Question-asking practice changes children's response to a pedagogical exploration cue: the listening group opened more cued envelopes in the first minute of play¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Children in the listening condition opened more of the cued blue envelopes in the first minute of exploration than children in the question-asking condition. → Park 2025

Evidence¶

Park 2025¶

Park, A.T., Colantonio, J., Delgado Reyes, L., Sharp, S.D.S., Koepp, A.E., Bonawitz, E., & Mackey, A.P. (2025). Question asking practice fosters aspects of curiosity in science content in young children. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00384-5

q3 · i? · causal · r3

Apothecary Task exploration measure after training: question-asking children opened fewer cued envelopes in the first minute (QA Mdn = 0 vs L Mdn = 2), marginally surviving FDR correction (pFDR = .05). Other exploration measures showed ceiling effects or no differences.

"Controlling for race and age, the listening group opened more cued envelopes than the question asking group (Figure 2C, QA: Mdn = 0, L: Mdn = 2, b = -1, 95% CI [-1.88,-.12], t = 2.27, p = .02, pFDR = .05)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Preschoolers given a pedagogical demonstration of a toy function play for less time than children in interrupted, naive, or baseline conditions — related
• Preschoolers constrain exploration after direct instruction and after overhearing instruction to another child, but not after overhearing instruction to an adult or a non-pedagogical intentional action — related
• No significant main effect of question-asking practice on science learning (p = .12 after FDR correction) — related
• Encouraging 5-7-year-olds to ask questions during science lessons increases how much they value new science information relative to a careful-listening control — related