Teachers' and parents' conceptions of children's curiosity and exploration

Although curiosity is a characteristic often observed in young children, it has not received much academic interest in recent years. Among its many dimensions, the epistemic nature of curiosity, or the quest for knowledge, deserves attention. To explore the potential application of ‘epistemic curiosity’, it is important to understand how lay conceptions complement theoretical conceptualizations. As people who are significant in organizing children's environment, how teachers and parents view curiosity is essential to how they will respond to the manifestation of this characteristic in children. A questionnaire was developed to examine teachers' and parents' conception of children's curiosity and exploratory behavior and whether they value this characteristic. The participants of this study were preschool teachers and parents with a preschool‐age child. The findings indicated that the participants have a positive view toward curiosity and exploration and that teachers are more willing than parents to encourage this characteristic in young children. A factor analysis indicated that teachers' and parents' conceptualization of curiosity is multi‐dimensional, showing some similarities with theoretical conceptualization.     

Exploring Sources of Individual Differences in Children's Interest in Science

Efforts have been made to promote children's interest in science, but little is known about how children's interest in science relates to other characteristics, such as science‐specific curiosity, domain‐general epistemic curiosity, and verbal intelligence. The current study examines how these factors relate to individual differences in children's self‐reported interest in science topics. Children 7‐ to 10‐years‐old (n = 91) rated their interest in science and non‐science topics and completed measures of science‐specific curiosity, domain‐general epistemic curiosity, and verbal intelligence. An additional 94 7‐ to 10‐year‐olds rated their interest in science and non‐science topics and completed the science‐specific curiosity measure. The results suggest that individual differences in children's science interest relate most strongly to scientific curiosity, and specifically to the drive to seek out information and new experiences.     

Students' level of boredom,boredom coping strategies,epistemic curiosity,and graded performance

The authors examined the relationships among students' levels of boredom, boredom coping strategies, epistemic curiosity, and graded performance regarding mathematics lessons, with the intention to explore the mediating roles of boredom coping strategies and epistemic curiosity in the relationship between the level of boredom and graded performance. A total of 557 students from a small city located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey voluntarily participated in the study. Of them, 211 enrolled in an Anatolian high school and 346 enrolled in a science high school. Results showed that the level of boredom, boredom coping strategies, epistemic curiosity, and graded performance were significantly related to each other. Results also showed that deprivation-type epistemic curiosity and interest-type epistemic curiosity played significant mediating roles in the relationship between the level of boredom and graded performance. Notably, the mediating roles of interest-type epistemic curiosity and deprivation-type epistemic curiosity differed across gender groups.     

Curiosity and Acquaintance: Ways of Knowing

Curiosity has rightly received much attention in epistemology and educational research. Although, through the centuries, it has been regarded with a degree of ambivalence, the trend now is towards its championing as an intellectual or epistemic virtue. The present discussion juxtaposes it against a contrasting way of knowing, which I refer to as knowledge by acquaintance. The notion of acquaintance pursued here parts company with Bertrand Russell's adoption of the expression, taking up instead a more ordinary use of the term. It is suggested that both curiosity and knowledge by acquaintance can present problems. Working through an example drawn from Stephen Poliakoff's film Close My Eyes, the paper seeks to reappraise the value of knowing by acquaintance for epistemology and for educational practice and research.     

知识与价值:对德性认识论的初步回答

对知识性质的追问导致了当代认识论中对知识定义的争论。争论的焦点在于如何理解知识与价值的关系问题。德性认识论对这个问题给出了一种解决方案,试图用道德的规范性说明知识的规范性,甚至试图用认识的客观性说明道德的客观性。然而,这种方案的主要困难在于没有看到知识作为一种规范性概念如何与人类的价值发生联系。中国传统哲学中的认识论可以为我们理解这个问题提供启发。"德性所知"、"格物致知"的认识论模式是从德性出发讨论认识问题。只有当我们把知识理解为由德性和心性所生发出来的对特殊事物的理解,我们才能理解知识所包含的真实内涵。只有在对人类灵魂的普遍理解中,我们才能真正把握知识的内在价值。如果必须放弃把知识理解为得到证明的真信念这个定义,我们更需要论证知识定义中除了得到证明和真理之外还应当包含的更多的内容。我们首先需要考虑的是价值问题在知识构成中的作用,其次还要考虑认识活动中的价值客观性问题。我们不再否定知识构成中的主观因素的影响,而是更多地关注这些主观因素在多少程度上会最终进入客观的领域。只有从这个角度出发,我们才能真正理解知识与价值之间的互动关系。     

Epistemic dimensions of students’ mathematics-related belief systems

Over the years, research on students’ epistemological beliefs has resulted in a growing common understanding but there are still some major points of discussion. Especially, the lack of consensus on the context-general and/or context-specific nature of epistemological beliefs deserves our attention.We argue that research in the field today is mainly characterized by a top-down approach that investigates students’ domain-specific beliefs from a general epistemological perspective. Alternatively, we report on one of our studies as well as some other research that takes a bottom-up approach starting from students’ domain-specific belief systems and analyzing their epistemic dimensions. Results of these studies point to the highly domain-specific nature of students’ beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Therefore, a conceptual distinction between students’ general epistemological beliefs and the epistemic dimensions of domain-related belief systems is recommended as a more appropriate way to address the context-general–context-specific discussion on epistemological beliefs.     

The differences and similarities between curiosity and interest: Meta-analysis and network analyses

Three studies on the relationship between curiosity and interest are reported. The first study was a meta-analysis that examined the Pearson correlations between scales assessing curiosity and interest. Based on 24 studies (31 effect sizes), we found that the curiosity scales correlated with the interest scales at a moderate level (r = 0.53), but they had extremely high heterogeneity. The second and third studies applied network analyses (i.e., co-occurrence analysis and correlation-based analysis) to data that was collected using experience sampling method. Across the studies, we found that while the feelings of curiosity reflected feelings of inquisitiveness, the feelings of interest were aligned with positive affect such as enjoyment and happiness. Importantly, an asymmetrical pattern also was found in curiosity-interest co-occurrences: when feelings of curiosity occurred, the co-occurrence of feelings of interest was highly likely, but not so vice versa. Overall, our findings suggest that feelings of curiosity are special cases of feelings of interest that pertain to knowledge acquisition. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Navigating the divide between scientific practice and science studies to support undergraduate teaching of epistemic knowledge

There is an urgent need to strengthen undergraduate science students’ epistemic knowledge, which requires having the scientists qua teachers on board. The divide between scientists’ perceptions of science and the perceptions held by those who study science is in this context problematic. Even so, this remains a sorely understudied area. The aim of the study was to identify pragmatic ways that hold the potential to facilitate integration of scholarly studies of scientific knowledge production with experientially based knowledge held by scientists to support the teaching of epistemic knowledge content to undergraduate science students. Earlier studies suggest that trust building is a central component. Our exploratory case study focuses on instructor perceptions and is based on informal interviews, participatory observation and surveys with instructors in a first-year undergraduate science course under revision. We identified the following central components as central to successful navigation of the divide between the scientific practice and science studies: Explicit formulation of learning objectives tied to epistemic knowledge acquisition; Conscious attention to vocabulary that triggers scientists’ aversion to science studies; Careful selection of historic and contemporary cases; and Systematic scaffolding of course activities. The conclusion regarding a common vocabulary stands out: by ridding our instructions from the vocabulary that caused concern among science instructors we succeeded in engaging them in conversations with students about the knowledge-producing process and challenge the view of science as characterised by facts and truths, rather than a form of scholarly inquiry that aims to produce knowledge about the natural world.     

The curious case of climate change: Testing a theoretical model of epistemic beliefs,epistemic emotions,and complex learning

We propose a theoretical model linking students' epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, learning strategies, and learning outcomes. The model was tested across two studies with 439 post-secondary students from Canada, the United States, and Germany for Study 1, and 56 students from Canada for Study 2. For Study 1, students self-reported their epistemic beliefs about climate change, read four conflicting documents about the causes and consequences of climate change, self-reported their epistemic emotions and learning strategies used to learn the content, and were given an inference verification test to measure learning. Study 2 used the same procedure but added a think aloud protocol to capture self-regulatory processes and emotions as they occurred. Path analyses revealed that epistemic beliefs served as important antecedents to the epistemic emotions students experienced during learning. Students who believed that the justification of knowledge about climate change requires critical evaluation of multiple sources experienced higher levels of enjoyment and curiosity, and lower levels of boredom when confronted with conflicting information. A belief in the complexity of this knowledge was related to lower levels of confusion, anxiety, and boredom. A belief in the uncertainty of this knowledge predicted lower levels of anxiety and frustration, and a belief in the active construction of knowledge predicted lower levels of confusion. Epistemic emotions predicted the types of learning strategies students used to learn the content and mediated relations between epistemic beliefs and learning strategies. Learning strategies predicted learning outcomes and mediated relations between epistemic emotions and learning outcomes. Implications for research on epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, and students' self-regulated learning are discussed.     

Secondary School Students’ Epistemic Insight into the Relationships Between Science and Religion—A Preliminary Enquiry

A number of previous studies have shown that there is a widespread view among young people that science and religion are opposed. In this paper, we suggest that it requires a significant level of what can be termed “epistemic insight” to access the idea that some people see science and religion as compatible while others do not. To explore this further, we draw on previous work to devise a methodology to discover students’ thinking about apparent contradictions between scientific and religious explanations of the origins of the universe. In our discussion of the findings, we highlight that students’ epistemic insight in this context does seem in many cases to be limited and we outline some of the issues emerging from the study that seem to boost or limit students’ progress in this area.     

School Discipline,Educational Interest and Pupil Wisdom☆

In this article, the concept of school discipline will be explored in relation to that of educational interest. Initially, Clark’s account of two different kinds of school order (discipline and control) will be explained. The interest-based theory of school discipline advanced by Pat Wilson will thereafter be analysed. It will be argued that both these scholars persuasively explain how school discipline may follow when learning activities are successfully married to pupil interests and experiences. However, it will be maintained that the epistemic position adopted by Wilson is problematic. Although Wilson suggests that Richard Peters placed too great an educational emphasis on initiating pupils into public traditions of knowledge, it is here claimed that Wilson did not value that development enough. With reference to Whitehead, it is concluded that discipline in schools ought to be arranged so as to help pupils foster wisdom for life, as this concept integrates liberal knowledge and educational interest.     

浅析颜之推的家教思想

颜之推是我国古代的儒学教育家,其对家庭教育的意义、作用、原则、方法都有自己独到的见解,本文通过颜之推家教思想的阐述与挖掘,以期对今天的家庭教育有所借鉴和启迪。     

浅谈小学生的认知特点和读书习惯的培养

小学生正处于身心发展的重要阶段,对外界事物有着强烈的好奇心和求知欲,良好的读书习惯有助于知识经验的增长和个人学习及成长。通过分析当前小学生读书的情况和存在的问题,提出家长和教师应激发小学生的读书兴趣,指导读书方法,培养读书习惯,通过阅读书籍获得知识,满足其探索未知世界的欲望。     

Determinism and Underdetermination in Genetics: Implications for Students’ Engagement in Argumentation and Epistemic Practices

In the last two decades science studies and science education research have shifted from an interest in products (of science or of learning), to an interest in processes and practices. The focus of this paper is on students’ engagement in epistemic practices (Kelly in Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 99–117, 2008), or on their practical epistemologies (Wickman in Sci Educ 88(3):325–344, 2004). In order to support these practices in genetics classrooms we need to take into account domain-specific features of the epistemology of genetics, in particular issues about determinism and underdetermination. I suggest that certain difficulties may be related to the specific nature of causality in genetics, and in particular to the correspondence between a given set of factors and a range of potential effects, rather than a single one. The paper seeks to bring together recent developments in the epistemology of biology and of genetics, on the one hand, with science education approaches about epistemic practices, on the other. The implications of these perspectives for current challenges in learning genetics are examined, focusing on students’ engagement in epistemic practices, as argumentation, understood as using evidence to evaluate knowledge claims. Engaging in argumentation in genetics classrooms is intertwined with practices such as using genetics models to build explanations, or framing genetics issues in their social context. These challenges are illustrated with studies making part of our research program in the USC.     

“Half-reliable”: A qualitative analysis of epistemic thinking in and about a digital game

The purpose of this investigation was to explore if and how players of digital games think about knowledge and knowing in the context of playing a game. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to examine whether players of an educational simulation game engage with epistemic aims, epistemic ideals, and reliable processes in the context of the game and to describe the nature of these aims, ideals, and processes. An exploratory, multiple-case qualitative study design was employed. Adolescent gamers were asked to think aloud while playing a sustainable development simulation game and were subsequently interviewed about the game. The results revealed that players adopted specific epistemic aims, epistemic ideals, and reliable processes in the context of the game. These were related to three layers of knowing: knowing in the game, knowing about playing the game, and knowing about the game as a representational artifact. Although players were adept in achieving epistemic aims related to knowing in the game and knowing about playing the game, they did not spontaneously engage in critical examination of the game as a representation. The study sheds light on challenges of epistemic thinking in digital games and on some of the ways in which game design can support epistemic thinking.     

Epistemic metacognition in context: evaluating and learning online information

This study examined epistemic metacognition as a reflective activity about knowledge and knowing in the context of online information searching on the Web, and whether it was related to prior knowledge on the topic, study approach, and domain-specific beliefs about science. In addition, we investigated whether Internet-based learning was influenced by epistemic metacognition and the individual differences examined. Seventy 8th grade students were interviewed retrospectively after searching for online information about the scientifically controversial topic of dinosaur extinction. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. Findings showed that participants expressed reflections about the simplicity/complexity, certainty/uncertainty, source, and justification of knowledge at different levels of sophistication, according to three patterns of epistemic metacognition. Prior knowledge was not related to epistemic metacognition in the search context, while study approach and epistemic beliefs about science were associated significantly, although modestly, with aspects of online knowledge evaluation. Moreover, findings revealed that Internet-based learning was influenced by overall science-related epistemic beliefs. Learning from Internet sources was also affected by study approach and epistemic reflections about the justification of online knowledge, as well as by the interaction between beliefs about the justification of scientific knowledge and beliefs about the justification of the knowledge accessed concerning the topic.     

农村中学物理教学方法刍议

在农村中学的物理教学中，为克服教学条件、教学环境相对滞后带采的困难，教师应在教学方法上狠下功夫；利用学校现有条件，创设情景、设置悬念，引发好奇心；教会学生正确的学法；加强开放性教学，培养学生的创新能力：在教学中应千方百计激发学生学习兴趣：帮助学生搞小设计、小制作，使学生认识到学习物理非常有用，亦可巩固物理知识。     

Exploring the relations between epistemic beliefs,emotions, and learning from texts

Conflicting claims about important socio-scientific debates are proliferating in contemporary society. It is therefore important to understand the individual characteristics that predict learning from conflicting claims. We explored individuals’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (i.e., epistemic beliefs) and their emotions as potentially interrelated sets of learner characteristics that predict learning in such contexts. Undergraduate university students (N = 282) self-reported their topic-specific epistemic beliefs and were given three conflicting texts about climate change to read. Immediately after each of the three texts, participants self-reported the emotions they experienced. Following reading and self-report, participants wrote summaries of the conflicting texts. Text-mining and human coding were applied to summaries to construct two indices of learning from conflicting texts that reflected which source’s information is privileged in memory. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that epistemic beliefs were consistent in their predictions of emotions, which in turn variously predicted different learning outcomes. In particular, a belief that knowledge is justified by inquiry predicted surprise and curiosity, which at times facilitated learning. In contrast, confusion, predicted by passive reliance on external sources, related to impaired memory of conflicting content. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed for research on the relations between epistemic beliefs, emotions, and learning about controversial topics.     

Epistemic beliefs and academic performance across soft and hard disciplines in the first year of college

Mature epistemic beliefs underlie higher-order thinking and learning outcomes. Previous studies have established that epistemic beliefs predict task-specific performance. However, there is mixed evidence regarding the relationships between such beliefs and course-level academic performance. This study investigated whether disciplinary type (‘soft’ versus ‘hard’) could account for the mixed findings. A survey was conducted among 1366 Indonesian university students enrolled in ‘soft’ (design, psychology and law) and ‘hard’ (engineering, biotechnology and pharmacy) disciplines. Beliefs about the uncertainty of knowledge, the subjectivity of knowledge and authority justification were measured before the start of semester. Findings indicated that, while subjectivity belief was not associated with grade point average in the soft disciplines, it negatively predicted it in the hard disciplines. Meanwhile, uncertainty belief, but not authority belief, was positively associated with grade point average in both disciplines. Hence, the relations between some epistemic beliefs and academic performance may depend on the nature of the discipline.