A New Theoretical Framework for Curiosity for Learning in Social Contexts

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.