Scholarlink

<p>Curiosity is linked to uncertainty and is a powerful driver of human functioning, yet little is known about how it manifests collectively in naturalistic social settings across multiple timescales. To address this gap, we analyzed large-scale data where students autonomously discussed on Reddit (~55,000 users, ~570,000 posts/comments, 2019–2023). We theorize that different forms of situational uncertainty - the proximal, task-relevant uncertainty of seasonal educational phases such as exam periods and the distal, diffuse uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic - shape student question-posing, a manifestation of curious behaviors. Using time-series models, we found that the collective volume of question-posing (across months) increased sharply during educational phases across all discussion topics, whereas COVID-19-related uncertainty had minimal statistical effects. In contrast, changes during the uncertainty periods of micro-level conversational dynamics (across hours) of collective urgency and trajectory of question-posing were more topic-specific and limited. Together, these findings show that not all uncertainty operates equally: structured, domain-relevant uncertainty reliably elevates curious behaviors collectively, while conversational patterns remain stable. Overall, the study advances theoretical, descriptive, and methodological work on students’ curious behaviors in naturalistic social settings.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Curious behaviors in times of uncertainty: dynamics of student question-posing in online educational discussion

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月23日

查看全文
  • Farhan Ali,
  • Yehong Yang,
  • Jia-Hou Poh

摘要

Curiosity is linked to uncertainty and is a powerful driver of human functioning, yet little is known about how it manifests collectively in naturalistic social settings across multiple timescales. To address this gap, we analyzed large-scale data where students autonomously discussed on Reddit (~55,000 users, ~570,000 posts/comments, 2019–2023). We theorize that different forms of situational uncertainty - the proximal, task-relevant uncertainty of seasonal educational phases such as exam periods and the distal, diffuse uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic - shape student question-posing, a manifestation of curious behaviors. Using time-series models, we found that the collective volume of question-posing (across months) increased sharply during educational phases across all discussion topics, whereas COVID-19-related uncertainty had minimal statistical effects. In contrast, changes during the uncertainty periods of micro-level conversational dynamics (across hours) of collective urgency and trajectory of question-posing were more topic-specific and limited. Together, these findings show that not all uncertainty operates equally: structured, domain-relevant uncertainty reliably elevates curious behaviors collectively, while conversational patterns remain stable. Overall, the study advances theoretical, descriptive, and methodological work on students’ curious behaviors in naturalistic social settings.