From ‘what’ to ‘why’: plotting the emergence and frequency of children's questions from 30 to 42 months of age

Children's ability to ask questions is a critical learning tool; allowing them to seek information from others in order to construct and refine their concepts and understandings. While family-based studies demonstrate that children are effective questioners by pre-school age, few studies have investigated children's question use in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This longitudinal study followed 27 children from 30 to 42 months of age to plot the emergence and frequency of their question use in ECEC. While most children used confirm (yes/no) and specify (what, where, when, who, which) questions by 42 months, explain (why, how) questions emerged more gradually across the 30- to 42-month time period. However, the proportion of explain questions increased with age, whereas the proportion of specify questions decreased. Individual frequency variation is explained with reference to children's language development, their SES and gender. In a policy context where educators are encouraged to support the social construction of knowledge, our findings draw attention to the active role that young children's questions play in this process.