ABSTRACT
Uncertainty can be a driving force to inquire because students want to know more about something, and it can also be the outcome when they uncover more questions with their answers. Uncertainty has an emotional or motivational side; uncertainty should be at an optimal level that spurs action but become debilitating. Making uncertainty happen requires comfort with the reality that people are and cannot be certain of everything. Philosopher Imre Lakatos imagined a dialogue between two mathematicians. Members of classrooms should explore things that interest them, ask what they know and what they would want to learn, and make the unknown nonthreatening. Uncertainty is also an important part of writing a story, composition, letter, or a happy-birthday email to a friend. Writers start with an incomplete idea of what words will come out. Students can reduce uncertainty by planning, such as outlining before they start writing and revising until they or the teacher are pleased.
