Definition: Curiosity is the motivation to bridge a gap. The literature suggests this can be an information gap or a mental model gap. I think a better formulation is to consider a plausibility gap. The research literature identifies common practices that can interfere with curiosity. Many of these inhibitors are initiated by instructors. Ask closed questions — calling for Yes/No answers. Focus on procedures. Emphasize memorization. Claim that there are right answers. Quickly correct students’ mistakes. Provide After-Action reviews that contain mostly statements and few questions. Focus on what the trainee is doing, and not why. Overwhelm students with details. Introduce too much complexity too early. (Too much confusion/complexity/ambiguity inhibits curiosity. The student stops being curious and instead tries to memorize all the material. Further, presenting too many open variables and loose ends can inhibit curiosity. Additional instructional behaviors that can inhibit curiosity include the following: Discourage questions from the students/trainees — make it clear that the class needs to get through all the material. Discourage class discussions. Provide complete explanations, leaving no space for student to engage in self-explanation. Provide explanations that make students feel stupid — use ridicule to make students afraid to appear dumb. Promoting curiosity. The collection of common inhibitors is fairly discouraging. However, the literature also identifies a number of factors that instructors and trainers can use to harness curiosity. These include the following: Pose a question; present contrasts and counterfactuals/hypotheticals; provide a sequence with an unknown resolution [e.g., who will win an election, or a race?). In addition, teachers can try to switch out of a mindset of criticizing students and instead wonder what caused the student to make a mistake.