Questioning
Josh Reid, Ph.D.
“The flaw in most Socratic,
Critical, and problem-based
approaches is that the
teacher retains control of the
inquiry.”
-Matthew H. Bowker
QUESTIONING:
Students ask questions that facilitate the
solution of problems and the pursuit of
opportunities.
INtopFORM Summer Workshop 2015
Assessment and Implementation Planning Worksheet
Part I: Write each INtopFORM Learning Outcome Using Language
Appropriate for your discipline
My version from 2013:
Students will develop a questioning
habit of mind to analyze the texts in the
class and their own writing.
INtopFORM Summer Workshop 2015—Yours??
INtopFORM Summer Workshop 2014
BSC: Students learn how to generate scientific hypotheses about
biological phenomenon.
SW: Students will engage in inquiring questions to examine different
theories.
Nursing: Students ask questions facilitating caring for patients and their
families, helping them heal and enhancing their lives.
Sports Management: Formulate questions that will facilitate the
exploring of a client’s needs.
“Children enter school as question marks and come out
as periods.”
-Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a
Subversive Activity
Part 2: Mark the items that best describe how you hope your majors will excel with respect to each
INtopFORM learning outcome. Check all that apply. Then, write your own items that are especially
relevant to your majors’ ability to demonstrate information fluency skills.
QUESTIONING: Students ask questions that facilitate the solution of problems and
the pursuit of opportunities.
☐
Questions define the scope of the area of interest.
☐
Questions identify key issues to be resolved.
☐
Questions demonstrate understanding of the problem, task or topic.
☐
Questions encourage a broad search for information.
☐
Questions are relevant to the problem, task or topic.
☐
Questions bring needed focus or structure to the problem, task or topic.
☐
Questions examine diverse perspectives on the problem, task or topic.
☐
Questions reflect attitudes of openness and curiosity.
Additional items that are especially relevant to your majors’ ability to ask good questions:
1.
2.
In order for students to develop a
questioning habit of mind to analyze the
texts in the class and their own writing,
question-making must become a core
component of course content.
Students should feel like their questions
matter.
AMNIOCENTESIS
What is amniocentesis?
What is it used for?
Where did it originate?
How was it developed?
Does it help?
Who discovered it?
How does it work?
Does it hurt?
Is it harmful?
Does it cost a lot?
Should it be used?
When is it needed?
Is it practical?
Is it accurate?
Is it safe?
Do all women need it?
What does it show?
What negative effects are associated with it?
Why was it developed?
What improvements have been made?
Some Questions are More Insightful Than
Others Open-ended
Closed
What/When/Who/Where
Fact-based/Yes or No/True
or False
Who are the main
characters?
What happens in
the beginning of
the story?
What is the
second section of
a lab report?
How/Why
Process/Multiple
Answers/Detailed answers
Why do the
characters act the
way that they do?
Why does the story
start that way?
What effect does it
have?
Why does the
methods section
occur where it does?
How does it serve
the audience?
AMNIOCENTESIS
What is amniocentesis?
What is it used for?
Where did it originate?
How was it developed?
Does it help?
Who discovered it?
How does it work?
Does it hurt?
Is it harmful?
Does it cost a lot?
Should it be used?
When is it needed?
Is it practical?
Is it accurate?
Is it safe?
Do all women need it?
What does it show?
What negative effects are associated with it?
Why was it developed?
What improvements have been made?
Questions: Content-Specific
Seeking Meaning
• How does the artist use
the elements of art
(line/shape/color/texture)
to express
effect/meaning?
• What literary terms is the
author using in this
stanza? Why is he or she
using them? To what
effect?
Important
themes/movements/problems
posed as questions
• Impressionism: How can
an artist depict human
experience in the age of
the photograph and its
relentless realism?
• Milton: How can I
reconcile classical Epic
with the Bible?
See “Questioning with Dr. Dilshod Achilov” for more content-specific activites
Questions: Audience
What questions about human
cloning might a
•Prospective parent
•Person with diabetes
•Legislator
•Member of the clergy
•Attorney specializing in
children’s rights
Ask?
*From “Whose Questions?”
Teaching Critical Thinking, Dr.
William G. Kirkwood
For Scream activity, what
questions might a
•Contemporary viewer
•Art conservationist
•Investor
•Audience living in Munch’s
day
•Historian
•Painter
Ask?
Questions: Grading Criteria
Content/Organization
•Do you have four fully developed sections of the proposal that fulfill the requirements of the assignment?
•Does the proposal demonstrate clear strategies of persuasion?
•Are your transitions effective between sections and paragraphs and sentences?
•Do you utilize topic sentences?
•Do you stay focused?
•Does your conclusion answer the question, “so what?”
•Do you have a clear thesis statement in your introduction on why this project is important enough to deserve funding?
•Is your research question clearly articulated in your introduction?
•Do you use at least four scholarly secondary sources?
•Do you analyze closely at least one primary source and discuss how that research contributes to your hypothesis?
Style/Mechanics
•Is your style appropriate for your audience? Is it formal without being stilted, accessible without being chatty?
•Are your sentences varied in length, structure, and word choices?
•Do you write with active verbs?
•Are your ideas clearly expressed?
Mechanics/Conventions
•Is your paper spell-checked?
•Is your paper free from reoccurring grammatical errors?
•Do you cite your sources correctly (both in-text and on a works cited page)?
•Are your sources properly summarized and are quotes from those sources properly integrated?
•Do you follow the “formal requirements” for page length, title, header, etc.?
Questions: INtopFormTastic!
• SEEKING: Where can I find information/sources to
answer this question? How can I test this question?
• EVALUATE: Is this source scholarly or popular? Does
this source pass the CRAP test?
• USING: Where can I place this source in my paper?
Which quotes/what data will help support my point
here?
• RECOGNIZING: Am I citing this source correctly in
MLA/APA/Chicago style?
Questions: Researching/Writing/Peer Review
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
See Kirkwood’s “Pre-Research Questions”
What is my argument? Where is my thesis statement?
How does this introduction engage the reader?
Who is my audience?
How does this paragraph support the argument?
How can I connect this paragraph with the previous
one?
What is the focus of this paragraph?
How so?
Do I have an example?
Can I come up with an analogy here?
Questions: Study Skills/Metacognition
• Brainstorming for lecture: What questions about today’s
reading/topic do I hope will be covered for class today?
• Brainstorming topics: What text(s) am I most interested in writing
about?
• Exam Questions: Based on the material covered for today, what is
a likely test question for the exam?
• Growth Mindset: How can I use my instructor’s feedback to
improve for next time? How can I use this grade/error/mistake to
grow?
• Text Annotation: Why does the writer open the essay this way?
What is his/her evidence for this assertion? Why is this sentence
so effective?
• How do I study? What is my writing process?
• Why am I studying this? Why is it important? Why is it important to
me?
“Knowledge is produced in response to questions. And
new knowledge results from the asking of new
questions; quite often new questions about old
questions. Here is the point: Once you have learned
how to ask questions—relevant and appropriate and
substantial questions—you have learned how to learn
and no one can keep you from learning whatever you
want or need to know.”
-Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a
Subversive Activity
“The most basic requirement for a successful question-centered pedagogy is the
rediscovery of enjoyment, meaning, and value in questions.” –Matthew H. Bowker
Part 3: Describe a teaching idea your heard or thought about today that you want to
use to teach your students each of the INtopFORM learning outcomes. Describe
when and where you plan to try out this idea.
QUESTIONING: Students ask questions that facilitate the solution of
problems and the pursuit of opportunities.
Idea:
When & Where