The Relationship Between the Affective and Cognitive Aspects of Scientific Curiosity and Students’ Conceptual Knowledge

Abstract

In the 21st-century educational era, mastery of scientific concepts has become a primary requirement in science education. This quantitative study, employing an ex-post facto correlational design, aims to analyze the relationship between the affective and cognitive aspects of scientific curiosity and students’ conceptual knowledge. Data were collected through questionnaires and tests administered to 75 seventh-grade students at SMPN 2 Ponorogo, selected using simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment and multiple correlation tests. The results indicate a significant and very strong positive relationship between both the affective aspect (r = 0.988) and the cognitive aspect (r = 0.973) with conceptual knowledge, each contributing partially. Simultaneously, both aspects have a very strong relationship with students' conceptual knowledge (R² = 0.978), proving that the independent variables can explain 97.8% of the variation in the dependent variable. In conclusion, both the affective and cognitive dimensions of scientific curiosity are critical predictors of students' conceptual understanding. These findings imply that science educators should design instructional strategies that synergistically stimulate students' emotional interest and intellectual questioning from the beginning of the learning process to effectively enhance their conceptual knowledge.