Poster #37 - Curiosity in the classroom: promoting curiosity through classroom instruction that supports positive responses to uncertainty

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 1 during Lunch

Abstract

Curiosity provides the motivation to face challenges and explore uncertainty in order to gain new information (Jirout & Klahr, 2012, Engel, 2011). Yet, curiosity is often believed to decrease with formal schooling, perhaps due to an educational system that is inconsistent with curiosity and exploration (Engel, 2011). The goal of this work was to test whether specific instructional methods that promote comfort with uncertainty and information seeking behavior relate to student outcomes.

A broad review of prior research related to instructional strategies around student uncertainty identified two categories of curiosity promotion: methods of helping students to recognize and become more comfortable with uncertainty (promoting feelings of curiosity), and methods of helping children learn to seek information to resolve curiosity (promoting curious behavior –i.e., exploration and information seeking). Within these two categories, eight types of behavior were identified and coded.

Video data came from the Measures of Effective Teaching database, using videos of lessons on adding and subtracting fractions. Participants included 203 fifth-grade students across 18 classrooms. As part of the MET study, students responded to a version of the Tripod survey, a questionnaire designed to assess students’ perceptions about instruction and their teacher related to several dimensions, including perceptions of feeling cared for, feeling supported both in terms of being interested and finding the instruction to be clear, as well as perceived academic challenge and classroom management (MET Project, 2012). As there was not a direct measure of curiosity included in the study, Tripod items identified to relate to curiosity were selected a priori and used as the student-outcome variable to test for a relation between curiosity-promotion and positive student learning experiences. Example items were: “My teacher is nice to me when I ask questions” and “School work is interesting”.

Correlations were observed between the Tripod and promotion of comfort with uncertainty specifically (r(203) = .150, p = .03); however promoting curious behavior was not related to the Tripod (r(203) = .078, p = .27). This suggests that when teachers provide opportunities to think, question, and respond, seek out alternative ways of thinking and doing things, and provide other ways of promoting comfort with uncertainty, students find the teacher to be more open to helping, they are interested in learning even when challenging, and they find school work interesting. Details and analyses related to additional outcome variables will be discussed in the presentation.

Authors

• Jamie Jirout, University of Virginia
  Presenting Author

• Virginia Vitiello, University of Virginia