-moving world, where facts are prioritized, experiences that inspire amazement slow things down, open minds, and spark curiosity in ways traditional lessons often cannot.

A few months ago, I facilitated a week in my class focused entirely on awe and wonder.

Understanding Awe: What It Is and Why It Matters

In his book The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, Professor Dacher Keltner defines awe as:

“The feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.”

He identifies eight pathways through which awe can be experienced:
• Moral beauty
• Collective effervescence
• Nature
• Music
• Visual design
• Spirituality and religion
• Life and death
• Epiphany (“light bulb”) moments

Cultivating awe in students enhances curiosity, deepens engagement, and supports overall wellbeing.

Strategies to Cultivate Awe and Wonder

Provide a Range of Stimuli

Students may not always know what excites them. Exposing them to varied topics and experiences awakens curiosity and encourages exploration beyond familiar knowledge.

Examples from my class:
• An article about a teen reinventing the prosthetic limb
• A video about a bee’s “waggle dance”

These stimuli connect with Keltner’s eight facets of awe. Using multiple formats ensures every student is engaged.

2. Listen to Students

Often, students don’t recognize moments of awe themselves. By observing verbal and non-verbal cues, educators can guide them to connect curiosity with intrinsic motivation.

This approach creates deeper and more meaningful learning experiences.

3. Encourage Cross-Curricular Learning

Resistance to subjects like Maths or Reading can fade when students see connections across disciplines.

Examples:
• Learning data handling through statistics about fast fashion
• Investigating the psychology behind marketing strategies

Connecting learning to genuine interests fosters engagement and helps students enjoy even challenging topics.

4. Model Humility

In a world of instant information, demonstrating humility is crucial. As highlighted by Edutopia:

“Humility involves acknowledging the limits of what we know and being open to revising our mental models when we learn new information.”

By showing that it’s okay not to know something, educators normalize uncertainty, encourage questions, and teach students to seek reliable answers independently.