Student questions, an integral component of the educational process, are recognized for their role in promoting engagement, critical thinking, and deeper understanding. Chin and Osborne (2008) highlight that questioning stimulates students' cognitive processes, fostering active engagement with the material. Baram-Tsabari and Osborne (2015) discuss how questions are essential for meaningful learning, as they demonstrate how students think and connect new information with prior knowledge. In addition to their cognitive functions, they also serve affective purposes such as showing interest and increasing student engagement in learning and teaching (Chin & Osborne, 2008).  

In formal science classroom settings, teachers can leverage student questions to diagnose understanding, promote scientific inquiry, and design formative assessments that foster critical thinking and reflection (Chin & Osborne, 2008). Cakmakci and colleagues (2012) highlighted differences between student-generated questions in formal and informal educational settings. These differences arise from variations in scientific disciplines of interest, the complexity of the information sought, and the levels of inquiry involved. Baram-Tsabari et al. (2006) framework helps us describe and understand cognitive and motivational categories for student-generated questions (Cakmakci et al., 2012; Paksoy et al., 2024).

The science education literature includes several studies on questions posed in informal contexts, such as science magazines (Cakmakci et al., 2012), television programs (Baram-Tsabari & Yarden, 2005), and websites (Baram-Tsabari et al., 2006). As an alternative informal science learning experience, science communication facilitates a degree of direct interactions between scientists and individuals outside scientific communities (Paksoy et al., 2024). Through science communication practices, trust in science can be enhanced (Sinai et al., 2022), and science becomes more accessible (Ishmuradova et al., 2023).

In this study, we designed a science communication practice between middle school students and a climate educator, encouraging students to write questions about climate change before the interaction. The focus on climate change is deliberate, as it is a highly complex issue encompassing environmental, societal, economic, and political dimensions (Sezen-Barrie et al., 2018; Tolppanen & Aksela, 2018). Furthermore, the prevalence of diverse climate-related news in the media (Svihla & Linn, 2012) adds to the challenges of teaching and learning about this topic. Considering these complexities, this study aims to explore middle school students' engagement questions and how these climate questions can be categorized concerning cognitive (type and order of requested information) and motivational (spontaneous or school-related) domains using Baram-Tsabari et al. (2006) framework:

• What type of requested information do the student-generated questions fall into?

• What is the order of requested information of the student-generated questions?

• How do students' motivations influence the self-generated questions?

Research design This study employed a descriptive research design to analyze student-generated questions about climate change in the context of a science communication meeting. The research was conducted as part of a larger project that aimed to facilitate interactive communication between middle school students and scientists. Participants A total of sixty 7th-grade students at a public middle school participated in the research. Data for this study were collected as part of a larger project to organize science communication meetings to connect middle school students with scientists through interactive communication sessions. Procedure After the topic of climate change was covered in the classroom as part of the curriculum, 7th-grade science teachers asked students to write down the questions they would like answered. The teacher shared the students’ questions with the project team. The project team reviewed the questions, and relevant scientists were identified based on the content and focus of the questions, and whether the scientists were familiar with working with K12 students. Once the scientist was identified, the date and time of the meeting were set in coordination with the scientist and the teacher. The science communication meeting was conducted face-to-face and lasted for an hour. The project team designed an activity to randomize student questions so that students who had not written a question before the meeting would have a chance to interact with the scientist. Data Collection and Analysis The data for this study was collected from student-generated questions submitted prior to the science communication meeting. These questions were analyzed using the framework developed by Baram-Tsabari et al. (2006), which categorizes questions into two main types: cognitive and motivational. The cognitive questions were analyzed based on two dimensions: the type of information requested and the order of information requested. The types of information were classified into six categories: factual, explanatory, prediction, methodological, general requests for information, and open-ended questions. The order of information was classified into three categories: properties, causal relationships, and comparisons. Motivational questions were further categorized as either spontaneous or school-related. The frequency of questions in each category was calculated and analyzed in the context of existing literature.

Type of Information Requested Analysis of the frequencies and percentages based on the type of information requested revealed that most questions were factual (n=75, 50.3%). These questions focused on terminological, historical, descriptive, and confirmatory knowledge. The second most common type of question was explanatory (n=47, 31.5%), which included inquiries framed as "why?" and "how?" questions. A sample question seeking factual information included: “What are the environmental damages caused by global warming?”. “How will people be affected after all the consequences of global warming take place?” is an example of an explanatory question. Order of Information Requested Students’ questions were also analyzed based on the order of the requested information. The analysis of frequencies and percentages showed that most questions focused on the properties of the subject in question (n=95, 63.1%). These were followed by questions exploring causal relationships (n=37, 24.8%). An example of a question addressing properties is: “Which living beings are affected by global warming?”. For causal relationship questions, an example is: “What situations might occur in the world if global warming and climate change are prevented in the future?”. Student’s Motivation for Raising the Question The analysis of frequencies and percentages regarding the motivation behind the questions revealed that the majority were driven by school-related motivations (n=92, 61.7%). The remaining questions were motivated by spontaneous curiosity (n=55, 36.9%). These findings indicate that students mainly seek factual and explanatory knowledge, underscoring the value of inquiry-based learning for deeper engagement (Chin & Osborne, 2008). Bridging factual and explanatory reasoning can help audiences move beyond surface understanding (Scheufele, 2013). While formal education shapes scientific inquiry, fostering curiosity through engaging narratives and interactive content supports lifelong scientific literacy (Falk & Dierking, 2010).

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