Why did we stop questioning?

Warren Berger begins chapter 2 of his book, A More Beautiful Question, with the impactful question "Why do we stop questioning?" After having read the beginning of the book and thinking about my personal questioning, and the questioning in education, I wanted to know, why do we stop? Through interviews and research, Berger provided an answer while also allowing me to question some more. Why do I fear asking questions in certain settings? Why do I need concrete or definite answers? How do we teach questioning? How does questioning connect with student engagement? The list could go on and there perhaps isn't an answer for it all, which Berger illustrates in this chapter.

To understand it all, I believe that it goes back directly back to one's childhood. While you grow, you question because everything is new. So while children are growing, they are learning and wondering, and "as they're making these mental connections, they're seeking more information and clarification by way of questioning" (Berger, 2014, p. 41). Allowing for connections and being able to seek information, leads to questioning, and engagement, which eventually is a doorway to creativity. However, Berger states that "When we start teaching too much, too soon, we're inadvertently cutting off paths of inquiry and exploration" (Berger, 2014, p. 43). Unfortunately, the ability or the thought of questioning begins to stop the further kids get into schooling. This then leads and connects to disengagement and the overall struggle to make learning something students want to do.

The main goal of a teacher is to teach and for students to learn, however cutting off or not allowing students to engage fully in inquiry, negatively affects the end goal of learning. "As kids stop questioning, they simultaneously become less engaged in school" (Berger, 2014, p. 45) which then depletes students' knowledge and learning.

So how do we keep those kids questioning? How do we increase engagement and allow for stimulating learning? One thing that Berger discovered when interviewing Deborah Meier, was that "Instead of pushing information at kids, schools need to teach them how to make sense of what they were being told so they would know what to make of it and what to do with it" (Berger, 2014, p. 51). With learning skills or "Habits of Mind" (Meier) like evidence, viewpoints, connections, conjectures, and relevance (Berger, 2014, p. 51) students can gain the skills to continue their learning and therefore engage more as they proceed throughout their education.

As an elementary teacher, I see first-hand the impact of engagement within the classroom. Connecting to the idea and concept of questioning and to where that skill leads, has opened my eyes to what needs to be done to create the type of teaching that focuses greatly on the student. The student should be at the center of it all, but with restrictions and standards constantly in place, education has diverted down a darker path. Allowing students to take ownership, is one result Meier has seen in her experiments and research. As Meier states, "Often when you give kids more freedom to pursue what they're interested in, they become easier to control" (Berger, 2014, p. 53), and with more control comes a more engaging and learning environment.