The Science behind curiosity – Learn more about what makes us curious.

There is no single type of curiosity.  

Curiosity comes in different flavors.  “Specific/diversive curiosity” is a type of curiosity when you would like to know the answer to something fairly straightforward that can be answered by a simple internet search. 

“Epistemic curiosity” is a type of curiosity when you want to learn more for the satisfaction and joy of learning.  This is the type of curiosity when YOU try to learn more things for the sake of the fun of learning. 

YOU can enhance/build your curiosity by being trained to ask questions.

One of the most powerful types of questions you can ask as a science student is “How”.

You can improve your curiosity.  Start with something that you are interested in. Begin to ask questions about something that you like and enjoy about a topic.

Young children typically ask questions because they are interested in “cause and effect”.  This means that their perceptual curiosity decreases as they get older.

As you get older your epistemic curiosity does not decrease.  Your willingness to learn new things, to discover new things does not decrease as you get older.

Notes:

DNA to RNA to mRNA to tRNA

A question journal will help you to develop a strong scientific question about a topic that interests you in Unit 1, Genetics.

In order for your question to be at the appropriate level of difficulty for your grade you need:

• to ask questions about the information that you are learning about in class.
   to learn how to research your question to make it answerable using the scientific method.

Top questions in Science learn more…

Learn more about System 001

Animation of System 001

A new study published this month highlights how dirty air damages cognitive function in people.  Learn more…

The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance:

The significance of the Study

“Most of the population in developing countries live in places with unsafe air. Utilizing variations in transitory and cumulative air pollution exposures for the same individuals over time in China, we provide evidence that polluted air may impede cognitive ability as people become older, especially for less educated men. Cutting annual mean concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in China to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard (50 μg/m³) would move people from the median to the 63rd percentile (verbal test scores) and the 58th percentile (math test scores), respectively. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions.”

Schools in France have continued to enforce a total data ban in class for students younger than 15 years of age.  Older students have the option of using data, at the discretion of the instructor.  Learn more…

Question Journal:  Prompt #1

Texting under the table should be a thing of the past after French children returned to class Monday following a nationwide ban on mobile phones in schools.  

Is it a good idea to ban data use in class, why or why not?

How one person kicked their Cell phone use:

Question Journal:  Prompt #2

“There is something more terrible than a hell of suffering,” the French novelist Victor Hugo wrote in his book Les Misérables in 1862. “A hell of boredom.”

New research continues to point out that an important side effect of being bored is enhanced creativity.  Learn more…

How creative are you?  

What is creativity?

Who is the most creative scientist that you know about?

Who is the most creative person you know?

When you’re bored, you’re tapping into your unconscious brain, picking up long-lost memories and connecting ideas.

It is this ability to fully access our knowledge, memories, experiences, and imagination that helps lead us to those precious “lightbulb” moments when we least expect them, according to Amy Fries, author of Daydreams at Work: Wake Up Your Creative Powers.

The Parker Solar Probe will be going to the sun.  Part of this research protocol is to learn more about solar wind, why the corona of the Sun is much hotter than the surface of the Sun.

What are the implications of the privatization of space exploration?

Learn more about this debate by reading and learning using the following links:

Public Policy Initiative:   Penn State

Three Billionaires are racing to colonize space – who will win?

Bezos wants to build a colony on the moon. Musk is shooting for Mars. Who’s going to get there first? Will the tortoise beat the hare? Or will Branson pip them at the post?

Blue Origin – what is it? – why is it so secret?

USA Budget – 2019

Wines and Loses for NASA Space Exploration 2019

Questioning the role of micro-recycling in pollution management – Please complete the following activity and include in your question portfolio 

If we all stopped using plastic straws then plastic pollution would be a thing of the past.

1) Evaluate the above hypothesis.

2) Answer the following question.  

Is it possible that to end plastic pollution by not using straws?

3)  Add a comment to express your opinion –

For example, “Just say no! – Wait, this sounds familiar.
Does the straw math make sense?”

Read more about the production of plastic using petrochemical feedstocks:

A campaign to End Plastic pollution is the theme of the 2018 Earth Day Celebrations. 

Learn more about health problems posed by plastic pollution.