Doctoral dissertation examines what fosters curiosity in learning
Previous research has documented a decline in curiosity during adolescence. In his doctoral thesis Promoting and Sustaining Adolescents' Curiosity in Learning : Needs, Sources, and Contexts Haoyan Huang (EDUCA-Doc, University of Helsinki) focuses on three basic psychological needs that are essential to curiosity: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
By surveying how teachers, parents, and classmates support these needs to jointly foster adolescents’ curiosity in the Finland, USA, and China, it implies effective strategies for curiosity promotion in school and family. Huang also investigated how curiosity influence later achievement in mathematics and science in the conditions of high and low levels of persistence, to help clarify how curiosity is most likely to translate into sustained academic benefits.
Belonging to a group increases curiosity
The most important findings were that adolescents tended to be more curious when they felt that they belonged at school and had supportive relationships with important people (parents, teachers, and classmates) around them. Lower levels of relatedness support were not only associated with lower curiosity, but also weakened the positive associations between other forms of support and curiosity.
Another result was that support for curiosity did not operate as a single, universal formula. Its associations with curiosity varied across the forms of support, support providers, and broader social and cultural environments.
"Specifically, relatedness support was more unanimous across studies (form), and teachers’ competence support was more effective than parents and classmates (providers)", Huang explains.
Moreover, parents’ autonomy support, teachers’ competence support, and sense of school belongingness were less crucial for Finnish and American adolescents’ curiosity, compared with Chinese adolescents; In contrast, parents’ and teacher’s relatedness support played more critical role in Finland and USA (environment).
Curiosity can yield better academic achievement only with high level of persistence
The third important finding was that curiosity alone did not consistently lead to better academic achievement; instead, its role is largely dependent on the level of persistence.
"Only with high level of persistence, curiosity can yield better academic achievement; Otherwise, its role may become negative", Huang says.
This dependency was especially prominent among the younger cohort (i.e., in grades 6–9).
Curiosity is needed in the age of AI
The research is timely as generative AI makes information and ready-made answers increasingly easy to access.
"In this environment, curiosity can help young people ask meaningful questions, evaluate the information they receive, and actively explore ideas instead of relying passively on immediate answers. These capacities may help address concerns that inappropriate or unreflective AI use could reduce cognitive effort and encourage superficial learning."
At the same time, previous research has documented a decline in curiosity during adolescence. This raises concerns about whether young people are adequately prepared for learning environments that increasingly require independent questioning, critical judgement, and self-directed exploration.
Huang's thesis identifies the forms and sources of support that are most closely associated with adolescents’ curiosity and offers practical guidance on how families and schools may support its development.
"Moreover, the findings also show that promoting curiosity is not sufficient on its own. Adolescents need persistence to remain focused, work through difficulties, and translate curiosity into sustained academic benefits."
Data from three countries
Finland is a central context in the thesis. The research includes a three-wave Finnish longitudinal sample of 3,520 adolescents in 5 and 7 grades, and an OECD sample (Survey on Social and Emotional Skills 2019) of 5,482 10- and 15-year-olds from Helsinki. The OECD sample included in total 19,161 10- and 15-year-olds from Helsinki, Houston, and Suzhou.
Moreover, a one-year longitudinal US dataset involved 4,199 students in grades 6–12 from 341 classes in 22 schools. Follow-up achievement information was available for 3,433 students.
The Finnish patterns were generally similar to those found in the United States, particularly regarding the importance of supportive relationships, but differed in several respects from the patterns found in China.
"The most relevant forms of support may differ between sociocultural contexts. In the Chinese sample, the findings particularly highlighted students’ sense of belonging at school, encouragement and constructive feedback from teachers, and opportunities to make meaningful choices at home. In the Finnish and US samples, supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and classmates all appeared important. Extracurricular projects, sports, or outdoor activities involving students, families, and educators may provide additional opportunities to strengthen these relationships", Huang says.
Practical implications for school and home
The study shows that adolescents need support that helps them feel connected to others, capable of learning, and able to make meaningful choices. Warm and supportive relationships are particularly important, and support from one group may not fully compensate for insufficient support from another.
"Teachers can respond to students’ questions and concerns with interest and care. They can also organise guided group work with shared goals and clear roles, helping students build supportive relationships with their classmates. Parents can create a warm and responsive home environment by having open conversations, listening to adolescents’ perspectives, and showing genuine interest in their daily experiences. And both teachers and parents can offer meaningful choices and encourage independent thinking while still providing clear guidance, timely feedback, and help with learning difficulties", Huang summarizes.
Finally, education should develop curiosity and persistence together.
"Teachers can design tasks that are challenging enough to encourage exploration but manageable enough for students to sustain their effort."
Haoyan Huang, M.A. will defend his doctoral dissertation entitled "Promoting and Sustaining Adolescents Curiosity in Learning - Needs, Sources, and Contexts" in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, on 18 September 2026 at 12:00 (Athena, Sali 107, Siltavuorenpenger 3A). Professor Martin Daumiller, University of Freiburg, will serve as the opponent, and Xin Tang as the custos. It is possible to follow the defence online.