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Effects of explanation on children's question asking
Azzurra Ruggeri1, Fei Xu2, Tania Lombrozo3
1MPRG iSearch, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany; School of Education, Technical University Munich, Germany.
Cognition
|July 5, 2019
Summary
Explaining observations helps older children (ages 6-7) ask more effective questions by focusing on general features, improving their information-seeking skills for self-directed learning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Child Psychology
- Learning Sciences
Background:
- Effective information seeking through questioning is vital for self-directed learning.
- Question asking skills develop significantly during the preschool years and beyond.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if explaining observations enhances children's ability to ask more informative questions.
- To investigate if explanation promotes identifying multi-object features, leading to better questions.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments involved 168 children aged 4-7 years.
- Children were prompted to explain observations or perform a control task before a 20-questions game.
- The study analyzed the number and type of questions asked.
Main Results:
- Explaining observations reduced the number of questions needed to solve the game, but only for older children (6-7 years).
- Explanation prompts shifted question-asking away from single-object inquiries towards more generalizable ones.
- This suggests explanation fosters identifying features applicable to multiple items.
Conclusions:
- Prompting children to explain observations can improve their question-asking efficiency and informativeness.
- Explanation plays a key role in developing children's learning and information-seeking strategies.
- Findings highlight the developmental trajectory of question-asking and the impact of explanation on cognitive development.