Encouraging passion: the discovery of what curiosity can do for children???s exploration and knowledge

Past studies have suggested that curiosity can be a significant motivator for children???s learning and their attainment of knowledge (Chak, 2007). Because teachers play a significant role in organizing environments for children, this thesis project explores educators??? views of children???s curiosity and aims to demonstrate the importance the trait of curiosity can have on children???s learning. The current study consisted of two, 2-hour workshops for early childhood educators with two different audiences. In Study 1, 20 first-semester Early Childhood Education graduate students were provided with the workshop on curiosity in young children while in Study 2, 16 community college students participated. Results indicated that the majority of participants (41% of Study 1- Graduate Students, and 30% of Study 2- Community College students) discovered the importance of curiosity and the ways to promote it with young children in the classroom