A Systematic Review of Curiosity and Wonder in Natural Science and Early Childhood Education Research

The study investigates research literature that focuses on children’s curiosity and wonder in relation to science. The purpose is to find out more about how children’s curiosity and wonder are expressed in the research. The research questions are: 1) How are the concepts of curiosity and wonder understood and included in articles focusing on children and science in early childhood? 2) Which target group, children’s age, and methodological approach were prominent in the research literature?

The main results show that the term curiosity was used more often than the term wonder. Few studies deepened the understanding of curiosity and wonder beyond the fact that it was considered to be something that naturally occurs in children. In addition, curiosity and wonder were often highlighted as a means for learning science or considered to be stimulated by science. At the same time, few studies discussed how children’s curiosity and wonder can be observed and promoted. 20 of the articles were about children, while the remaining articles focused on teachers, parents or students. Most studies focused on children aged three to nine years, while a few included older and younger children. Furthermore, it appears that qualitative design was the most widely used research method, while a few of the studies were quantitative, theoretical or used a mixed-methods approach.

The researchers conducted a systematic literature review by collecting, organising and analysing research published between 2010 and 2020. The literature search includes peer-reviewed articles about children aged 0-8 years and containing the terms ‘curiosity’ and/or ‘wonder’ and ‘science’. The researchers conducted searches in three different databases. A total of 33 articles were included in the study for further analyses.

Bjerknes, A. L., Wilhelmsen, T., & Foyn-Bruun, E. (2023). A Systematic Review of Curiosity and Wonder in Natural Science and Early Childhood Education Research. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 38(1), 50–65.

Online year: 2023

Issue year: 2024

Review year: 2023