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A New Theoretical Framework for Curiosity for Learning in Social Contexts

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Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education (EC-TEL 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 10474))

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Abstract

Curiosity is a vital metacognitive skill in educational contexts. Yet, little is known about how social factors influence curiosity in group work. We argue that curiosity is evoked not only through individual, but also interpersonal activities, and present what we believe to be the first theoretical framework that articulates an integrated socio-cognitive account of curiosity based on literature spanning psychology, learning sciences and group dynamics, along with empirical observation of small-group science activity in an informal learning environment. We make a bipartite distinction between individual and interpersonal functions that contribute to curiosity, and multimodal behaviors that fulfill these functions. We validate the proposed framework by leveraging a longitudinal latent variable modeling approach. Findings confirm positive predictive relationship of the latent variables of individual and interpersonal functions on curiosity, with the interpersonal functions exercising a comparatively stronger influence. Prominent behavioral realizations of these functions are also discovered in a data-driven way. This framework is a step towards designing learning technologies that can recognize and evoke curiosity during learning in social contexts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA

    Tanmay Sinha, Zhen Bai & Justine Cassell

Authors
  1. Tanmay Sinha
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  2. Zhen Bai
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  3. Justine Cassell
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Correspondence to Tanmay Sinha .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, Lyon, France

    Élise Lavoué

  2. German Institute for International Educational Research, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

    Hendrik Drachsler

  3. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Katrien Verbert

  4. University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    Julien Broisin

  5. Pontificia Universidad, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Mar Pérez-Sanagustín

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Sinha, T., Bai, Z., Cassell, J. (2017). A New Theoretical Framework for Curiosity for Learning in Social Contexts. In: Lavoué, É., Drachsler, H., Verbert, K., Broisin, J., Pérez-Sanagustín, M. (eds) Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education. EC-TEL 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10474. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66610-5_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66610-5_19

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