Fostering Children’s Curiosity in Early Childhood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Curiosity is often regarded as one of the foundational 21st century skills children need to leverage in order to succeed in the workforce today. Although there are a variety of theories conceptualizing curiosity as a desire to acquire new knowledge, little research has explicitly examined how fostering curiosity may directly impact children’s learning outcomes. This symposium presents data investigating curiosity as it occurs naturally (Paper 1) and may be promoted in formal and informal settings to enhance children’s exploration and learning (Papers 2 and 3). Paper 1 explored naturalistic language around curiosity and metacognition in preschool classrooms across different socioeconomic contexts and found that there was slightly more metacognitive talk in mid-SES classrooms but no differences in expressions of curiosity. Paper 2 examined how students (Kindergarten- through eighth-grade) choose to explore across differing levels of uncertainty and found support for an optimal level of uncertainty that motivates students’ exploration. Paper 3 investigated whether prompting children (aged 5-7) to ask questions influenced their curiosity-driven behaviors and learning, and found that encouraging children’s questions may help them learn and increase their valuation of new information. The discussant for this symposium is an expert in and has published work exploring how curiosity can support children’s learning. Together, these papers, which draw on naturalistic and experimental data, provide evidence of different ways curiosity occurs and can be promoted during the early childhood and elementary school years.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chairs

• Amanda S Haber, Fairfield University

• Hannah Puttre, Boston University

Discussant

• Jamie J Jirout, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

Individual Presentations

• Expressions of curiosity and metacognition across socioeconomically diverse preschool classrooms - Presenting Author: Hannah Puttre, Boston University; Kathleen H. Corriveau, Boston University

• Investigating students’ exploration when encountering differing levels of uncertainty - Presenting Author: Natalie Evans, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Shoronda Erica Matthews, Boston University; Jamie J Jirout, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Question Asking Increases Children’s Valuation of New Information - Presenting Author: Joseph Colantonio, Rutgers University - Newark; Anne Park, University of Pennsylvania; Lourdes Marielle Delgado Reyes; Sophie D.S. Sharp, University of Pennslyvania; Elizabeth Bonawitz, Rutgers University - Newark; Allyson P Mackey, University of Pennsylvania