A Study on Children’s Academic Achievement and their Curiosity

Curiosity is about being aware and open, checking things out, experimenting, and interacting with in one's surroundings. It is a tendency to wonder, to inquire, to investigate and to seek information about anything that is new or unknown. It is an essential part of human consciousness as it contributes to learning, problem solving and creative thinking. In other words a satisfied curiosity can be called as an emotionally healthy curiosity. There is a connection in the brain between curiosity, memory and learning. Thus, it can also be said that emotionally healthy child will have better retention and learning habits. When the child enters the school (s)he/she becomes more eager to learn, this is the age of socializing. At this age the child starts making friends and trusting people outside his/her family. It is very important to nurture their curiosity at this age (at primary school) because this is where the base is formed. For the present study 144 children studying in different private schools in Namchi town were selected from the total population of 223. To assess children's curiosity, Children's Curiosity Scale (English version) developed by Dr. Rajiv Kumar (2009) was used and for academic achievement of the students, the annual result of the previous class was analysed. No significant correlation was found between children's academic achievement and their curiosity.