Curiosity and curiosity-driven questioning are important for developing scientific thinking and more general interest and motivation to pursue scientific questions. Curiosity has been operationalized ...as preference for uncertainty (
Jirout and Klahr, 2012
), and engaging in inquiry-an essential part of scientific reasoning-generates high levels of uncertainty (
Metz, 2004
;
van Schijndel et al., 2018
). This perspective piece begins by discussing mechanisms through which curiosity can support learning and motivation in science, including motivating information-seeking behaviors, gathering information in response to curiosity, and promoting deeper understanding through connection-making related to addressing information gaps. In the second part of the article, a recent theory of how to promote curiosity in schools is discussed in relation to early childhood science reasoning. Finally, potential directions for research on the development of curiosity and curiosity-driven inquiry in young children are discussed. Although quite a bit is known about the development of children’s question asking specifically, and there are convincing arguments for developing scientific curiosity to promote science reasoning skills, there are many important areas for future research to address how to effectively use curiosity to support science learning.
There is evidence suggesting that children's play with spatial toys (e.g., puzzles and blocks) correlates with spatial development. Females play less with spatial toys than do males, which arguably ...accounts for males' spatial advantages; children with high socioeconomic status (SES) also show an advantage, though SES-related differences in spatial play have been less studied than gender-related differences. Using a large, nationally representative sample from the standardization study of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Fourth Edition, and controlling for other cognitive abilities, we observed a specific relation between parent-reported frequency of spatial play and Block Design scores that was invariant across gender and SES. Reported spatial play was higher for boys than for girls, but controlling for spatial play did not eliminate boys' relative advantage on this subtest. SES groups did not differ in reported frequency of spatial play. Future research should consider quality as well as quantity of play, and should explore underlying mechanisms to evaluate causality.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The target article tackles an important and complicated issue of the underlying links between curiosity and creativity. Although thought-provoking, the target article overlooks contemporary theories ...and research on these constructs. Consequently, the proposed model is inconsistent with prior research in the developmental and educational fields and would benefit from better specification and clarity around key constructs and processes.
Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and ...general knowledge from preschool (2016–2017) to kindergarten (2017–2018) in 1359 children (Mage = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross‐lagged panel models showed significant bidirectional associations between preschool enjoyment and change in general knowledge from preschool to kindergarten with a standardized coefficient of β = .21 (p < .001) and associations between preschool general knowledge and change in enjoyment, β = .09 (p = .015). Exploratory analyses with teacher characteristics and demographic subgroup comparisons are discussed. These associations suggest the potential intervention strategy of promoting early school enjoyment to support broader academic development.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Curiosity is widely acknowledged as a crucial aspect of children's development and as an important part of the learning process, with prior research showing associations between curiosity and ...achievement. Despite this evidence, there is little research on the development of curiosity or on promoting curiosity in school settings, and measures of curiosity promotion in the classroom are absent from the published literature. This article introduces the Curiosity in Classrooms (CiC) Framework coding protocol, a tool for observing and coding instructional practices that support the promotion of curiosity. We describe the development of the framework and observation instrument and the results of a feasibility study using the protocol, which gives a descriptive overview of curiosity-promoting instruction in 35 elementary-level math lessons. Our discussion includes lessons learned from this work and suggestions for future research using the developed observation tool.
Cognitive engagement is an essential component in student learning. With the increase of more asynchronous virtual educational tools in classrooms, there is a need to understand how students are ...engaging with classroom content in these formats. Several studies have examined student and teacher perceptions of cognitive engagement in virtual discussion boards, but prior research has not analyzed the responses themselves. This study explores higher education students’ cognitive engagement when posting to asynchronous online discussions, investigating the levels and types of engagement for both written and video responses. Student responses were qualitatively coded based on themes that aligned with the ICAP framework of cognitive engagement. Descriptive and quantitative analyses were used to understand the types of cognitive engagement observed in online discussions, differences in video and written posts or when they had a choice in how to respond, and if patterns existed throughout the course. Results suggest that students do show deep levels of cognitive engagement in asynchronous discussions, in both written and video posts. Students exhibited deeper levels of cognitive engagement when they were given the choice in how to respond. There were no patterns over time in the course in cognitive engagement within students across the written and video posts. The structure and instructions of the prompts themselves may be important for eliciting deeper levels of responses. More explicit prompting for students to engage in deeper reflections or abstract thinking may help students engage with course content at a deeper level.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Curiosity and creativity are theoretically linked, but very little empirical research has examined this relation. The current paper examines the association between curiosity and creativity in ...elementary school aged children (ages 4- to 10-years) using both self-report (N = 51) and behavioral (N =82) measures. Consistent with findings from an adult meta-analysis, results show some evidence of an association between curiosity and creativity with self-report measures but not behavioral measures. To establish that the connection between curiosity and creativity is more than theoretical it will be necessary to provide evidence using behavioral measures. These behavioral measures may also need to examine curiosity and creativity in a domain specific context in which curiosity leads to exploration and information seeking that can be directly useful for creative problem-solving.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Parent-child synchrony during spatial play is not influenced by child's executive function.•Parent-child synchrony is similar when comparing digital vs. physical spatial play.•Higher parent-child ...synchrony in observed with girls during digital play.
Play is a powerful influence on children's learning and parents can provide opportunities to learn specific content by scaffolding children's play. Parent-child synchrony (i.e., harmony, reciprocity and responsiveness in interactions) is a component of parent-child interactions that is not well characterized in studies of play.
We tested whether children's executive function relates to mother-child synchrony during physical and digital play in sixty mother-child dyads.
Mother-child synchrony did not relate to children's executive function or differ by play type (physical, digital), though during digital play mother-child synchrony was higher for girls relative to boys.
The findings suggest that mother-child synchrony is not influenced by children's executive function and physical and digital play can be similarly beneficial in offering the opportunity for responsive, reciprocal, dynamic interactions. The sex difference suggests that further factors should be explored as influences of play synchrony.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
ABSTRACT
Spatial skills are consistently linked to mathematical reasoning, and are sensitive to intervention. One important spatial skill is spatial scaling. We evaluated whether (1) a playful ...scaling game might promote learning by providing feedback during play, and (2) spatial scaling is related to number‐line estimation (NLE) based on the mutual reliance on relative magnitude reasoning. Forty‐eight children, ages 5.5–8.3, completed a playful scaling game and a NLE task. Results show that children improve from the first to second half of the task, especially for more difficult trials and for the lowest performing children. In addition, scaling and NLE relate when controlling for age and vocabulary. Similar improvement on the task and relations to NLE were observed in a conceptual replication (N = 52). These results provide support for further study of improving spatial scaling in children, with the possibility to test whether scaling could support related mathematical skills as well.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and ...general knowledge from preschool (2016-2017) to kindergarten (2017-2018) in 1359 children (Msubscript age = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross-lagged panel models showed significant bidirectional associations between preschool enjoyment and change in general knowledge from preschool to kindergarten with a standardized coefficient of beta = 0.21 (p < 0.001) and associations between preschool general knowledge and change in enjoyment, beta = 0.09 (p = 0.015). Exploratory analyses with teacher characteristics and demographic subgroup comparisons are discussed. These associations suggest the potential intervention strategy of promoting early school enjoyment to support broader academic development.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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