The Questioning Child
Insights from Psychology and Education

Explores how question-asking develops, how it can be nurtured, and how it helps children learn.

Lucas Payne Butler (Edited by), Samuel Ronfard (Edited by), Kathleen H. Corriveau (Edited by)

9781108451697, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 November 2021

346 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.467 kg

'… The collaborative spirit of the book is demonstrated through an integrative approach, as the editors deftly point out connecting themes and responses to these questions across the contributed articles. Drawing from diverse research traditions in contemporary psychology, the volume foregrounds, among other aspects of learning and teaching, the differences between questions as posed by the teacher and by children. The collection concludes with a summary of areas expected to be fruitful for further psychological research.' T. R. Glander, Choice

Questioning others is one of the most powerful methods that children use to learn about the world. How does questioning develop? How is it socialized? And how can questioning be leveraged to support learning and education? In this volume, some of the world's leading experts are brought together to explore critical issues in the development of questioning. By collecting interdisciplinary and international perspectives from psychology and education, The Questioning Child presents research from a variety of distinct methodological and theoretical backgrounds. It synthesizes current knowledge on the role of question-asking in cognitive development and charts a path forward for researchers and educators to understand the pivotal function that questioning plays in child development and education.

1. Questions about questions: framing the key issues Lucas Payne Butler, Samuel Ronfard and Kathleen H. Corriveau
2. Questions in development Peter Carruthers
3. The point, the shrug, and the question of clarification Paul L. Harris
4. The quest for comprehension and learning: children's questions drive both Henry M. Wellman
5. Children's question-asking across cultural communities Maureen Callanan, Graciela Solis, Claudia Castañeda and Jennifer Jipson
6. The development of information-requesting gestures in infancy and their role in shaping learning outcomes Kelsey Lucca
7. Developmental changes in question asking Angela Jones, Nora Swaboda and Azzurra Ruggeri
8. Understanding developmental and individual differences in the process of inquiry during the preschool years Candice M. Mills and Kaitlin R. Sands
9. 'Why are there big squares and little squares?' How questions reveal children's understanding of a domain Dave Neale, Caroline Morano, Brian N. Verdine, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
10. Children's questions in social and cultural perspective Mary Gauvain and Robert L. Munroe
11. Mothers' use of questions and children's learning and language development Imac Maria Zambrana, Tone Kristine Hermansen and Meredith L. Rowe
12. Teaching and learning by questioning Deanna Kuhn, Anahid S. Modrek and William A. Sandoval
13. Asking 'why?' and 'what if?' The influence of questions on children's inferences Caren M. Walker and Angela Nyhout
14. What makes a good question? Towards an epistemic classification Jonathan Osborne and Emily Reigh
15. The questioning child: a path forward Samuel Ronfard, Lucas Payne Butler and Kathleen H. Corriveau.

Subject Areas: Educational psychology [JNC], Child & developmental psychology [JMC]