Reading Experiment: Record the “Questions,” Not the “Page Count”
Hypothesis
They become more active. When what gets seen and recorded is “curiosity” rather than “amount completed,” a child is more willing to ask — and more willing to read to find the answer.
Key metric
The weekly trend in the number of “why / how come” questions the child asks unprompted
The question
If we stop counting "how many pages" and instead record the questions a child asks on their own, what happens to their reading behavior?
The hypothesis
They become more active. Because children do more of whatever gets seen, recorded, and taken seriously. When what we record is "curiosity" rather than "amount completed," a child will:
- be more willing to stop and ask questions while reading;
- be more willing to go pick up another book to find an answer.
Experiment design (draft)
- Keep a "question diary" that records just three things: what they asked today, which book sparked it, and whether they found an answer.
- The adult doesn't judge questions as good or bad — only records carefully and looks for answers together.
- Observe, over a period, how the frequency and depth of unprompted questions change.
Key metric
The weekly trend in the number of "why / how come" questions the child asks unprompted (watch the change, not the absolute number).
Results
To be filled in.
Reflection
To be filled in. If this experiment holds, it grows directly into a product — a Reading Observation Diary. Validate first, product second — that's the discipline.