What is the question?Using the Question Formulation Technique to Promote

Student Questioning

Lisa RubensteinBall State University

Indiana Association for the GiftedDecember 16, 2014

Richard Wiseman Experiment

How many pictures are in the newspaper?“Stop counting.

There are 43 pictures.”

Extremely Lucky v.

Terribly Unlucky

“Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win

$250.”

Ernesto Sirolli

“Two young fish swim past an older fish. As they pass the older fish, he says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” The two young fish continue on for awhile until one eventually asks the other, ‘What the heck is water?’”---David Foster Wallace recorded in inGenius

What do the unlucky, the Italians, and the fish have in common?

Perhaps?

We don’t often notice the things that are most important.

Then...

How can we help students practice finding the heart of the discipline?

They have to look for it.

Can questions help us focus our observations?

Stephen Hawking and Questions“...questions I would like to talk about are: One, where did we come from? How did the universe come into being? Are we alone in the universe? Is there alien life out there? What is the future of the human race?”

“All of my life I have sought to understand the universe and find answers to these questions. I have been very lucky that my disability has not been a serious handicap; indeed, it has probably given me more time than most people to pursue the quest for knowledge.”

What skills might this graph be

depicting?

Writing?Reading? Asking

questions?

What are the benefits of students generating the questions?

What kinds of questions do your students typically ask?

Question Formulation Technique

Question Formulation Technique

Developing the question focus.Rules for producing questions.Categorize open and closed ended questions.Improve questions.Prioritize questions.Plan next steps.Reflect.

Rules for Producing Questions

Ask as many questions as you can.Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer any of the questions.Write down every question as stated.Change any statements into questions.

Pollution harms Indianapolis residents.

Brainstorm all possible questions.

Prompt 1

Brainstorm all possible questions.

Prompt 2

Pollution.

Brainstorm all possible questions.

Prompt 3

Brainstorm all possible questions.

Prompt 4

Which was the best prompt for you?

What makes a good prompt?

Question focus guidelines

It has a clear focus.It is not a question.It provokes and stimulates new lines of thinking.It does not reveal teacher preference or bias.

Other Prompt ExamplesBrief and simple: evolution of the eye, the structure of fractions, your protected rightsSharp focus: the inside of a cell, defeating math anxiety, the choices we makeDebatable: the scientific method must be followed, Miranda Rights always protects the accusedNot Biased: the importance of transcendentalism in American History, assessment of philosophers

Steps of Designing a QFocus

Define the purpose.Generate possible ideas.Identify pros and cons for each idea.Choose one idea and assess using 4 criteria (clear focus, not a question, provokes and stimulates, free from bias)Imagine questions students might come up with.

Let’s try it.

What would be a good question focus for your students?

Question focus guidelines

It has a clear focus.It is not a question.It provokes and stimulates new lines of thinking.It does not reveal teacher preference or bias.

Question Formulation Technique

Developing the question focus.Rules for producing questions.Categorize open and closed ended questions.Improve questions.Prioritize questions.Plan next steps.Reflect.

Improving questions

What makes a good question?Closed v. Open endedWord Dance?Habits of Mind? Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Generating: Word Dance

Circle verb. List other verbs: attract, locate, find, entice, ensure...Then circle objective or noun. List other possibilities. Mix and match.

Developing Habits of Mind

✤ Evidence: How do we know?

✤ Viewpoint: How might this look if we examined this from a different perspective?

✤ Connection: Is there a pattern? Have we seen something like this before?

✤ Conjecture: What if it were different?

✤ Relevance: Why does this matter?

Blooms

Question Formulation Technique

Developing the question focus.Rules for producing questions.Categorize open and closed ended questions.Improve questions.Prioritize questions.Plan next steps.Reflect.

Prioritize your questions.

3 most important, most interesting, most helpfulEvaluation matrix?Hits and hot spots?Paired comparisons?

Evaluation Matrix

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3

Criteria 1(Interesting)

Criteria 2 (Scope)

Criteria 3(Matches Qfocus)

Prioritize your questions.

3 most important, most interesting, most helpfulEvaluation matrix?Hits and hot spots?Paired comparisons?

Question Formulation Technique

Developing the question focus.Rules for producing questions.Categorize open and closed ended questions.Improve questions.Prioritize questions.Plan next steps.Reflect.

Shorter Student Version

Produce your own questions.Improve your questions.Prioritize your questions.

ConclusionsQuestioning is important. It is an essential skill students should develop.Picking the right question focus takes planning.Explicitly teaching students about questions will help them develop their skills.We can’t allow our students to get so used to things that they stop questioning.

Questions?Email: lmrubenstein@bsu.edu