“Curious Is as Curious Does”: Fostering Question-Asking in a Sino-Foreign Engineering School—A Case Study

Tzipora Rakedzon () and Constance Van Horne
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Tzipora Rakedzon: Department of Humanities and Arts, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
Constance Van Horne: Department of Humanities and Arts, Guangdong Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou 515063, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Curiosity and question-asking are at the heart of science and engineering education. However, question-asking can be difficult for students due to several factors, including fear, language barriers, and cultural norms. This is especially true among Chinese students, who represent a growing number of upcoming engineers. To address this, in this case study from a university teaching reform project, we investigate the perceptions of curiosity and question-asking among Chinese science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate students following a newly developed semester-long project in a second-year communications course at a recently established Sino-foreign engineering school in China. In this period, students engaged in project-based learning centered around Nobel Prize-winning research, allowing them to explore the driving questions behind groundbreaking discoveries. Through a combination of qualitative analyses from students’ personal reflections as well as from a post-survey, the study examines students’ perceptions of curiosity and question-asking, the influence of gender on these skills, and the role of failure and perseverance in scientific inquiry. Findings indicate that the project increased students’ curiosity and improved their confidence in asking questions while providing insights into gender differences. Moreover, students were inspired by the curiosity of the Nobel Laureates, by the “simplicity” of the questions asked, and by the great importance of tenacity, passion, and learning from mistakes.

Keywords: China; STEM higher education; question-asking; communication; curiosity; creativity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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