Examining curiosity in early childhood: implications for early STEM learning and persistence
Embargo Date
2026-08-27
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
In this dissertation, I explore one potential mechanism for bridging early achievement gaps in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for non-white, female, and individuals from lower socioeconomic contexts: the construct of curiosity. Curiosity has implications for children’s motivation and information-seeking, which may be integral in early STEM. Thus, this dissertation subscribes to an existing theoretical framework of curiosity to explore both how it occurs naturalistically (Paper 1) and potentially relates to early learning (Paper 2) and persistence (Paper 3) in STEM. Paper 1 utilizes naturalistic language-level data of parent-child interactions to explore how curiosity occurs spontaneously in early childhood. Paper 2 aims to experimentally elicit curiosity during a shared book reading task with an experimenter to impact children’s science learning outcomes. Finally, Paper 3 explores another method of eliciting curiosity during a behavioral task to examine any relation with early persistence in STEM. I conclude with a discussion of the significance and implications of this work for researchers, caregivers, and educators.