The Effect Of Epistemic Curiosity On High School Students’ Creative Scientific Problem Finding Ability

In the modern society,the national development has higher and higher requirements for innovation.How to cultivate students’ creativity has become an important proposition for educators.Whether to ask questions creatively is the beginning of personal innovation.Therefore,cultivating individual problem finding ability is a effective way to cultivate their creativity.Middle school students are in a period of accelerated cognitive development.It is extremely important to explore the influencing factors of high school students’ creative scientific problem finding ability(CSPFA).The research gradually discusses he impact of epistemic curiosity(EC)on CSPFA through three studies.Study 1,in order to explore the influence of the level of trait-EC on CSPFA,adopt 2(level of trait epistemic curiosity: high and low)× 2(task type: open and closed)mixed experimental design.The results show that:(1)the main effect of task type is significant: the subjects’ fluency quality mark and total mark on the closed-ended test are surpass those on the open-ended test;The originality mark of open-ended test was substantially higher than that of closed-end test;(2)the main effect of trait-EC level is significant: in different task types,the marks of fluency,flexibility quality and total mark of high trait-EC group are substantially higher than low trait-EC group.Study 2,in order to explore the effect of EC state on CSPFA,two experiments were carried out from inducing the state-EC to manipulating the types of EC.In experiment 2a,in order to explore the influence of EC on CSPFA,adopt 2(EC: curiosity group and control group)× 2(task type: open and closed)design.The results show that:(1)the fluency mark and total mark of subjects in the closed-ended test are surpass those in the open-ended test;The originality mark of the subjects in the open-ended test was surpass that in the closed-ended test;(2)the main effect of EC is significant: under different task types,the marks of fluency quality,flexibility quality and total mark of the curious group are substantially higher than the control group.In experiment 2b,in order to explore the effect of the types of EC on CSPFA,adopt 3(types of EC: interest type(I-EC),deprivation type(D-EC)and control group)× 2(test type:open and closed)mixed experimental design.The results show that:(1)the main effect of task type is significant: the subjects’ marks of fluency and flexibility in the closed-ended test are substantially higher than those in the open-ended test;the mark of the closed-ended test was substantially higher than that of the open-ended test;(2)the main effect of EC type is significant: the flexibility mark of interest group is substantially higher than that of deprivation group and control group,and the flexibility mark of interest group is substantially higher than that of control group;the total marks of subjects in the I-EC group were substantially higher than those in the D-EC group and the control group;(3)test type and EC type have interaction: the fluency mark of interest group is substantially higher than that of deprivation group and control group;the fluency mark of the interest group was substantially higher than that of the control group.Study 3: in order to explore the intermediary role of cognitive flexibility between EC and CSPFA,measurement and experimental methods were used to collect data.Study 3a explored the mediating role of cognitive flexibility between trait-EC and CSPFA.Using the measurement method,165 senior high school students were measured by curiosity and inquiry scale-II,cognitive flexibility scale and creative science question finding ability test.The results show that:(1)EC is positively correlated with cognitive flexibility and CSPFA;(2)cognitive flexibility has a substantially positive correlation with the quality marks of CSPFA;(3)cognitive flexibility plays a partial mediating role in the influence of EC on the different types of CSPFA.Study 3b: in order to explores the mediating role of cognitive flexibility between state-EC and CSPFA.The experimental method is used to induce students’ EC by using puzzle paradigm,and the cognitive flexibility of subjects is measured by connecting task.The results show that:(1)the cognitive switching cost of curiosity group is substantially lower than that of control group;(2)cognitive flexibility plays a partial intermediary role between state-EC and open-ended test.Conclusion:(1)high trait-EC individuals have better CSPFA;(2)the promoting effect of EC on individual CSPFA is limited by the types of curiosity: I-EC can promote students’ CSPFA,but D-EC has no significant promoting effect;(3)cognitive flexibility plays an intermediary role in the process of EC affecting CSPFA.