1© 2009 John Martin.R, All rights reserved The Human Creative Minds

Brainstorming Facilitating Critical Thinking

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Objectives

Learn how to raise the bar for ALL learners through effective questioning.

Examine the relationship between the level of teacher questions and the ability of students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate information.

Review the research on the role of teacher questions in teaching and learning.

Explore questioning strategies that not only lead to a greater understanding of the content, but also impact students’ critical thinking skills.

4-5 Johnson, N. Active Questioning, 1995.

Questioning

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” -A.Einstein

“Students should feel proud that they have a question rather than pleased that they have the answer.” -Janice Szabos

“Problem-finding will have equal importance with problem-solving. Student questioning is the tool that opens the “window” for effective, meaningful learning.” -Garnet Miller

6-7 Hunkins, Teaching Thinking Through Effective Questioning, 1995.

Assumptions

Inquisitiveness and the ability to think are essential for functioning in the present and fast-developing information society.

In the upcoming decades human intelligences, imagination, and intuition will be far more important than the machine.

Educators should create within educational arenas smart environments that enable students to work on their intelligence through reflecting on their mental capacities, their questions.

Thinking and effective inquiry are paramount skills.

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Teacher Questioning

Why do teachers ask questions?

– Assess student performance

– Maintain student engagement

– Lead students to learning moments?

– Keep the Teacher’s focus

– Enable the teacher to build on student answers and provide immediate feedback

Research Says …

i) On the average, during classroom “recitation”, approximately 60 percent of the questions asked are lower cognitive questions, 20 percent are higher cognitive questions, and 20 percent are procedural.

ii) Students whom teachers perceive as slow or poor learners are asked fewer higher cognitive questions than students perceived as more capable learners.

Cotton, K. Classroom Questioning. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2001.

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“I am not who I think I am. I am not who you think I am.

I am who I think you think I am.”

“Do not focus on perceived inadequacy, but instead focus on strengths and people will ascend.”

“Learn your strengths from what people say to you.”

“When praising others, be specific in the praise, be sincere in how the praise is delivered, and state it with a tone of high expectations”.

“I’ll try to give you what you expect from me …

Praise my strengths, expect it from me and watch me grow.”

- Mike Kneale, October 2002

Cotton, K. Classroom Questioning. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2001.

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Research Says …

Teaching students to draw inferences and giving them practice in doing so result in higher cognitive responses and greater learning gains.

For older students, increases in the use of higher cognitive questions are positively related to increases in:

– On-task behavior

– Length of student responses

– The number of relevant contributions volunteered by students

– The number of student-to-student interactions

– Student use of complete sentences

– Speculative thinking on the part of students

– Relevant questions posed by students

Wait Time

– The average wait-time teachers allow after posing a question is one second or less.

– Students whom teachers perceive as slow or poor learners are given less wait-time than those teachers view as more capable.

– Increase in wait-time over three seconds has a positive effect on the number of higher cognitive questions asked by teachers.

Hannel, G.I., and Hannel, L. (2005). Highly Effective Questioning: How and Why To Ask Questions in the K-16 Classroom.

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Seven Principles

1. Students do not have the right not to learn.

2. Underachieving students are mostly undertrained, not underbrained; they are dormant, not dead!

3. Questioning must be intensive not just occasional.

4. The attempt should be to follow a Question-Response-Question (Q-R-Q) pattern when questioning students.

5. Questioning must be kept positive overall.

6. Random guess-making or trial and error behavior during questioning should be discouraged.

7. The goal is to reduce “I don’t know” responses and attitudes.

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Asking Questions

Self-Reflection

Engaging Students

Framing Questions

Fat and Skinny Questions

10© 2009 John Martin.R, All rights reserved The Human Creative Minds

What is Critical Thinking?

Take a moment to record your definition. Share it with someone.

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Thinking is ...

ConnectingArguingConvincing

GeneratingAnalyzingCapitulating

RelatingComposingRetracting

AssociatingSequencingSuggesting

SortingImaginingComparing

IntuitingPredictingContrasting

ProjectingQuestioningReconciling

SuspendingWonderingRejecting

HazardingModifyingIncluding

InventingExtendingAccommodating

ProvingHypothesizingRefining

ImprovingRehearsingTesting

ClarifyingReflectingJudging

DisruptingCooperatingSynchronizing

HarmonizingSpeculatingContradicting

AssimilatingEmpathizingCompromising

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Bloom’s Taxonomy

“Each of Bloom’s cognitive categories includes a list of a variety of thinking skills and indicates the kind of behavior students are to perform as the objectives or goals of specific learning tasks.”

– Knowledge: Define, recognize, recall, identify, label, understand, examine, show, collect.

Comprehension: Translate, interpret, explain, describe, summarize, extrapolate.

Application: Apply, solve, experiment, show, predict.

Analysis: Connect, relate, differentiate, classify, arrange, check, group, distinguish, organize, categorize, detect, compare, infer

Synthesis: Produce, propose, design, plan, combine, formulate, compose, hypothesize, construct.

Evaluation: Appraise, judge, criticize, decide

At what level do I assess my students?

32-36 Johnson, N. Active Questioning, 1995. 13

Low Level Thinking Questions

Who?

What?

Where?

When?

How?

Why?

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High Level Thinking Questions

What are all the ways?

What if ?

How is ________ different from _______?

What is your point of view about______?

How come _______________?

How do you feel about ________?

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Active Questioning Formats

Question Journal

Question Web

Mind branching

Learning Log Using Questions

A Grab of Questions WHAT IF?

A Wheel of Questions

Spinning Questions

The Answer is …

Questioning Notebook or Journal

A Question to Tickle Your Funny Bone

Before and After

Pictures! Pictures!

Dear Kid Question

Question Board

Question Calendar

Lesson:

“Hurricanes From a Social Studies Perspective”

How will I use questioning to enhance the teaching of _________?

Reflections:

16© 2009 John Martin.R, All rights reserved The Human Creative Minds

Effective Brainstorming

“The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.”— Linus Pauling

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• Sharpen the Focus

• Playful Rules

• Number Your Ideas

• Build and Jump

• “The Space Remembers”

• Stretch your Mental Muscles

• Get Physical

Tips for better Brainstorming

18© 2009 John Martin.R, All rights reserved The Human Creative Minds

Thank You

The HuMan Creative Minds Phone : 00968 97047403 email : jmartin.in@gmail.com