Working Towards a Thinking Classroom

What is a good question?

When do we ask questions? Whoneedstobeagoodquestioner?

When are questioning skills important outside of school? What does a good

question do?

What are we looking for

when children answer

questions?

They tend to be RECALL questions rather than questions requiring higher level thought.

From Studies done in classrooms

1 every 2/3 seconds

Active thinking

All ideas considered

No put downs

One at a time

Build on ideas of others

Respectful challenges of

ideas

Feels Like My questions will be valued

I am comfortable to ask a question that challenges a point of view

My peers will respond courteously when I ask a question

I respect different views I am confident to ask left-of-field

questions

Sounds Like Students taking initiative for asking

questions Different types of questions being

asked Responding positively to each

other’s questions. A range of responses being given

to a question Seeking clarification or more detail

Questions being sustained

Looks Like Listening attentively to questions

Engaging with each other’s responses

Teachers and students asking questions

Consideration given to responses Think time being used

An ideas centred discussion rather than a teacher or student centred

one.

A questioning friendly classroom is a place where:

 Student responses to questions are put down

 Teachers are seen as the question-askers and students as the question-answerers

 Students recited a response to a question rather than discuss it

 Students are concerned with expressing their viewpoint rather than responding to what someone else has said.

 Different responses to a question are encouraged

 Students build on each other’s responses

 Students are prepared to challenge or contest a response

 Students take risks and offer divergent ideas and opinions

 Students generate questions for discussions.

A questioning-friendly classroom is not a place where:

Classroom Discussion Structures

 Engage with teacher  Aim to get to some

teacher-decided idea  Teacher asks a

question or evaluates idea after every student comment

 Teachers helps direct students to the answers so they make progress

Teacher Centred

Classroom Discussion Structures

 Engage with each other

 Aim is all students contribute

 Each comment is usually on a different point so little progress

 Aim is to get an outcome

 Some students try to dominate or it becomes a debate so little progress

Student Centred

Classroom Discussion Structures

 Students engage with student ideas

 Students make connections & distinctions, critically evaluate, challenge and build

 Teacher and students ensure the inquiry is rigorous, so they make progress

 Better and worse answers

Inquiry Community

Look at the ‘big’ questions - the underlying concepts

Example One: What is a number? Are numbers created or discovered? Could numbers be different to how they are now?

Look at the ‘big’ questions - the underlying concepts

Example Two: What is fitness? What is health? Is fitness the same or different to health?

Look at the ‘big’ questions - the underlying concepts

Example Three: What is knowledge? What does it mean to know something? Is all knowledge the same?

Look at the important questions - the questions we should strive to answer

and are central to our lives

Example: Friendship What does it mean to be a good friend? How shall I treat my friends? How can I be a better friend?

Look at challenging questions - when we know that children will not know the answer or even how to find out the

answer

Example: Petone Foreshore Who should have the rights over the foreshore in Petone?

Single answer or limited number of answers

eg What is 6x6? How did you travel to school?

Closed Convergent

Open Divergent

Skinny Simple

Many possible answers and not only one correct answer eg How could the school assemblies be improved?

Little explanation required Requires recall, knowledge and

comprehension eg What makes a healthy lunch?

Requires a degree of explanation and interpretation

How could you encourage children to eat healthier lunches?

Fat Complex

Training kids into thinking question routines.

Use questioning frameworks to help extend types of questions

Improvement What are the

weaknesses and how can we improve it?

Direct Action How do we feel about...

and what are the dangers?

Explanation What do we know and what are the possible

explanations?

Design How can we make our environment better?

Caution What are the possible

dangers?

Emotions How do we feel? What do we know? What can we do

about it? What is the conclusion?

Assessment What are the good

points and how can we summarise them?

Evaluation How well did you do...

Event Situation Choice Person Reason Means

Present What is? Where/ when is?

Which is? Who is? Why is? How is?

Past What did? Where/

when did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did?

Possibility What can? Where/

when can? Which can? Who can? Why can? How can?

Probability What would?

Where/ when would?

Which would?

Who would? Why would? How would?

Prediction What will? Where/

when will? Which will? Who will? Why will? How will?

Imagination What might? Where/

when might? Which might?

Who might? Why might? How might?

 What do I do next?  How can I best approach this next

step?, This next challenge? This next frustration?

 What thinking tool is most apt to help me here?

 What have I done when I've been here before? What worked or didn't work? What have others tried before me?

 What type of question would help me most with this task?

 How do I need to change my research plan?

Strategic Questions Elaborating Questions

 What does this mean?  What might it mean if certain

conditions and circumstances changed?

 How could I take this farther? What is the logical next step? What is missing? What needs to be filled in?

 Reading between the lines, what does this REALLY mean?

 What are the implied or suggested meanings?

http://fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html

Ask less questions and make them challenging

Wait 3 seconds after asking question

Wait 3 seconds after question answered

Thinking Time

Model

Enforce

Move from the teacher as a questioner who sifts through answers looking for the ‘correct’ one

The teacher treating each response by a child as an opportunity to improve their thinking - being a coach for thinking!

Could you tell us a little more about that idea?

How else could

we think about

this?

Strategy Description Application

Demonstrate listening

Show your students you are interested in their response. Initial response may be fragmented or disjointed as students grapple to

clarify their ideas.

Use non-verbal signals such as facial expressions, a nod, eye contact, sitting forward

Sustain the Question

Use probes that encourage clarification, extension or elaboration of a response.

Encourage a range of responses to the one question.

Does anyone have a different opinion? Could you tell us a little more about that idea? Can you

provide some evidence to support your view?

Allow wait time

Learn to be comfortable with the silences so that wait time is extended. Tell students why

you are waiting.

Use affirmative non-verbal signals that show engagement and provide encouragement.

Minimise feedback

Affirm student responses but avoid excessive praise which

may silence alternative responses.

That’s an interesting point of view. Yes, that’s one way. Can

anyone add to that? Thank you for that idea.

Vacate the floor

Redirect student responses or comments. Breaking the sequence

makes students aware that talk doesn’t always have to be directed

through the teacher and encourages student dialogue.

Would anyone like to respond to that idea? What can you add to that response? How consistent is that response

with what you think?

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

Voltaire (1694 - 1778)