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Full hearts, eager minds : a phenomenological study of confusion, curiosity, and epistemic cognition
Author
Ng, Andy Ding Xuan
Supervisor
Tan, Seng Chee
Teo, Chew Lee
Abstract
Every day, groups and institutions all over the world advance the boundaries of what we consider as knowledge. In this relentless, collective push into the unknown, do we know how individuals experience engagement with knowledge alongside others? This study investigates a microcosm of this experience by illuminating the lived experiences of students engaging in Knowledge Building (KB), an approach that empowers them to create new knowledge for themselves, akin to how professionals challenge the status quo in their fields. To achieve this aim, this study adopts a phenomenological approach to unveiling how emotions and cognition are experienced when students collaborate to advance their knowledge. It focusses on explicating the nature of the emotions that are in close proximity to the knowledge experience, confusion and curiosity, and their relationship with cognitive processes about knowledge. Phenomenologically analyzing the themes from students’ interviews which were corroborated with transcripts from a KB lesson, this study discovered dual realities of how confusion and curiosity were experienced. Experiences of confusion were found to differ in complexity depending on one’s proximity to the source of confusion. Students who were closer to the source experienced a blend of confusion and anxiety as compared to those at the periphery who experienced just confusion. For curiosity, this study found that the object foci differed: either on others’ ideas or on the defence of one’s own. These varying realities impacted how students experienced cognition when engaging collaboratively with knowledge, resulting in them either being productive contributors to the collaboration, or not. Based on its empirical findings, this study improves on existing theoretical frameworks by contributing a new organizational model that better reflects the nature of emotions like confusion and curiosity. To test the said theoretical model, this study offers methodological approaches for future research into the shared experiences of our knowledge society.
Date Issued
2022
Call Number
LB1032 Ng
Date Submitted
2022