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Abstract
Although curiosity is a characteristic often observed in young children, it has not received much academic interest in recent years. Among its many dimensions, the epistemic nature of curiosity, or the quest for knowledge, deserves attention. To explore the potential application of ‘epistemic curiosity’, it is important to understand how lay conceptions complement theoretical conceptualizations. As people who are significant in organizing children's environment, how teachers and parents view curiosity is essential to how they will respond to the manifestation of this characteristic in children. A questionnaire was developed to examine teachers' and parents' conception of children's curiosity and exploratory behavior and whether they value this characteristic. The participants of this study were preschool teachers and parents with a preschool‐age child. The findings indicated that the participants have a positive view toward curiosity and exploration and that teachers are more willing than parents to encourage this characteristic in young children. A factor analysis indicated that teachers' and parents' conceptualization of curiosity is multi‐dimensional, showing some similarities with theoretical conceptualization.
Notes
1. Perceptual curiosity is aroused by novel stimuli and subsequently reduced by continuous exposure to such stimuli. Epistemic curiosity is motivated by the quest for knowledge or information. Specific curiosity is aroused when a person desires a particular piece of information, and diverse curiosity is related to a person's search for stimuli for entertainment or for relief from boredom (Berlyne, Citation1960, Citation1978).
2. The in‐service training program was a three‐year part‐time associate degree program offered by a local university. Student teachers enrolled in this program were qualified early childhood education teachers with at least two years' working experience.
3. The overall mean of agreement is the proportion of agreement between raters. The overall mean of kappa is the proportion of agreement corrected for chance.