Seeking Common Ground: Surveying the Theoretical and Empirical Landscapes for Curiosity and Interest

Abstract

My purpose in this commentary was to seek out any common ground that might be found for theory and research on curiosity and interest as detailed by the contributors to this special issue. Despite the numerous differences that these authors demarcated, several areas of concurrence were readily identified. Those seven areas are, thus, specified and summarized. This commentary then concludes with the forwarding of three questions intended to provoke curiosity or fuel the interest of those engaged in research on these two complex and challenging constructs and their various manifestations. In framing my commentary to this thought-provoking special issue, Curiosity and Interest: Conceptual Distinctions, Relations, and Implications for Educational Practice, I set out to map the common ground that those investigating curiosity or interest occupied. This is what Wilson (1998) described as a search for consilience or unity of knowledge. Thus, with the mapping of common ground as my goal, I looked for points of agreement in the conceptions, components, procedures, antecedents, and consequences of curiosity and interest as described by the contributing authors. This exploration, indeed, proved fruitful. In what follows, I summarize the emergent principles that form this common ground for curiosity and interest. Then, in keeping with my role as commentator, I conclude with several provocations for contributing authors and others invested in the study of curiosity or interest to weigh. In so doing, I hope to engender their curiosity and fuel their interest.