Teaching Students to Ask Questions
“The most common source of management mistakes is not the failure to find the right answers. It is the failure to ask the right questions. ”
How often have you experienced a classroom FREEZE FRAME? You know that moment. The class has just finished reading a text or completing a learning task. Maybe the teacher has just presented new information by lecture, demonstration, or video. What happens at that moment?
Some students look up expectantly to see what’s next; others stare out the window or fidget with something at their desks.
This is the critical moment that will determine whether student brains will make connections between new input and prior learning. If students engage in deeper, higher order thinking at this moment, brain scans show that the neural connections will be strengthened. If not, any new learning will fade away.
Each time, I sit in the back of the classroom holding my breath. With dread I hear the teacher say, “Does everybody understand? Anybody have any questions?” Exhale. She’s killed it. All the hard work she’s done for this lesson has evaporated because — chances are –these students are conditioned to just bob their heads and ask no questions.
In Make Just One Change, Rothstein & Santana (2015) provide a simple procedure to guide generation of powerful questions. Teaching students question formulation, they say, promotes excellence and equity. Their book (which I highly recommend) gives valuable examples and summarizes research about the brain-based benefits for learners at all levels from kindergarten through adulthood – parents too!
Here’s a summary of their Question Formulation Technique:
Set the question focus. Initially, the teacher sets goals or topics for creating questions. Later the learners develop skills to do this independently.
Establish rules for producing questions: These rules establish a safe zone for generating multiple questions on the topic without discussion or judgement. Students should be encouraged to pay attention to their own thinking (metacognition) and their instincts to violate the rules.
Produce questions: Given a set amount of time, learners (individually and/or in groups) rapidly generate as many different kinds of questions as they can, following the rules.
Improve questions: Learners categorize questions as closed (with one answer) or open (multiple possible answers). They discuss the purpose/ advantages of each type of question and practice changing one question from closed to open.
Prioritize questions: With coaching from the teacher, learners identify the most valuable questions (about three) to investigate for the task at hand.
Use the questions: Students practice using their own prioritized questions to dive deeper into their reading, writing, and thinking.
Reflection: The teacher guides students to discuss the process of generating questions and their new learning gained, incorporating mindful awareness of their experience of themselves as learners.
Students who have become proficient at generating questions become much more engaged as owners of their own learning. Imagine how this procedure will boost self-efficacy skills for students with disabilities within inclusive settings. What about during faculty meetings or family engagement events? How could you use this approach?
