Value Spotlight: Curiosity
Value Spotlight: Curiosity
CMTM has 5 core values: Belonging, Play, Community, Curiosity, and Trust.
Each month, we spotlight a different core value and the how and why behind its significance to our organization and the people who make up our CMTM community.
This month, we are taking a closer look at Curiosity.
CULTIVATE CURIOSITY
How do we define curiosity as a value?
We believe curiosity inspires children to explore, build empathy, and connect with others. Learning fueled by curiosity leads to a deeper understanding of self and the world around us.
Why curiosity?
We love getting curious! By curating experiences that encourage hands-on experiential learning and interactions with others, children can try new things, see cause and effect, and be inspired to explore, improving their understanding of the world and others.
Curiosity fosters a lifelong love of learning. Experiential learning and social interactions are essential for children to develop a deeper understanding of the world around them. By engaging in activities that stimulate curiosity, children not only discover new interests and passions but also strengthen critical thinking skills such as empathy and resilience.
Curiosity is intertwined in everything we do at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine and is foundational to our core. Through our commitment to centering curiosity, we aim to create an environment that nurtures inquisitive, knowledgeable, and empathetic individuals.
Curiosity within our strategic plan + the path ahead
At the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM), we are dedicated to fostering curiosity and connected learning experiences for children and families. Over the next year, we plan to integrate these values through various strategic initiatives.
First, we will link social-emotional learning across our programs by defining key themes that impact children and families, identifying shared outcomes for program development across different teams, and fostering collaboration that respects the individuality of educators and artists.
To ensure the effectiveness of our programs, we will develop evaluation practices that include creating relevant and inclusive evaluation tools, soliciting regular feedback from our communities, and continuously assessing program alignment and impact. Additionally, we will promote experiential learning in early childhood education by designing professional development opportunities focused on early childhood education for our staff, establishing partnerships with schools and organizations serving underrepresented populations, and expanding early childhood resources for teachers and families.
Through these initiatives, CMTM aims to create a dynamic and supportive environment that nurtures curiosity, promotes social-emotional growth, and provides meaningful, connected learning experiences for all children.
We are excited to continue this work in the coming months and years!
About CMTM’s Strategic Plan
In the fall of 2022, CMTM embarked on a year-long journey to realign our mission, values, and priorities with our new building and begin to paint the picture of who we want to be for ourselves, our visitors, and the community - today and tomorrow. The CMTM board and entire staff devoted themselves to two retreats—one in the summer and one in the fall—as well as hundreds of hours of discussion and work groups to contemplate and define our priorities and plan for the future. We also sought community feedback through focus groups comprised of children, caregivers, corporate and foundational partners, educators, advisory councils, and community leaders. Additionally, a community-wide survey garnered more than 300 responses.
Drawing upon insights from all these stakeholders and guided by our strategic planning team at Reflector Lab, our partners in this process, CMTM crafted a revised mission statement, values, and strategic plan to steer our path for the next three years and beyond.
Our refined mission states:
“ At the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, we set the stage for every child to imagine and learn through play.”