Questioning

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria - Creating Questions

Learning Intention:

Success Criteria:

Dud Questions vs Inquiry Questions

Some questions are dud, not so useful; they might be dead ends, too easy, or just plain impossible.

Some questions are driving questions, they are powerful and effective. Driving questions, or inquiry questions, lead a learner to new knowledge, bridge gaps, or create new and useful solutions to complex problems. 

To be an effective learner, you need to be knowledgeable and considered in understanding how to design high-quality inquiry questions. When you have the opportunity to design questions, this helps you be a more active learner and a critical and creative thinker. It also gives you a chance to find out what is most interesting in a subject for you. Broadly speaking, inquiry-based learning is a constructivist approach where the overall goal is for the learner to make meaning and making is ultimately a creative process.

Mind Tools. 2020. The Learning Zone Model, https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/learning-zone-model.htm 

How Does a Good Question Feel?

The Learning Zone Model was produced by psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It categorises learning as being in three zones. 

With more time in the Learning Zone, your mastery of new skills will increase and some of these skills will then pass into your Comfort Zone. 

What can you learn from this? Recognise the importance of embracing challenges including questions and pushing beyond what you already know to enhance and grow your skills. You need questions that lead you into the Learning Zone, the sweet spot!



How Does a Good Question Behave?

Questions, and thinking in general, can be convergent or divergent. 

An Inquiry Question needs to be divergent. If you already know the answer to a question, or if you can work it out quickly, it is not going to be interesting for you and it will not lead you to interesting places. 

There are phases in a research project where you need to utilise convergent thinking. This includes when you need to make conclusions by bringing ideas together or you are trying to summarise separate ideas into recommendations or a thesis. 

What do Inquiry Questions Look Like

An Inquiry Question should be clear, provocative, open-ended, challenging and linked to the core of what needs to be learned.

Types of Questions

There’s an art to developing inquiry questions, it is not a simple formula, it is in part reason, part instinct and hard work. Following are some examples and structures to help you. Let's start with some types of inquiry questions.

 

Solve a Problem: There’s a real-world predicament with multiple solutions.

·       How can we beautify the vacant lot across the street for $200?

·       Design a safe and sturdy bridge to replace one in our city.

 

Educational: The purpose of the project is to teach others.

·       How can we teach second graders about helpful insects.

·       Create a campaign to teach senior citizens how to use an iPad.

 

Broad Theme: The project tackles big ideas.

·       How does conflict lead to change?

·       How do writers persuade others?

·       How are good and evil depicted in different cultures?

 

Opinion: Students need to consider all sides of an issue in order to form and justify their opinions.

·       Why has a woman never been a U.S. president?

·       What makes a good astronaut?

 

Divergent: Students make predictions about alternative timelines and scenarios.

·       What if Rosa Parks gave up her seat?

·       What if the world ran out of oil tomorrow?

·       How might your city change if the climate became an average of 10°F warmer?

 

Scenario-Based: Students take on a fictional role with a mission to accomplish.

·       You’re a NASA engineer, and you are in charge of building a moon base. What are the ten most important things to include and why?

·       You are the CEO of a company that is designing a new social media app. Present a business plan to your investors that explains how your company will make money.

  

Tony, Vincent. “Crafting Questions That Drive Projects”. Learning In Hand. 2020

https://learninginhand.com/blog/drivingquestions

Scaffold to Support Question Writing

A Brief intro to Bloom's... 

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is a hierarchy of thinking skills. It classifies thinking skills from 'lower level' (Remembering) to 'higher level' (Creating). 

Bloom's can be used to help design questions that will lead to higher levels of creative and critical thinking. 

Bloom's might appear to value 'creating' new knowledge as the peak of learning, but that is possibly a mistake. Have a look at the next image of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy expressed as a tree.

An Alternate Organisation of Bloom's

Some people suggest it is best to think of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy as a tree with the first three stages of Remembering, Understanding and Applying as steps on a ladder leading up into the crown of the tree with the levels of Analysing, Evaluating and Creating. This organisation of Bloom's stresses the importance of not skipping the lower three levels of thinking as they are important 'steps' of establishing knowledge and understanding that is correct and current. Once you are exploring higher-order thinking skills your foundational ideas are sound and are less likely to bring you unstuck with incorrect assumptions.

This model also shows that Analysing, Evaluating and Creating can work in a cycle where once you have reached the point of creating new ideas, you still analyse and evaluate these ideas to check for quality and to test for the need for revision of your new ideas. This adds qualities of critical thinking to your process which is a characteristic of a good thinker.

Activity: Writing Inquiry Questions with Bloom's 

You are working towards creating a question that will drive you to create new knowledge that is useful, perceptive and interesting. If you create an inquiry question that limits your research to stating facts only (Remembering), you limit your ability to demonstrate higher-order thinking skills. Ultimately, you need to design an inquiry question that leads to you creating new knowledge and demonstrating higher-order thinking skills.   

Tool: Bloom's Question Stems for Composing Questions

Below is a table that contains key words and question stems (beginnings of questions) grouped by Blooms's taxonomy. You are going to use Bloom's Key Words and/or Bloom's Question Stems. Has your teacher set a theme or topic? Or is this completely up to you? If your teacher has set a theme or topic, then you may need to incorporate words or concepts contained within your question, or words related to its field of knowledge.   

Bloom's Taxonomy Question Stems and Key Words (1).pdf

1. Use these question stems or verbs to work towards creating an inquiry question that is in the very upper levels of Bloom's. Your first idea is rarely your best, so write 10 or more (Learning Behaviour > Imaginative: play with possibilities).

2. Then read the next section, "Refining the Question" and see if you can refine your questions using the tips provided (Learning Behaviour > Disciplined: Crafting & Improving).

3. Then when you have your 10 or so questions, you have tried to refine your questions, choose a better one and write it on a new page. You are going to need to break this question down into separate questions that you will need to solve the inquiry question; that's when you can again use Bloom's question stems to design questions to shape your research. You will need questions that build upwards in our version of Bloom's tree. Work upwards through the levels to build your knowledge, broaden your knowledge and then play critically and creatively with your ideas.  

Remember you will need to make multiple draft questions through cycles of reflection, evaluation and refinement.  

Refining the Question

Inquiry questions are rarely perfect in their first draft. You can usually make them better. Talking with your fellow students or family can help you get insight into how well the question will drive a project.

 

An inquiry question shouldn’t sound like a question you would find on a test. Instead of “Describe what organisms need to survive,” the question could be “What if we had a chicken house at our school?” And, “Why did the American colonists declare war with England?” could be reworked into, “How could you have convinced American colonists to support independence using today’s technology?” Making your question interesting to you is probably the most difficult part of crafting a question.


You might find it useful to have a look at The Creativity Wheel again as a tool to consider your thinking; for example, are you being imaginative and playing with possibilities? Perhaps you should try playing with synonyms in your question and see if that makes it more interesting. It could be a good idea to be more inquisitive by exploring and investigating your topic area first to find what interests you in the field of knowledge. 

 

Below is a checklist to help you refine your question. You do not have to tick them all, but the more you do, the better your research project will be:

 

·       The question is concise.

·       The question has no easy answer.

·       The question taps into your interests and passions.

·       The question does not sound like a test question.

·       The question leads to more questions.

·       There is more than one answer to the question.

·       The topic is personal or local.

·       You can relate to the question in your daily lives.

·       Students will have choices for end products.

·       There is an authentic audience for the project.

·       The question requires serious investigation.

·       You will learn important skills and content.

·       The project will somehow make a difference in the world.


Tony, Vincent. “Crafting Questions That Drive Projects”. Learning In Hand. 2020

https://learninginhand.com/blog/drivingquestions

Optional Resource: Where to from here with your Inquiry Question?

Consider using Kate Murdoch's model for designing a journey of inquiry. Start at "Tune In" and work from there. This is a model that can help you manage the overall process of using an inquiry question for inquiry-style learning from start to finish. Note that this model has arrows moving back and forth, yes you can 'go-around-the-clock', but you can also go back and forth as needed.

A+MODEL+FOR+DESIGNING+A+JOURNEY+OF+INQUIRY.pdf

Optional Extension Activity - Kaplan's model for Depth and Complexity

Only read this section if you feel like stretching your brain!

The overarching goal of Depth and Complexity is to move towards expert knowledge of content by researching and thinking like an expert. Kaplan (and Gould) studied experts of knowledge and through interviews, they saw that these experts researched subjects by looking for things like repeating patterns, required rules, ethical dilemmas, changes over time, and essential vocabulary within their field. The guide below will prompt you to think about your inquiry topic in ways that will move you towards expert knowledge. You could use this tool as a review tool to reflect on your inquiry question and it's sub-questions. You could also use this tool at points through your project to prompt you to think critically about your research and how it all connects. It can be used as a tool to also prompt convergent thinking when working towards conclusions or a thesis. 

Kapner Facilitating the Understanding of DEPTH and COMPLEXITY.pdf

Open Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Question Stems by clicking here.