Elaborative interrogation and children's learning of unfamiliar facts

Abstract

AbstractIn two experiments, Canadian children in grades 6 and 7 processed facts about Canada and the U. S. under instructions to: (a) explain why the facts were true (elaborative interrogation); (b) read the facts with elaborations provided (provided elaborations); or (c) read the facts to remember (reading control). In Experiment 1, recall of Canadian facts was higher in the elaborative‐interrogation condition than in the elaboration‐provided condition. In Experiment 2 (Canadian and US facts), there were no significant differences in recall. Although only one comparison reached statistical significance, recall was descriptively greatest in the elaborative‐interrogation condition in both experiments with both Canadian and US facts. Across both experiments the average effect size of elaborative interrogation was 0.40 SD compared to the reading‐control and 0.56 SD compared to the elaboration‐provided condition. The quality of children's explanation in the elaborative‐interrogation condition was related to probability of recall. Inclusion of prior knowledge in the children's explanations was a better predictor of recall than was the adequacy of explanations.