how does curiosity change over time and in response to education?
Curiosity has a positive impact on motivation and learning, yet research shows that, despite being curious about academic content outside of school, students are not curious in school. In fact, little research has studied what children's curiosity looks like in school settings, and we know little about its development or how it is influenced by the environment.
To learn more, we are conducting research funded by the Templeton Foundation. This project, titled Curiosity and Classrooms: An Exploration of Curiosity and the Development of Intellectual Virtues in Schools, addresses two overarching questions:
To learn more, we are conducting research funded by the Templeton Foundation. This project, titled Curiosity and Classrooms: An Exploration of Curiosity and the Development of Intellectual Virtues in Schools, addresses two overarching questions:
- What does curiosity look like in children, and how does it support the development of character more generally?
- How is curiosity influenced by educational settings, and can it be promoted through specific teaching practices?

Project Components:
Full list of related presentations and papers:
- Measurement design
- See our databrary pages for updated versions of our measures in development and related published measures!
- Publications:
- Associations across virtues
- View our slide deck from recent presentations:
- See our paper on curiosity and creativity, currently under review
- Developmental trajectories
Full list of related presentations and papers: