Discover the World of Exploration

Exploration: Investigating the Unfamiliar

• Exploration involves the process of exploring and has an expectation of discovery. It is a common activity for organisms capable of directed locomotion and learning.
• Organised exploration is largely a human activity, while exploratory activity is common to most organisms. Social insects foraging behaviour is an example of exploratory behaviour.
• Exploration is defined by novelty, unfamiliarity, or the expectation of discovery. A survey implies directed examination but not necessarily discovery of any previously unknown or unexpected information.
• Exploration can be intrinsic, involving activity that is not directed towards a specific goal, or extrinsic, which is directed towards a specific goal.
• Curiosity is a quality related to inquisitive thinking and activities such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans and other animals.
• Travelling in search of discovery is known as geographical exploration. Two major eras of geographical exploration occurred in human history, with the second period of exploration seeing increased cross-cultural exchange through trade and exploration.
• Underwater exploration is the exploration of any underwater environment, either by direct observation by the explorer or by remote observation and measurement under the direction of the investigators.
• Systematic investigation is done in an orderly and organised manner, generally following a plan, while prospecting for minerals is an example of systematic investigation and inspective exploration.
• Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a given phenomenon. A diagnostic examination explores the available evidence to try to identify likely causes for observed effects.
• Exploration as the pursuit of first-hand experience and knowledge is often an example of diversive and intrinsic exploration, though it may also be for purposes of learning or verifying the information provided by others, which is an extrinsic motivation.
• Wandering about in the hope or expectation of serendipitous discovery may also be considered a form of diversive exploration.
• Exploratory behaviour has been recognized in a wide range of free-moving animals from invertebrates to primates, and various forms of exploratory behaviour in animals have been analysed and categorized since 1960.