Current evaluations in science education research of discovery based science programs give no clear indication of the merit of these new science programs. Getzels and Jackson's studies in creativity suggest that permissive and authoritarian family environments may influence development of creativity and IQ respectively in children. It was reasoned that findings relating family and school environments to creativity could have relevance in science education where discovery based science programs are having a profound effect on altering science classroom environment. It was hypothesized that permissive science classroom environments would produce significantly higher posttest creativity means than the control. Since a current science education goal is to enhance student question asking skill (e.g. Inquiry Training) and since findings indicate question asking styles are related to aptitudes, it is hypothesized that high creative and high permissive groups will have significantly higher factual and yes-no question score means whereas high intelligence and low permissive groups will have significantly higher explanation question score means. Creativity tests used in this study include Guilford's Uses Test and the Question Test from Torrance's Ask-and-Guess Test. The Question Test also yields factual, yes-no, and explanation question scores. To assess classroom environment, the Classroom Environment Scale was developed. Item choices were classified by seven judges into the three environmental categories. The sample consisted of four grade seven classes, three experimental and one control. Experimental groups were taught the ESS unit, Batteries and Bulbs. The experimental groups included a semipermissive group which was taught the unit according to suggestions in the teacher's guide, and the permissive and authoritarian groups which, respectively, had less and more teacher control of classroom environment than the semi-permissive group. Experimental groups were shown to have significantly different classroom environment means in the direction expected. Data for testing hypotheses of this project came from a field experiment and a field study. For the field experiment a before and after design was used, analysis of covariance being employed on the group post creativity means with significant covariates derived from step-down regression analysis of pretest data. All significance levels are at the 5% level. Results of the field experiment indicate that for the more valid creativity test, the Uses Test, the group post creativity means of the permissive and authoritarian groups were significantly larger than the control group post mean. With the Question Test, which lacked discriminant validity in regard to intelligence, only the authoritarian group post creativity mean was significantly larger than the control post mean. For the field study high and low groups were formed using medians of creativity, intelligence and classroom environment as cutoffs, with analysis of variance and the F-test used to detect significant differences in means of question scores or question gains of these high and low groups. When question gain data showed non-normality the Chi-square test was used with significance at 1%. Field study results show that the high creative group had significantly higher mean yes-no and factual question scores than the low creative group, whereas the high intelligence group had a significantly higher mean explanation question score than the low intelligence group. Chi-square analysis revealed significant divergence in factual and explanation question gains for low and high permissive groups. For aptitude-environment interaction low aptitude-low permissive interactions contribute most to divergence of factual question gains and high aptitude-low permissive interactions contribute most to divergence of explanation question gains. Strongest divergences in group question gains came from intelligence environment interaction. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Curiosity is an important construct for educators as it is connected with knowledge and higher-order thinking, goal-oriented behavior, motivation, and persistence. It is also negatively correlated with boredom and anxiety. While research documents this strong connection between learning and curiosity, no studies existed exploring curiosity in a technology-rich learning environment. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine whether students demonstrate curiosity in a sixth grade mathematics classroom with technology-integrated learning and if so, how and why. Technology-rich work was designed for students and included in the study to examine students’ demonstrations of curiosity while learning mathematical procedural knowledge, conceptual knowledge and problem solving knowledge. A case study methodology was used with 13 students purposefully selected from a Title I sixth grade class to participate. Data were collected from interviews using a semi-structured interview protocol and triangulated with observations and students’ reflective writings. Interviews were transcribed and coded. A total of 60 codes and four categories were identified. Three themes emerged: 1) digital play; 2) welcome and unwelcome scaffolds; and 3) action is power; power follows ideas. These themes identified ways in which students demonstrated curiosity in the sixth grade mathematics classroom and thus can inform educators.

Terror management theory suggests that the fear of death is ubiquitous. Only recently has death been examined as something potentially interesting from this framework, and specifically, to individuals high in trait openness (Boyd, Morris, & Goldenberg, 2017). This research, however, did not clearly delineate if participants were actually becoming interested in death. My studies address this ambiguity by examining what high openness individuals are becoming interested in and if the way death is construed impacts interest. Study 1 tested if in addition to becoming more generally interested, high openness individuals become interested in death per se following mortality salience (relative to a control), as Boyd et al. (2017) speculated. Analyses revealed that individuals high in experiential openness only became more interested in death if the death interest measure came after a scale of general interest (i.e., after a longer delay). In contrast to predictions, individuals high in general openness did not exhibit these effects. In Study 2, I hypothesized that high openness individuals would become more interested in art and philosophy following mortality salience (relative to a control) because of the relevance of these domains to openness. This hypothesis was not supported. In Study 3, I tested if highlighting death’s experiential or intellectual qualities would increase general interest and subsequently decrease death anxiety, depending on if one’s unique brand of openness valued such qualities. Only when death was construed of in an experiential manner (relative to a control) did individuals high in experiential openness become more generally interested, and unexpectedly, more anxious about death. Together these studies demonstrate that the aspect of openness related to valuing experience can actually increase one’s interest in death, and when death is construed in a way that corresponds with this type of openness, general interest also increases.

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Bibliography: pages 80-84. / In this investigation an ex-post facto research method was used to gather the curiosity scores and academic science achievement results of approximately 200 pupils in one black and two predominantly white schools in Cape Town suburbs. Curiosity scores were also obtained for 150 pupils from five other high schools who submitted projects for the annual Young Scientists Exhibition (EXPO) in June 1988. The data was collected by means of two instruments devised and validated by Maw & Maw (1964) and by author-designed tests of curiosity, after refinement using a pilot study. The scores were analysed by means of t-tests, X2- (chi-square) tests and correlations. It was found that: 1) No significant differences existed samples of black and white junior between the high school science pupils on measures of curiosity. 2) No overall significant difference was found between high achieving and low achieving science pupils on the curiosity tests given to both the standard 6 and standard 7 pupils in the three chosen schools. 3) A highly significant difference on measures of curiosity was found between the group of Expo pupils (voluntary young scientists), and the ordinary groups of science pupils from the three different schools. 4) Significant correlations were found between the science pupils' inherent curiosity levels and their achievement in general science in several instances.

The current study examined the impact of experiencing either a guided play or direct instruction learning environment on causal learning, curiosity, and divergent thinking. Forty-three children (age 4- to 6-years) participated in an online experiment in which they completed a causal learning task in either guided play or direct instruction condition. Children also completed measures of curiosity and divergent thinking and a second causal learning free exploration task after which they were tested on their causal learning. It was predicted that children in the guided play condition would perform better than children in the direct instruction condition on a test of causal learning because guided play provides a balance of child agency and adult guidance that is optimal for supporting learning. Contrary to the hypothesis, children in the direct instruction condition performed better on the test of causal learning. This finding is likely due to the cognitive demands placed on children in the guided play condition. These demands were likely the result of completing the task in an online environment, and the current study has implications for learning and conducting research online. Based on prior research, it was also predicted that children in the guided play condition would outperform children in the direct instruction condition on measures of curiosity and divergent thinking, and that curiosity would also predict children’s causal learning. There were no effects of condition on either curiosity or divergent thinking, but curiosity did predict children’s scores on the test of causal learning. This finding suggests that curiosity is a powerful driver of children’s learning and deserves further investigation. / Psychology

this work seeks specificity in an effort to design conditions that inspire architectural experiences of vastness. it does so by manifesting artifacts that engage curiosities of scale, anticipations of a rigorously nested architecture. ultimately, it proposes a trail, a mound, and a structure holding site-cast concrete rooms in blacksburg, virginia. / Master of Architecture

This study investigated whether in a modular technology education (MTE) classroom, gender groupings and learning styles predicted degree of curiosity. Based on the assumption that gender grouping and learning style are factors that influence the degree of curiosity of both individuals and teams, it was hypothesized that a student's learning style (i.e., Accommodating, Converging, Diverging, and Assimilating) and gender grouping (girl/girl, boy/boy, and girl/boy) at the module would be essential elements to consider when measuring the degree of curiosity of learners in MTE classrooms. During a meeting with the deputy superintendent and the technology education supervisor in a mid-sized, suburban public school district in Virginia, three MTE teachers from different schools were identified to participate in this study in the spring of 2004. The sample for this study consisted of middle school students (n = 116; 22 girls and 94 boys, grades 6-8) enrolled in technology education classes using Synergistic SystemsTM modules. Students completed three consecutive MTE activities. This study was conducted in the technology education classroom in three different middle schools. Schools were classified as School A, B or C. Students selected technology education as an elective subject. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), Version 3 was used to identify students' preferred learning style. The My Point of View (MyPOV) instrument adapted by Brusic and based on Leherissey's instrument, the State Epistemic Curiosity Scale (SECS), was used to measure individual degree of curiosity. The MyPOV instrument was administered three times; once after each module. Data was analyzed using a multiple linear regression analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed that boys (81%; n = 94) continue to outnumber girls (19%; n = 22) in technology education classrooms. Participants (n = 101) preferred the following learning styles as identified by the LSI: Accommodating (35%), learning from "hands-on" experience, followed by Diverging (25%), preferring to brainstorm ideas, Assimilating (24%), interested in abstract ideas and concepts, and Converging (17%), rather deal with technical tasks and problems. Mean curiosity scores for students were analyzed by school. Results revealed scores from School B were lower than students at Schools A and C as measured by the MyPOV instrument. Mean curiosity scores for students were also analyzed by gender, learning style, and gender grouping. Statistics revealed that scores for girls were higher than boys. An independent-samples t-test was done to evaluate the difference between the means of the genders. According to the analyses, the tests were not significant, t(108) = .932, p = .353 (Score 1), t(110) = 1.282, p = .202 (Score 2), and t(104) = 1.564, p = .121 (Score 3). Overall scores for girl/girl groupings were higher than girl/boy and boy/boy groupings, and scores for girl/boy groupings were higher than boy/boy groupings. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate whether the gender grouping means differed significantly from each other. According to the analyses, the F-tests revealed no significant differences in gender groupings, F(2, 97) = 1.65, p = .198 (Score 1), F(2, 95) = .50, p = .608 (Score 2), and F(2, 92) = 1.84, p = .165 (Score 3). Additionally, curiosity scores for students by learning styles showed that participants that preferred to deal with technical tasks and problems or Converging had the highest scores followed by Assimilating, Accommodating and Diverging. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to test if there was a significant relationship between the pairing of students of different gender groupings and different learning styles in the prediction of degree of curiosity. The F-tests revealed that the linear combination of gender groupings and learning styles for the three schools were not significantly related to degree of curiosity, R2 = .09, adjusted R2 = .04, F(5, 86) = 1.65, p = .155 (Score 1), R2 = .09, adjusted R2 = .04, F(4, 79) = 1.84 , p = .130 (Score 2), and R2 = .02, adjusted R2 = -.03, F(4, 73) = .382, p = .821 (Score 3). The t-tests analyses indicated that the Converging learning style, t(79) = 2.06, p =.043, in Score 2 was the only significant predictor variable with this sample. Although it seems that learning style and gender grouping might predict degree of curiosity in MTE laboratories, this assumption was not supported by this study. / Ph. D.

Denna rapport har använt sig av Unity-verktyget ML-Agents till att bygga upp en spelmiljö där agenter tränats med hjälp av neurala nätverk och reinforcement learning. Miljön har utmanat agenterna med labyrintliknande banor där vissa även har enkla pusselmekaniker. Agenterna har sedan använts för att göra en undersökning om hur belöningssystemet Curiosity påverkar agentens förmåga att efter träning klara av för dem nya banor. Denna undersökning gjordes genom att träna 5 olika agenter under samma förhållanden där enbart styrkan på Curiosity-incitamentet skiljde dem åt. De olika Curiosity-styrkor som undersöktes var styrkorna: 0, 0.002, 0.033, 0.067 och 0.1. Dessa agenter utvärderades genom att spela igenom 8 utvärderingsbanor med varierande svårighetsgrad för att se vilken av agenterna som klarade av flest banor. Varje bana spelades igenom 50 gånger och antalet avklarade försök och tiden det tog för agenten att klara av varje bana antecknades. Resultatet visade att samtliga agenter som tränats med Curiosity presterade betydligt bättre än agenten som tränats utan Curiosity. Antalet avklarade försök på utvärderingsbanorna ökade med 121%-231% då agenter tränades med Curiosity. Agenterna som tränats med Curiosity visade viss variation i hur bra de klarade av spelets banor. Den agent som presterade bäst var den med Curiosity-styrkan 0.002. Agenter som tränats med Curiosity visade sig mer benägna att undersöka banorna, vilket gjorde att de inte körde fast lika ofta som agenten som tränats utan Curiosity. Agenterna med Curiosity-styrkorna 0.033, 0.067 och 0.1 anses dock ha ett för högt värde på sin Curiosity-styrka då de uppvisat ett sämre resultat, samt ett rörelsemönster som anses icke-optimalt då de jämförs med agenten med Curiosity-styrkan 0.002. Överlag visade samtliga agenter en hög standardavvikelse, vilket innebär att det förekom hög varians försöken emellan.

This thesis intends to answers these questions: What did “curiosity” mean in the nineteenth century, and how do Charlotte Brontë's four major works represent such curiosity? How were women looked at, formulated, and situated under the nineteenth-century curious gaze? In order to answer these questions, this thesis examines Brontë's works by juxtaposing them with nineteenth-century exhibitions. Four chapters are thus dedicated to this study: in each a type of exhibition is contemplated, and in each the definition of “curiosity” is defined through the discussions of boundary-breaking. The first chapter discusses the metaphors of “cabinets of curiosities” throughout Brontë's texts. The most intimate and enclosed spaces occupied by women and / or their objects—attics, desks, drawers, lockets—are searched in order to reveal the secret relationship between Brontë's heroines and the objects they have hidden away, especially the souvenirs. From cabinets of curiosities the thesis moves to another space in which the mechanism of curiosity and display takes place—the garden. The second chapter thus discusses the supposed antithesis between the innocent and the experienced, between the Power of Nature and the Power of Man, by reading the garden imagery in Brontë's works along with nineteenth-century pleasure gardens and the Wardian case. The imagery of Eve is also taken into consideration to discuss the concept of innocence. In the third chapter, metaphors of waxworks and the Pygmalion myth are applied to discuss the image of women's bodies in Brontë's texts, and the boundary between the living body and the non-living statue is seen as blurred. In the final chapter, dolls' houses and their metaphors in Brontë's works are examined in order to explicate Brontë's concept of “home,” and the dolls' house thus poses a question on the relationships between the interior and the exterior, the gigantic and the miniature, and the domestic and the public spaces.