iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

Educators want their students to ask questions. Indeed, research has found that students only ask about 1/5th the amount of questions educators would like them to ask. Yet many educators report that it can feel like “pulling teeth” to get their students to ask questions, and other research has found that educators ask about two questions per minute while students ask about two questions per hour. Which students are the ones formulating two questions per hour? One study found that lower income students tend to pose fewer questions at school than their moderate-income counterparts, and another study found that lower achieving students tend to ask fewer questions than their higher achieving peers. Not only are students asking markedly fewer questions than the teacher and significantly fewer questions than teachers would like them to ask, some students are asking fewer questions than their fellow students.

How can education remedy this feeling of “pulling teeth” and actualize a vision of all students asking their own questions and classrooms brimming with curiosity? One way is by deliberately teaching students how to ask their own questions.

Educators and parents have long known that curiosity is at the center of powerful learning. But too often, in the push to meet standards and pressure to stay on pace, that essential truth about learning that sticks gets lost. Worse, many older students have forgotten how to ask their own questions about the world, afraid that if they wonder they will be wrong. It’s far less risky to sit back and wait for the teacher to ask the questions. And yet, good questioning may be the most basic tenet of lifelong learning and independent thinking that school offers students. Taking the time to activate curiosity doesn’t have to mean abandoning learning standards, nor is it necessarily a waste of time.

Learning how to ask good questions is a cornerstone of learning and living. It’s a practice we use every day. So much of our success in life depends on asking the right questions. So how do we actually do it? It’s easy when you have a solid process.
When we ask good questions in education, the benefits are immeasurable. It lets us clearly define problems and expectations. Students’ research becomes more productive. They have better team communication. It lets them view challenges proactively. It encourages deeper reflection and better learning processes.

Young children ask lots of questions, but around the time they enter school, those questions begin to fade. Author Warren Berger outlines five ways to help students become better questioners and nurture a child's curiosity.

At TeachThought, nothing interests us more than students, as human beings. What they know, might know, should know, and do with what they know.

A driving strategy that serves students–whether pursuing self-knowledge or academic content–is questioning. Questioning is useful as an assessment strategy, catalyst for inquiry, or “getting unstuck” tool. It can drive entire unit of instruction as an essential question. In other words, questions transcend content, floating somewhere between the students and their context.

This weekend was incredibly productive. Not only did I continue finishing my new front deck (yes, there is a math lesson in there) but I also learned about a really neat tool that stimulates curiosity, inquiry, critical thinking and collaboration while providing video feedback. I’m changing the course slightly with this post (what, not coding?!?) because I want to explore shifting pedagogy in how educators instruct, assess and evaluate student learning.