Breakout Five —
Trevor Bond
Changing ‘Question Answerers’ to ‘Question Askers’
Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969) - “It is staggering to consider the implications of this fact.
The most important and intellectual ability man has yet developed – the art and
science of asking questions is not taught in school! “What is more, it is not taught in the most
dire way possible. We create and foster
an environment that discourages question asking.”
Our current classroom environments tend to create question
answerers not question askers, this has not really changed since 1969! How soon
do students become discouraged from asking questions. The following statistics
are suggestive.
- Studies have found that before preschool, at home,
children ask 50% of the questions. They are intrinsic learners, post language
development, who ask questions to learn.
- At preschool students ask 5% of the questions (Tizard
& Hughes, 1984).
- At primary school the ratio is about 1:8 (child:teacher)
This fosters a culture of regurgitation.
Trevor identifies 6 issues that impede the development of
students as question askers. They are:
Issue 1:
Teacher understanding of the key role questioning plays in thinking and
learning.
Issue 2:
Teacher understanding of the process of questioning
Issue 3:
Teacher understanding of the skills of an effective questioner
Issue 4: The
lack of a simple effective tool to
support students to be more effective as questioners
Issue 5: The
lack of a clear set of simple classroom strategies
Issue 6: The
lack of long term commitment by schools/teachers
What is thinking?
Trevor posits that it is a dialogue in our head that
typically takes a question and answer form. ‘Wouldn’t it be powerful if we told
our students that.’
What is learning?
David Perkins quote, ‘Learning is etc’
Questioning: Changing our students from ‘Question Answerers’
to ‘Question Askers’
tbond@clear.net.nz
trevor.bond@core-ed.org
027 2350121 012
422175 http://bit.ly/1vPXpXO
Issue 1: Teacher
understanding of the key role questioning plays in thinking and learning.
What is thinking?
Your definitions...
Thinking is asking and answering questions in your head.
Thinking is
inquiring, wondering, testing, trying, finding answers, evaluating,
Thinking is processing information from my environment
Thinking is making sense of information
Thinking is the conversation that you have inside your head
when you are trying to make sense of something, or trying to make a decision.
Thinking is manipulating information to combine it in new
ways.
Thinking is problem solving answering a question or problem
internally.
Thinking is an internalised process that is often
externalised when students are given an opportunity to share, question and
bounce ideas off others. If they are not given this opportunity then how far
does their thinking go?...
Thinking is working through information you have and making
sense of it. combining knowledge in new, creative analytical ways
Thinking is the analysis and use of information
Thinking is evaluating a range of information to make sense
of ideas and the world around us.
Thinking is processing and analysing questions and ideas
that come from the world around you. Processing information and making sense of
it to fit into a schema that you already have or creating new one if it does
not fit.
Thinking is processing information, making connections and
putting it all together to make decisions, choices etc.
Thinking is the action of processing information and
evaluating different reasons and scenarios [asking and answering questions in
your head].
"Thinking is when your are talking through the issues
with your mouth shut - internal dialogue. —
De Bono
What is Learning?
Learning is the integration of new information into existing
schemas, i.e. extending understandings and skills so that new capabilities are
created.
Learning is forming new understandings, behaviours and
abilities - physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, etc etc,
Learning is the process by which we acquire key skills and information
to enable us to move forward, grow and contribute to society.
Learning is making
connections
Learning is linking ideas ...making connections .. using
thinking productively??
Learning is building your knowledge and skills
Learning is a change
in the physical structure of the brain
Learning is not repeating the same mistakes
Learning is being able to use information to benefit self
and others
Learning is ‘cognitive housekeeping’ where what’s in your
head gets reshaped
Learning is taking on new information
Learning is choosing a thought and keeping it as ‘the right
one’
Learning is what I discover as a result of my questions.
Trevor: To me thinking is an internal question/answer
dialogue that supports me to build understanding
To me Learning is where I have a change in my world view,
knowledge, understanding, skills, beliefs, opinions, values, attitudes,
behaviours that is sustained and consequently applied.
The critical Thinking Community document states….
Critical Thinking Community:
“students are implicitly and deeply habituated to respond to
teacher questions”
“it is true that only
students who have questions are really thinking and learning”
“Unfortunately, most students ask virtually none of these
thought-stimulating types of questions. They tend to stick to dead questions
... questions that imply the desire not to think.”
“No questions equals no understanding. Superficial questions
equal superficial understanding. Most students typically have no questions.
They not only sit in silence, their minds are silent as well. Hence, the
questions they do have tend to be superficial and ill-informed. This
demonstrates that most of the time they are not thinking through the content.”
They take this out to a very interesting conclusion, an exam
should require a student to answer questions, rather it should require students
to outline their questions on a subject or concept as a real measure of
learning.
What are your responses?
There is a 100% disconnect between kids needing to ask
questions and teachers asking all the questions.
When my students begin asking questions out of left field I
know they are engaged.
Some children don’t feel safe to ask questions, so they
won’t ask. We as teachers haven’t
mastered how to build a learning environment that accepts questioning and
teaches skills to help kids feel valued in this area.
Teaching has been about ‘filling a bucket’ for so long that
it is hard for it to change to ‘lighting a fire’
If we don’t believe that questioning is a critical aspect of
learning and teaching, then our classroom practice will continue to be
predicated on the concept that the answer is all important. We will sustain the
development of skilled question answerers rather than skilled questioners,
thinkers and learners.
What is your response?
“No questions equals no understanding” is very powerful statement to make - in some
students, I think that there is (some) understanding, but have been “trained”
not to voice any further questions, or interrupt.
Issue 2: Teacher
understanding of the process of questioning
Questioning is a process, and in the classroom that process
consists of 6 ‘moments’.
Student questions often don’t occur because that chain of
moments gets broken at some point.
Moment 1: Stimulus - something creates a cognitive
discomfort.
We may recognise a new idea, a conflicting opinion,
something we don’t understand.
The teacher’s role is to create as many stimuli as possible.
No stimulus - the chain is broken.
Moment 2: Cognitive
response - the learner forms a cognitive
response, they intellectually react to the stimulus. Wondering, perplexity,
confusion . . .
No response - the chain is broken.
Moment 3: Negotiation
- a peculiarity of the classroom environment.
The student has to enter into negotiation to gain the right
to give voice to their question.
Many students find this daunting, many are not successful
because of time and delivery restraints.
No successful negotiation - the chain is broken.
Moment 4: The
question is posed
Moment 5: Response gained.
Often, if the response gains an answer, the process of
thinking ends, because students are habituated to the concept that the answer
is the end goal.
Often the question is posed and it falls into a vacuum of
null response or negative response which sends the message that questions are
inappropriate in this environment.
Inappropriate response for that student in that context -
the chain is broken
Sometimes the response gained is a stimulus to further and
deeper thinking… moment 6 = moment 1
Trevor: ‘When a student makes a statement, turn it into a
question. When a student asks a question, turn it into an activity.’
Issue 3: Teacher
understanding of the skills of an effective questioner
Trevor: In my opinion there are 6 core skills.
1. The ability to identify the need or problem
2. The ability to identify and comprehend the relevant
contextual vocabulary
Trevor: About vocab and the need to understand the vocab
that relates to the area being studied. He asked us to think about the
following conversation.
‘How was your day?’
‘It was ok. We spent the morning washing plastic and then
after morning tea we found a meatball and then started chunking and things got
going.’
Clearly this is a conversation that uses words we are
familiar with but not in a way that makes sense, unless you know the area and
its specialised vocabulary. [The area is game fishing. ‘Washing plastic’ is a
reference to trailing plastic lures behind a boat. A ‘meatball’ is a ball of
bait fish that has been herded by larger fish and which they (the larger fish)
are trying to drive to the surface where they can be eaten. ‘Chunking’ is to
scoop up a bucket of such bait fish (the meatball will locate itself under a
floating boat to defend itself from gannets etc) and to then chop up the bait
fish and drop them into the water such that as one chunk sinks and disappears
the next is dropped in. After several such chunks one is threaded onto a line
and hook and dropped into the ‘ladder’ that has been formed of sinking chunks
and game fish feed up the ladder till they hit the hook.]
3. The ability to ask a range of relevant questions.
4. The ability to take questions to a variety of appropriate
sources or carry out an appropriate process to gain the required information.
Which is the best lure to use in this area? You need to find
the right person to ask to get the information you need. No good asking just
anyone but better to go to the fishing club and ask the person who is up on the
board for the most catches of your target fish.
5. The ability to persist, editing questions as necessary,
until the needed information is acquired.
For example: What is the best speed to have your boat go at
to catch yellow-fin tuna? Trevor asked lots of people and got a variety of
responses. Finally he found someone who said, ‘Wrong question. It isn’t speed
that is important but the vibrations the boat is sending out. Find the speed
that smooths the vibrations out. The speed at which the vibrations of the
entire boat harmonises. Game fish recognise smooth vibrations within a certain
range as indicating bait fish, they are sensitive to the range of vibrations
and any changes in vibration such that if the range is too large or changes too
much they will not be attracted.’
6. The ability to use and apply that information in a way
that deepens learning or solves the issue/problem.
Issue 4: The lack
of a simple effective tool to support
students to be more effective as questioners.
Trevor: Ten years ago I set out on a process to answer the
question… “What can we do to develop question askers instead of question
answerers?”
This entailed me asking and creating answers to lots of
questions, some of which we have covered today.
Trevor: Question dice are no good because they ignore one of
the 7 effective question forms (Who, why, where etc) and also because they
dictate which question is used when it may not be the best choice.
Open and Closed question distinction not a useful one as
closed questions can be perfectly good and powerful, e.g. Am I on the right
flight to Rotorua?
As part of this search, I created the Questioning Waka.
Trevor talked us through the diagram above. The anchorstones
are impediments to the waka’s progress and the waka will only make progress
when they are removed. So first steps are to ensure that students are asking
questions instead of making statements and to make sure that they know enough
about the area and its vocab to ask relevant questions. The second step is to ensure
that when asking questions, especially when searching online, that students are
able to identify key words and phrases, rather than asking entire questions (as
search engines will use all words supplied . . .). After this the remaining 5
steps (each of the paddles) represent increasing sophistication of questioning
but Trevor stressed that this does not mean that Level 7 questions are
intrinsically better than Level 3 questions. Students should use all the
different levels within a search for information, or an inquiry.
Issue 5: The lack of a clear set of simple classroom
strategies
these have been developed through the last 10 years of
working on this with schools.
Encourage questions
Minimise negative signals to questions
Use the questioning matrix so students have a framework
Use a wondering wall: Off-task questions are still a product
of thinking - have a place where they can be recorded, and then ensure you give
them value by following up.
Many students (like us as adults) will think of questions
later - have systems and processes that
recognises this and allows for it.
Don’t play the game of school, use real needs
Support your students to clearly identify need, this leads
to good effective questioning
Answer the questions as they are asked - don’t answer
questions that don’t make sense, support students to refine and rephrase their
questions.
Probe into questions that may not have gained the student
the answer they were looking for
Model good questions
Explain why good questions are good questions
Turn student questions into activities, be a companion
learner not an encyclopaedia
Modify your documentation so it matches with practice and
expectation
Issue 6: The lack
of long term commitment by schools/teachers
In education when we are really serious about something we
….
1: Set goals
2: Develop strategies
3: Assess outcomes
4: Review our approaches on the basis of the assessment
Very few schools ever get serious enough about empowering
thinkers, learners and questioners to do this. Even fewer are the schools who
commit to this long-term, the next brilliant idea comes along, we do the next
‘in’ bit of PD and at some stage we end up saying… ‘Oh yes we did Questioning
in 20XX.”
To make a difference requires real long-term commitment,
constant review and maintained focus.
“The switch from answering to asking questions will not
happen quickly or painlessly for most students. Creating an environment in
which students freely question the subject matter, the teacher, and each other
is critical for developing thinking. “
Terry M. Cunconan
http://www.stamnet.org/journal/volume32/Cunconan.pdf
But it can be done!
Readings and resources:
Critical Thinking Community:
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-questions-in-teaching-thinking-and-learning/524
Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969): Teaching As
A Subversive Activity
http://question-skills.wikispaces.com/ (Trevor Bond’s wiki)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057260701828101#.VDYNyimSxV4
Terry M. Cunconan http://www.stamnet.org/journal/volume32/Cunconan.pdf
