I have been interacting with students in various contexts for the last 10-12 years. My observations have been that in the classroom when the teacher is teaching students rarely ask questions. This makes one wonder- when students hear and read various ideas/concepts/examples in the classroom, do they get questions/doubts in their minds? How is it that children don't think about how things work? Or why do things work the way they work? Etc. I have spoken with many teachers and many say that children are not interested in science, they don't pay attention in the classroom, and they don't ask questions even after probing.

In the last couple of years, I have been interacting with children in the context of conducting the Foldscope workshops. I have made countless interesting observations but I want to share a few that relate to student questions here. In workshops, we first make students assemble the Foldscope and then show them how to use it. Once they understand that with this tool you can see small/tiny things, in most cases children want to put all kinds of things under the Foldscope and view it. For example- in the workshop I conducted with 9th Grade students of BMC Ghatla school in Mumbai on 3 January 2024, while everyone was busy observing various things, a few students came to me and said some students had put blood under the Foldscope. I went to that student and said why did you do it? You could have hurt yourself. He said, "I was curious how it looks". Other students also gathered around and they were equally curious. They wanted to check how their blood looked but I asked them to not do it and just observe the first student's slide

In past workshops, I have made similar observations. Students want to see how their hairs look, how their skin looks, and how ants look. A couple of times students caught head lice and observed it. Almost every time there will be some students who want to see if their hands are dirty and what is there on their hands. Many ask if can they put a waterer in Foldscope and check. Upon saying that it can done, they immediately go and bring water and try it out.

Such observations made me wonder- is that students don't have questions or is that they don't have questions because there is no possibility of finding answers. Given a situation where they have resources to investigate to find answers, do they come up with many questions?

My hunch based on observations during Foldscope workshops is that when through Foldscope, they see the possibility of finding answers through investigations, many questions come to their mind.

When I reflect on these observations in light of various research articles from cognitive science and learning sciences, I feel that my observations have some basis. Our actions/thoughts are always shaped by the social and material world we are situated in. Maybe sitting in a science classroom is not enough, having cultural tools of 'science' such as a microscope that allows investigation is important for making students feel and think like a 'scientist'. Maybe in the absence of such an environment, children do not get the burning questions.

These are just hunches but in the coming days, I want to systematically investigate them. I'm noting them down here so that I am reminded of them and compelled to complete the study and also if anyone else is also interested can join me in my investigations.