learning@school learning@school

Shaping teaching and learning in the 21st century Ko te whenu hou te tauKo te whenu hou te tau

learning@school learning@school Rotorua New Zealand February 2008

Questioning

Why is questioning important?

A learner is by nature a questioner

A questioner is by nature a learner.

A thinker is a questioner.

A thinker is a learner

Questioning is central to thinking

and learning

“All our knowledge results from questions, which is

another way of saying that questioning is our most

important intellectual tool.”

Neil Postman (P 140)

De Bono

“Questions are the engine house of

thinking.”

Given that questioning is so important…..

What are 3 things that you would like to know about questioning that would help you to

improve your student’s questioning skills?

Write 3 questions about developing student questioning skills.

Learner Questions

Requests RhetoricInquiry

Fertile, Essential, Inquiry, Rich, Reflective

Open, Closed, Fat, Skinny, Rich, Poor, Key.

Fact finding, Evaluative, Daignostic, Hypothetical

What are the core skills of an effective questioner?

• Identify the need or problem• Identify the relevant contextual vocabulary• Ask a range of relevant questions

• Take them to a variety of appropriate sources

• Persist, editing questions as necessary, until they acquire the needed information

Many other associated skills

But they are primarily Literacy, thinking or Information skills. Eg….

Reading Comprehension

Speaking Listening

Location Skimming Scanning

What is a good question?

• It is relevant

• Can be taken to intelligent and non-intelligent sources

• Gets you the information that is needed

Intelligent

Non- intelligent

Poor questions

Where can I find it?

What skills do I need?

How do I get there?What are the issues with these questions that

would classify them as poor questions?

QuESTioning Rubric

As I go through the rubric, work out what stage your

questions fit into.

Stage Questioning Rubric

7 Used multiple Question words in a probing question when interviewing an ‘expert’

6 Used relevant synonyms to edit key questions

5 Used the Seven Servants and relevant key words and phrases to create key questions.

4 Used the Seven Servants and relevant key words to create key questions.(who what when where how why which)

3 Asked a relevant yes/no/maybe question (is can does could may etc)

2 Any non-relevant question (does not contain contextual key words or phrases)

1 Created statements rather than questions (or a nul response)

7 Servants:

This is NOT a rubric of question typesIt is a rubric built round a range of skills involved in creating Relevant QuestionsAnd it relates to closely to the definition

of an effective questioner

Evidence of Success

thinklab.typepad.com/.../index.html

If you're so smart, why are you

asking me to give you the answers?

thinklab.typepad.com/.../index.html

More importantly, are

you teaching me how to ask

great questions?

Primary Questionsor

Primary Tasks

Learner Questions

Requests RhetoricInquiry

Fertile, Essential, Inquiry, Rich, Reflective

Open, Closed, Fat, Skinny, Rich, Poor, Key.

Fact finding, Evaluative, Daignostic, Hypothetical

As learners we can ask ourselves primary layer questions

Inquiry

Primary Layer questions

Secondary Layer

OR

We can pose ourselves learning tasks

As teachers we can pose primary layer questions

Inquiry

Primary Layer questions

Secondary Layer

OR

We can pose learning tasks

As learners and teachers we have to be aware that primary questions can very easily lead to low level information based learning.

What is Inquiry Learning?

What is the difference between a value and a belief?

As teachers and learners we need to be aware that posing learning as a task is

still not the magic answer, because poorly worded/structured tasks will still lead to low level information

based learning.

Question:How could we build a land-yacht that would be competitive with the blokart for $500

Task:Working to a budget of $500 build a land-yacht that would be competitive with the blokart

Question: How do people catch yellow-fin tuna?

Task: By the end of the coming season we want to have caught my first yellow-fin from our own boat

As teachers we need to scaffold our students towards success by

• including contextual key words and phrases in task or question wording

• Modelling how to break down complex questions or tasks into component parts

Internet searching

What is Hyperlexia?

What is the definition of Hyperlexia?

Key words: definition hyperlexia

What is the definition of Hyperlexia?

Key words: definition hyperlexia

What is the definition of hyperlexia?

Key phrase: definition hyperlexia

Searching and task wordingHyperlexia is a rare syndrome that impacts

severely on student learning abilities. Research the definition of hyperlexia, its major and minor characteristics and construct a simple set of questions that teachers could use in a parent interview to help ascertain if a child may or may not need specialist assessment and intervention for hyperlexia