Title: 21st century learning in action: Understanding how student questions activate thinking, learning and ownership in a
problem-based inquiry environment
Abstract
In a typical elementary classroom, teachers ask 80% of the questions and most are factual or inferential in nature. Few students are
pushed beyond recall of information. The purpose of this two-year mixed-methods study of a problem-based inquiry summer school
program was to explore how students become more engaged in their learning as teachers shifted their instruction from teacher to
student centered by engaging students in asking inquiry questions. The study took place in the United States in one elementary (K-5)
school serving high needs Latino students. Two theoretical lenses guided the study. Distributed cognition allowed highlighting the
interaction between teacher, students, and artifacts used for inquiry to see how students engaged in the scientific process. The concept
of knowledge management supported exploring how information was shared, knowledge created and codified in ways that supported
all students learning. This study showed that when teachers ask higher order questions and ask students to generate their own
questions, students were able to take more ownership of their learning and learn at deeper levels. The data suggest that student
generated questions engage them more deeply in the inquiry process.
Statement of Purpose
The overall purpose of this study is to explore how student questions were affected as the teachers in an elementary school (K5) practiced asking higher order questions and encouraging students to generate their own questions as they began a problem-based
inquiry study. The focus of this research is:
1. How are students engaged in questioning?
a. How are student questions shaped according to higher order questioning taxonomies?
b. How are student questions reflective of the Continuum of Inquiry?
c. How does student questioning help them in their learning of science?
2. In what ways does engaging students in generating questions affect students’ self-directed learning?
Review of Literature and Theoretical Framework
This study draws on two theoretical frameworks: distributed cognition and knowledge management. Research shows that
children’s learning is most effective when cognition develops via active engagement during the construction of knowledge (Bransford
et al., 2006; Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, & Means, 2000). Hutchins’ work on distributed cognition (1995; 2000) identified the
importance of understanding the interaction among the individual, the team and the artifacts in the learning environment. This
distributive perspective provides insights into problem-based inquiry learning where students are engaged in intense teamwork.
To understand the larger classroom dynamics of information sharing, knowledge creation and codification, we turned to the
theoretical framework of knowledge management (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Edge, 2005;
Argote, Beckman, & Epple, 1990). Knowledge management (KM) provides a lens to explore how students and teachers engage in the
process of making their prior knowledge explicit through personalization in inquiry teams. In addition the concept of codification
illustrates the importance of publically articulating the teams’ learning during the process of questioning and discussion. Figure 1,
adapted from Karwan and Chrispeels (2013), presents an Inquiry Learning Loop that illustrates the flow, creation, personalization and
codification of classroom knowledge.
Methods of Inquiry
This mixed-method design study (Cobb, Confrey, diSessa, Lehrer, & Schauble, 2003) draws upon multiple data sources to
construct and triangulate evidence of students’ cognitive interactions as they engage with teachers and classmates in problem-based
inquiry.
Context of the Study
The setting is a K-5 school serving Latino heritage students; 93% qualify for free lunch and 82% are English language
learners. This school has supported student and teacher learning over a three-year problem-based inquiry summer program. The
participants for this study were 350 K-5th grade students and 18 teachers.
Data Sources and Collection
The study was conducted over the last two years. Qualitative data include: 100 hours of observations in K-5 classrooms,
student journals with student questions, team planning minutes and documents, student focus group interviews with 20 students,
coaching data feedback notes, and teacher focus group interviews with 18 teachers. Quantitative data sources include multiple teacher
surveys and mirrored pre and post NGSS aligned student assessment results.
During June 2013 professional development, teachers received 35 hours of professional development Inquiry Design for Deep
Learning (IDDL).i In addition to designing inquiry units, teachers learned how to engage students in generating questions (Rothstein
& Santana, 2009).
Data Analysis.
Qualitative data were analyzed and coded for emergent themes. Codes were then entered into NVivo 10.0 to search for
prevalence of these themes. Data were coded using a taxonomy of questions (IDDL Questions of Inquiry Rubric, Karwan, in press)
and Ostlund’s (1992) Continuum of Inquiry, which explores the level of student engagement in questioning, generating hypotheses,
investigating, collecting organizing and interpreting data, and drawing conclusions offering explanations and presenting data. Data
sources were analyzed iteratively in order to examine student questions and their engagement with questions as well as shifts in the
types of questions teachers ask and the level of student involvement in generating questions.
Results
Preliminary data analyses show four overarching themes.
1.
Student questions changed over time from closed to open as teachers exposed them to different types of questions.
Students were able to articulate the difference between open and closed ended questions. For example, one 4th grade
class was asked to pose “how and why” questions; all students were able to form such questions (observation data).
Teacher A shared, “They started off with very simple questions…they got better at the kinds of questions that a
scientist would ask.”
2.
As students generated their own questions, student thinking became more explicit as well as their feelings of owning
their learning. One student responded, if you ask the questions “you learn it…and remember” (student D). Teacher D
confirmed saying: “I’ve just been amazed at how much better the students learn and retain the information when they
are doing their own problem-solving and asking their own questions.”
3.
Personalization increased, as students felt comfortable sharing their questions with their peers. Across most focus
groups, students expressed that they preferred asking teammates first before teachers.
4.
Year 2 observations showed that students used more sources of information (books, websites, videos), their level of
investigation deepened, and assessments showed more science learning.
Educational Importance: This study adds to the literature on the importance of shifting from teachers questioning to students
generating questions as a process to deepen learning and enhance the retention of information. The study shows that if teachers model
higher order questions that extend thinking, students also learn how to ask and respond to such questions. This shift is critical if
students are to be successful in mastering the new U.S. Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Using
the lens of KM, the study also contributes by theoretically exploring how knowledge is created, mobilized, and codified within a
classroom that engaged in active inquiry learning.
Connections to conference theme: This study explores innovative teaching strategies and “knowledge mobilized” structures that will
leverage professional learning of new standards for teachers and students.
References
Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (2001). Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations
and research issues. MIS Quarterly, 25(1), 107-136.
Argote, L., Beckman, S., & Epple, D. (1990). The Persistence and Transfer of Learning in Industrial Settings. Management Science,
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Bransford, J. D., Vye, N., Stevens, R., Kuhl, P., Schwartz, D., Bell, P., Meltzoff, A., Barron, B., Pea, R., Reeves, B., Roschelle, J., &
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Edge. K. (2005). Powerful public sector knowledge management: A school district example. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9
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Karwan, V. A. in press. IDDL Questions of Inquiry Rubric.
Karwan, V. A, Chrispeels, J. H. (2013). Turning around ourselves: Teacher teamwork for deep learning. Paper presented at the
International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Santiago, Chile.
Hutchins, E. (2000). Distributed Cognition. Retrieved September 12, 2011, from
http://files.meetup.com/410989/DistributedCognition.pdf
Hutchins, E. (1995). Cognition in the wild. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization Science, 5(1), 14-37.
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of
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Ostlund, K. L. (1992). Science process skills: Assessing hands-on student performance, Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N., & Means, B. M. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school
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Rothstein, D., Santana, L. (2011). Make just one change: Teach students to ask their own questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education.
Figure 1. Inquiry Learning Loop: A Conceptual Framework of Classroom Knowledge Generation, Management and Codification
through Active Engagement of students in Questioning and Research.
i
Inquiry Designs for Deep Learning (IDDL) is an instructional approach program to support teachers in shifting their classrooms from teacher-centered
to student-centered and to engage students in generating their own inquiry questions in teams. Transformative Inquiry Designs for Effective Schools
and Systems (TIDES) developed the program approach.