Curiosity is defined as the urge to know more than what should be known or the nature of being so inquisitive on all matters. When children have such a character, they can be termed as disturbing and might face rejection from many people, especially the adults or are too engaged. However, when these children fall into the hands of people who can understand their nature and be ready to help them, they can perform and gain a lot from their nature. Therefore, the people surrounding a child can impact their curiosity positively or negatively. Apart from the surrounding people, education also has an impact on the curiosity of the children. This paper will discuss the impact of education on a children’s curiosity.
Davies, Bethan. “Essay Writing Technique.” Antarcticglaciers.Org, 2020, http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/students-3/study-skills/essay-writing/#:~:text=General%20technique,this%20is%20clich%C3%A9d%20and%20boring.
In this article, the author compared the definition of curiosity to explore, which are related to knowledge. The author tries to define the terms to create a distinction between them. Also, the author gives various definitions as given by various authors and how they relate the two terms. For example, Berlyne (1960) is mentioned to believe that curiosity is a prerequisite to exploration. The article terms curiosity as central to motivation; therefore, when one is curious about something, they are motivated to explore and settle their curiosity. The article lists different characteristics of curiosity: curiosity controlling behavior and curiosity ending after the exploration.
The article further describes curiosity from a historical perspective. It discusses the various historical development that the discussion on curiosity has gone through. First, philosophers and religious leaders discussed morals when experimenting in the laboratory using rats, among other discussions. The article records that the major challenges that have faces the researches in its cause. They wonder whether motivation is an inborn or an acquired characteristic. They also wonder whether curiosity is a primary or secondary source of motivation. It records some explanations given by various psychologists such as Freud, who compare curiosity to sex drive. The urge of a curious person can be derived away just as the sex drive is driven away because of the moral standards set by society.
Therefore, curiosity is a need that needs attention. If the urge is not attended, it can go away. Therefore, being a source of information can satisfy curiosity positively or suppress it negatively.
Engel, Susan. “Children’s need to know: Curiosity in schools.” Harvard educational review 81.4 (2011): 625-645.
In this article, the author discusses the various fields under which curiosity has been studied, including psychology and education. It makes a conclusion derived from the studies that curious students are better at learning than those who don’t have the self-motivation to acquire new knowledge. The article further relates the epistemic concept of curiosity to its effects on education. This concept is very relevant in the process of knowledge acquisition. The author terms it as a positive interaction between the epistemic concept and its performance in education. The author advises that more research should be directed to this relation positively as it affects a learner’s academic performance.
The article further gives the importance of curiosity to a child. Curiosity stimulates the child’s cognitive development, affects their information-seeking behavior, helps the child get their focus in life and work on it. When well settled in the childhood stage, it can affect the learning in their adult ages. The article further discusses the role of adults in maximizing the benefits of curiosity of the child. The adults are required to create an accepting environment for the curious children. This can be achieved by answering their many questions and allowing them to explore their interests. The article exemplifies the involvement of a parent’s dialogue with their children as an encouragement to ask more questions.
The article further gives the negative effect of school curriculum to curiosity. The article notes that curiosity. The curriculum directs all the students towards a certain path hence denying them a chance to explore their curiosity. This kills the child’s intrinsic motivation and makes learning a burden as they are not pursuing their interests.
Trautner, Tracy. “Developing Curiosity In The Young Child’S Brain.” MSU Extension, 2017, https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/developing_curiosity_in_the_young_childs_brain.
This article gives the importance of curiosity as giving the urge to explore, know new things and solve things. It mentions that people are born with curiosity as an intrinsic feature. Therefore, children are very inquisitive, but they also try to find answers to their uncertainties. The article mentions that curiosity prepares the brain for the acquisition of knowledge and emphasizes that people love learning what they are interested in. The article adds that through curiosity, people learn things that might not be necessary but prove important sometimes. The article adds that when children are curious, they tend to retain the information they acquire that satisfies their curiosity. It refers to research conducted by the University of California that found that learning and remembering are more effective when teachers relate classwork to unrelated things that students are curious about. It also notes that those students who are curious about something and learn about it remember the answer more. It quotes renowned geniuses such as Albert Einstein, who say that they are not special but just curious.
Berliner, Wendy. “‘Schools Are Killing Curiosity’: Why We Need To Stop Telling Children To Shut Up And Learn.” The Guardian, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/28/schools-killing-curiosity-learn.
The article discourages ignorance of children’s personal interests and their questions because the curious students perform better in class. The article cites research conducted by the University of Michigan after an investigation in 6200 children. It notes that the article found out heat the disadvantaged children we better performers as their curiosity is attended to substantially. The article advises teachers that they need to solve the child’s curiosity instead of turning them down when they ask questions on things they need to know. The article observes that when children are born, they are very inquisitive as they want to know more, but once they get into school, their inquisitive nature drops at once. It notes that teachers play a great role in killing the curiosity nature of the children as most teachers discourage questioning.
The article notes that most schools do not have a systematic approach to attending to children’s curiosity, and it has been made an individual teacher’s responsibility. The article notes that when children are given resources that attend to their curiosity, they concentrate on them more and not on the other normal things. The article advises that teachers should encourage the children to ask questions as much as possible by finding a time of questions in their daily lives.
In conclusion, curiosity is a major determinant of the potential of a child. When curiosity is managed well, it can raise competent children who can do wonders in various fields. Therefore, teachers should use education to develop the children’s curiosity and not kill the motivation.
