Research on Science Curiosity in Learning Environments

—Through Developing and Analyzing an Attitudinal Scale—

Abstract

This research developed a Japanese version of the Science Curiosity in Learning Environments (SCILE) attitudinal scale. The participants were 989 students in elementary school, lower secondary school and upper secondary school. Through administering a questionnaire to the students and analyzing their answers, we clarified the following three points: 1) The exploratory factor analysis showed that science curiosity expounded three factors out of 17 items: to participate in scientific practices in the pursuit of scientific knowledge (Science practices: SC), to test out experiences that are unfamiliar or uncertain (Embracing: E) and to seek out information and new experiences (Stretching: Str). 2) The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model created on the posit that their factors have correlations and the response data confirmed that the science curiosity expounded three factors that correlate with each other. 3) The hierarchical cluster analysis showed that Japanese students were divided into three groups, 58% of the students (“Group 1: curiosity middle group”) whose curiosity is a bit higher than average, 8% for high curiosity students (“Group 2: curiosity high group”), and 34% for low curiosity students (“Group 3: curiosity low group”).