An Investigation on the Effect of Student Curiosity on the Retention of Subject Matter
Abstract
Curiosity is a means for students to fill in gaps in their knowledge. If their curiosity gets satisfied they are able to comfortably further their education. If not, the gaps remain unfilled and the students are left with a shallow knowledge base. They resort to cramming notes and information given by their teachers which they don’t truly understand and which is later ignored and forgotten. The continuous assessment test scores of 65 undergraduate students from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa’s Faculty of Education were analyzed in accordance with the student’s level of curiosity. A trend showing that a student’s level of curiosity affects his/her retention of subject matter with regard to their test scores was observed. The students were questioned on what affects their level of curiosity in their respective subjects and factors such as quality of their lecturer’s delivery of the subject content, level of understanding what the lecturer’s teach and the amount of theory, influenced their curiosity in their subjects. The lecturers teaching the students were interviewed on how to increase their students’ level of curiosity and they suggested on interactive learning, using audio and visual aids, use of technology and integration of various teaching methods. These research findings call for a change in education systems whereby educators encourage and trigger the curiosity of their students in their classes, in order to smoothen their students’ transition from the known to the unknown.
