Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the informativeness of 4- to 6-year-old (N = 125) children’s questions using a combined qualitative and quantitative approach. Children were presented with a hierarchical version of the 20-questions game, in which they were given an array of objects that could be organized into three category levels based on shared features. We then tested whether it is possible to scaffold children’s question-asking abilities without extensive training. In particular, we supported children’s categorization performance by providing the object-related features needed to ask effective constraint-seeking questions. We found that with both age and scaffolding children asked more effective questions, targeting higher category levels and therefore reaching the solution with fewer questions. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these results.
Highlights
As language develops, children add question asking to their expanding active-learning toolbox, which already includes many other types of self-directed exploratory actions, such as looking, pointing, crawling, approaching and avoiding people, grabbing and manipulating objects
Question asking is a powerful tool for improving the quality of social learning (Callanan and Oakes, 1992; Chouinard, 2007), as it allows young learners to be more precise about the information they want from social partners, select which informants to query, inquire about absent objects or events, address abstract concepts or emotions, and target specific attributes of the same object
Bonferroni-corrected pair comparisons confirmed that 4-year-olds asked a higher proportion of lower-level questions (M = 85%, SD = 22%) than 5- (M = 68%, SD = 29%, p = 0.011) and 6-year-olds (M = 61%, SD = 26%, p < 0.001), with no difference between 5- and 6-year-olds (p = 0.620)
Summary
Children add question asking to their expanding active-learning toolbox, which already includes many other types of self-directed exploratory actions, such as looking, pointing, crawling, approaching and avoiding people, grabbing and manipulating objects. Question asking is a powerful tool for improving the quality of social learning (Callanan and Oakes, 1992; Chouinard, 2007), as it allows young learners to be more precise about the information they want from social partners, select which informants to query, inquire about absent objects or events, address abstract concepts or emotions, and target specific attributes of the same object. Question asking allows children to make queries targeting different levels of abstraction (e.g., “Do you like apples?” versus “Do you like fruits?”). Leveraging hierarchical structure in the world allows the learner to rule out multiple hypotheses at each step of the search process, making question asking more effective.
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