Knowledge gaps on objects about which little is known: Lack of knowledge leads to questioning on basic levels of an ontological branch

Abstract This study examined the role of knowledge in asking questions on objects about which little is known, a situation hitherto explained in terms of a passive knowledge deficit hypothesis. Seventh grade students were tested for knowledge about a sample of familiar and unfamiliar objects typically studied in science classes. Then they were asked to make explicit what they did not know about the objects by asking questions about them. The results showed that the participants asked general questions, i.e., questions that were applicable to superordinate categories more frequently on the unfamiliar objects than on the familiar objects. This substantiates a relation already described in the literature: more global questions are associated with less knowledge of a questioner. More importantly, the findings are consistent with an active role of knowledge, namely knowledge about superordinate categories, in generating questions about a little known object.