Understanding Children's Curiosity and Exploration through the Lenses of Lewin's Field Theory: On Developing an Appraisal Framework

Abstract

Curiosity as a motivational force is often linked with knowledge acquisition. Adults are important mediators to motivate children's curiosity and exploration, and their foremost task is to understand the child. This article proposes to use Kurt Lewin's field theory as a framework to appraise children's momentary state of curiosity and exploratory behavior. Taking a dynamic view of child-environment interaction, this framework is characterized by a micro level process analysis. Two levels of analysis: child-stimulus situation and child-stimulus-adult situation are discussed. Adult's sensitivity to the child's perspective is emphasized. The proposed framework argues that a parent can be a source of barrier in hindering a child's exploration or a facilitator to remove barriers.