| Abstract: | One hundred twenty-eight children of average intellectual ability from grades K, 1, 2, and 5 (ages 6, 7, 8, and 11, respectively) were administered a 20-questions task involving the presentation of 24 stimulus pictures and a forced-choice post-test. The four-factor design included four grade levels, two stimulus conditions (basic-level and superordinate), and two instruction conditions (cueing and non-cueing) for boys and girls. Results indicated older children generated more efficient questions, all children in the Cued-instruction condition asked more constraint-seeking questions in the Basic-level condition than in the Superordinate condition on the 20-questions task, and all children in the Basic-level condition selected more efficient questions in the post-test forced-choice task than in Superordinate condition. It was concluded that even younger school-age children will generate efficient constraint-seeking questions when Basic-level stimuli are used and when children are cued. |
