Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/research-and-practice-the-cognitive-science-and-neuroscience-of-young-childrens-curiosity/5025322/
Anyone who works with and cares for young children will agree: they are endlessly curious! There is no limit to a child’s engagement with the world via playful wonder, joyful noticing and enthusiastic inquiry. Indeed, children are born to learn—their minds and brains having evolved over tens of thousands of years to allow them to gain complex cognitive skills, such as native- and second-languages, musical instruments and divergent thinking. They do this seemingly effortlessly, and certainly more easily than adults. Curiosity provides children with opportunities for seeking, practicing and refining new abilities, making it the driving force behind the acquisition skills and knowledge. Understanding the cognitive science and neuroscience of curiosity is an important step toward maximizing children’s learning in the early childhood classroom.
Scientific Research Shows: Novelty Drives Curiosity
The seeds of curiosity lie in exploring. Right from birth, infants and young children choose to look at, listen to or play with things they have never experienced before. This novelty preference is a sign of robust development and health, and is an efficient way for immature cognitive systems to process information; it first helps babies survive by making sure that they pay attention to anything in our environment that can help or ...