Identifying Family Barriers to Student Questioning in Primary School

Abstract

Children’s questioning is the beginning of awareness and thinking and the family plays a significant role in its development. Negative or neutral attitude towards this issue hinders children’s questioning. This study aimed to identify family barriers to student questioning in primary school. This was a descriptive-analytical study which was carried out with an exploratory approach. The population of the study comprised all sixth grade students in Qom (N= 16150). Using Krejcie and Morgan table and multi-stage cluster sampling method, 427 students were selected as the sample. The instrument included a researcher-made questionnaire on family barriers to student questioning. The validity of measure was evaluated by academics and experts and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha test (0.79). The collected data were analyzed by factor analysis. The results showed that “not encouraging children to ask questions and not assisting children in scientific issues” (factor loading= 2.964 and explained variance=19.429 percent) and “rigor and strict control of children’s activities at home” (factor loading=0.755 and explained variance= 6.086 percent) were the most and least influential barriers to student questioning. In general, the findings indicated that the family has failed to fulfill its significant role in promotion of children reflection, critical thinking, and questioning.

Keywords

• family barriers
• student questioning
• primary school