Medical Students' Curiosity, Exploration and Engagement Levels in Online Learning Environments during COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the educational practices throughout the world and tremendously effected the way we teach and learn. This study aims to examine the levels of medical students' curiosity and exploration, classroom engagement and commitment to online learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to analyze the relationship between these variables. This study employs a correlational research approach method. Data were collected online from 618 students who study at the faculty of medicine using "Trait Curiosity and Exploration Inventory", "Student Engagement Scale in Distance Education" and "Classroom Engagement for University Students" and analyzed through descriptive statistics. The results revealed that the curiosity and exploration levels of the students are higher than their perception of engagement in the face-to-face classes whereas it is lower in student engagement in online learning environment. Perception level of curiosity and exploration estimates cognitive level activities more than behavioral and affective level activities.