| Abstract: | The intent of the study was to investigate the extent to which free play vs. sequenced questioning conditions facilitated preschoolers' associative fluency. Twenty-four children (12 boys and 12 girls, age of 50.7 months) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: free play, questions, control, in the first two conditions, children interacted with randomly chosen conventional objects. Children in all conditions were asked for novel uses for the conventional objects. Children in the sequenced questioning condition generated significantly more novel responses than children in the other two conditions (p < .002). No significant difference was observed between the play and control conditions. Implications for pedagogy are discussed. Teachers should pose the sequence of questions so as to enable children to explore their hypotheses. |
