Helping students to achieve comprehension of subject matter appears as one of the aims of schooling that is beyond dispute. However, the development of a somewhat opposed capability, awareness of unknowns or of not having understood, is increasingly considered an important educational aim as well. Being aware of one’s own lack of knowledge and understanding is an essential component in models of self-regulated learning and in learning by inquiry. In particular, it is fundamental to such relevant science learning activities as problem finding, identifying uncertainty in scientific research and, specifically, question asking (Otero and Ishiwa, 2013).

This study aims to identify the obstacles that prompt information seeking questions regarding a sample of objects such as those studied in school science. The approach is based on a correspondence hypothesis that regards ignorance in its various forms as socially constructed, and produced by knowers based on what is already known According to this point of view unknowns are not simple givens, easily found beyond the borders of knowledge in the infinite pool of unknown unknowns (Smithson, 2008) but are actively produced  by individuals and groups.

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