Use in Introduction (or Potential) - Summarize - Not Quote
Curiosity Studies
Almost all humans begin life with an aptitude for noticing the unexpected and pursuing unanticipated phenomena in order to resolve uncertainty. p 89
Impulse toward better cognition - William James 1899
The dynamic nature of curiosity is reflected in both human and animal behavior, where curiosity serves as a motivator for exploration and learning, adapting to environmental conditions and personal contexts.
Curiosity and Exploration: Facilitating Positive Subjective Experiences and Personal Growth Opportunities
Curiosity has relevance to nearly all facets of human functioning p 303
...
What is Curiosity
Definitions
Thomas Hobbes - defines curiosity as “the love of the knowledge of causes.” (Leviathan, 1651)
David Hume - curiosity is “the love of truth.” ("A Treatise of Human Nature. 1985)
John Locke - curiosity is an “appetite for knowledge,” to be nurtured in young and old alike. (some thoughts containing education 1693)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau - curiosity is “a principle natural to the human heart,” which must be carefully trained to achieve its promise (Emile or On Education, 1762)
Réné Descartes - curiosity—with its interest in minutiae—as fundamentally scholastic, he insists that a certain wonder is necessary for the work of reason, knowledge, and the good of humankind.(Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641)
((To Summarize))
Impulse toward better cognition - William James 1899
In essence, curiosity is a multifaceted trait that evolves and fluctuates, responding to the complexities of life and the pursuit of knowledge. It is a fundamental aspect of human experience, driving individuals to seek understanding and connection with the world around them.
Curiosity and Exploration: Facilitating Positive Subjective Experiences and Personal Growth Opportunities
Curiosity is a ubiquitous part of human’s lexicon and daily experiences. p 303
Definitions
Curiosity Studies - Aspects of
Curiosity—as a desire to see, to understand, and to know p. xviii
Curiosity—as a prompt to learning, growth, and exploration p.xix
Curiosity—as an interest in the new, the foreign, and the forbidden p. xx
curiosity—as a drive to transgress, to refuse, and to create p. xx
Engage Curiosity
INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF PLAYFUL LEARNING ON CURIOSITY AND DIVERGENT THINKING
An individual engages in a state of curiosity when he or she perceives a lack of information or gap in understanding and seeks to resolve that uncertainty p 6
Lowenstein’s information gap theory (1994) states that curiosity arises when an individual is motivated to resolve this gap in knowledge, information, or understanding. p 7
State curiosity, or a drive to reduce uncertainty p 7
Trait curiosity is a personality characteristic that describes an individual who is motivated to pursue information and knowledge p 7
Why NOT Engage Curiosity?
Curiosity Studies
“The Dude Abides, or Why Curiosity is Important for Education Today”
A number of philosophers are prone to chastise curiosity as a deficient form of engagement with the world p 92
Plato - curious people, whose appetite for knowledge often rules them, suffer from an imbalance in the three parts of their soul: reason, spirit, and appetite p. xiii
Heidegger
- thinks that when humanity is curious, “it has a tendency to let itself be carried along solely by the looks of the world.”6 Once carried away, humanity can no longer be attentive to the existential question defining the meaning of being and instead dwells on a rather superficial level of experience. p 94
curious freedom is the freedom to skim the surface of experience without ever attaching one’s being to something meaningful p 94
((Solution)) “in wonder, what is most usual of all and in all, i.e., everything, becomes the most unusual. . . . Everything in what is most usual (beings) becomes in wonder the most unusual in this one respect: that it is what it is.”p 95
Why NOT...
"The Dude Abides, or Why Curiosity is Important for Education Today”
Bernard Stiegler
- educational theorists argue that the distracted dimension of curiosity is a major danger to youth and to society p 95
- argues that attentiveness is the fulcrum of caring for the world p 97
- curiosity has been linked with precisely the forms of distractedness of which Stiegler is critical. While frequently aligned with inquisitiveness, curiosity is also characterized negatively as something that leads astray p 96
Rebuttal to "Why NOT..."
"The Dude Abides, or Why Curiosity is Important for Education Today”
North
- argues that attention focuses on stretching out and taking possession of the world (ad-tenere). p 97
- Attention is therefore concerned with a will to possess that is capable of providing continuity and unity to the self p 97
V
Distraction on the other hand “gives itself away”19 and is therefore a form of dispossession. p 97
The unity of self provided by attention (as a possession of experience) suddenly loses itself, exposing itself to dispersal. p 97
Care steps in to stop the dispersal process and to provide some kind of ontological unity to humanity’s everyday being p 97
theoretical confrontation with not caring, with a kind of being that loses itself in what it yields to, that disperses itself to the margins. This would be a state of being that is careless, directionless, and open to the contingencies of what happens to it. By maximizing distractibility, a carefree life would help throw into high relief the features of curiosity that are most curious. p 97
(Effect of))
dispersion, distracted life would threaten any foundational social system predicated on the predictable certainty and regularity of an attentive, consistent, and unified identity p 98
((Summary))
Life would be curious in that it would be strange, unfamiliar, and perhaps shocking for those of us who value the long established norms of attention and care - such a life might appear meaningless, disorderly, silly, if not a total waste of time p 98
Aspects - Child Curiosity
Curiosity Studies
curiosity is based on this one simple mechanism: the urge to explain the unexpected and resolve uncertainty. p 77
They (children) are indefatigable explorers. This tremendous appetite for discovery begins with a very powerful and simple mechanism universal to human babies. They are predisposed to look for regularity and familiarity in everyday life p. 76
A great deal of their daily lives entails encountering things they haven’t yet experienced p 76
...helps explain why babies and young children learn more than they ever will again in their lives. P. 76
INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF PLAYFUL LEARNING ON CURIOSITY AND DIVERGENT THINKING
Curiosity is perceived to be valuable because it indicates that a child is tolerant of uncertainty, and uncertainty can be the catalyst for future exploration and learning p 6
Aging - Child Curiosity
Curiosity Studies
explains why, as children get older, curiosity becomes somewhat less ubiquitous. more of their everyday experiences are folded into schema - things unexceptional and unlikely to spark their curiosity p 77
Impact-Not-Access Future
Enthusiasm for learning and discovery naturally lessens as they gain more confidence in their knowledge
Curiosity Studies
physical inquiry wanes, another process for gathering information enters the scene. Children learn to ask questions. And when it comes to curiosity, language is a game changer. P. 77
They can ask about things beyond the here and now, they can directly seek explanations p 79
Age + Benefits if Curiosity Supported
Curiosity Studies
INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF PLAYFUL LEARNING ON CURIOSITY AND DIVERGENT THINKING
Engaging in exploration for exploration’s sake can ultimately help children generate new and original ideas. p 53
Age + other detriments to Curiosity
Parents
Curiosity Studies
curiosity rests on an appetite for the unknown, it depends, paradoxically, on a sense of safety and security. Early on, that sense of safety comes from a child’s first relationship: an ongoing and close bond with a primary caregiver. P. 83
Safety + Security
As children get older, insecurity seems to limit their curiosity in two ways.
- who are, by virtue of their temperament or early attachment, uneasy in the face of novelty are less likely to ask questions, investigate the world around them, or dive into unfamiliar situations.
- even with relatively secure and easygoing approach to the world are less likely to explore when they feel scared, whether that fear is caused by angry adults or other unstable or threatening features of the immediate learning environment
- pressure to “do well,” when learning is wrapped up with tests and grades, works against a child’s inclination to seek uncertainty. P. 84
Age + Other - Parents (continued)
Curiosity Studies
Interest + Opportunity
children are more curious when they can interact with things and topics in which they are interested. Sometimes this has to do with the inherent “interest factor” of the material: how complex, surprising, or unusual it is, or how it is intellectually framed p. 85
Roger Hart has written about this regarding playgrounds for children, arguing that they need natural, complicated, and messy places to play rather than the highly manufactured pristine equipment that often fills the most affluent playgrounds and recess areas. P. 85
Parents (continued)
Curiosity Studies
the simplest and most direct way that adults encourage or discourage children’s curiosity is by the way they respond when children ask questions, open things up, and fiddle with objects p. 86
the lower a child’s intrinsic curiosity the more sensitive he or she is to disapproval p. 86
is not only what adults say to children about inquiry, but it’s also a question of whether the adults themselves model curiosity. P. 88
Nature: Importance + Benefits of
NATURE: Parents - Non-Supportive - Own Actions
Associations between nature exposure, screen use, and parent‑child relations: a scoping review
Given that parents play a key role structuring their children’s free time, parental beliefs and attitudes have a significant influence on their children’s play and activity preferences p 6
(Also includes) parental/family:
- attitudes towards natural world
- own emotional connection to
- perceived benefits of
- own leisure-time trends/activities
- self-efficacy beliefs
- family rules + values + routines
(^ pp. 6-7)
parental nature connectedness was the strongest predictor of children’s engagement with nature, above and beyond proximity to natural spaces p 6
NATURE: Parents... (continued) - Concerns
The Effect of Environmental Factors on Children from The Viewpoint of Parents
Children are faced with increasing parental concerns (abduction, harassment, self-harm, and inability to socialize), attention deficit in children, obesity and depression diseases p 155
parents face concerns about kidnapping, harassment and self-harm in addition to the physical injuries of their children p 165
anxious perspective towards children's playgrounds has negatively affected the use of children's playgrounds and brought a critical perspective to the regulations. p 167