Whether it is volcanoes or video games, teachers know that when children enjoy a subject, they are far more motivated to take charge of their education. What teachers are learning now is that offering high interest topics may be less important than offering kids challenging tasks--new problems to solve--that tap into the way children's brains are wired to learn. According to Alison Gopnik, a psychology professor at the University of California at Berkeley, children know how to program the TiVo or build his own skateboard ramp because they spent a lot of time messing around. This article presents an interview with Gopnik who talked about the way kids learn in the early years: how best to hold children up as complex thinkers, why teachers need to ask the big questions, and how school should be more like baseball.