Asking Questions for Critical
Thinking
http://tinyurl.com/8ot27e5
Christopher Price
Director, Center for Excellence in
Learning and Teaching
Instructor, Department of Political
Science & International Studies
?=
http://www.booksatruestory.com/2012/01/27/
http://kantianschool.blogspot.com/
http://kantianschool.blogsot.com/
Questions for Today
1. What does the research say about questions in the
college classroom?
2. How can you incorporate this research in the way
you design and deliver courses?
a. What are some helpful best practice strategies for
using questions that transcend disciplines and
course types?
3. What questions do you have about using questions?
Research
• According to Mayer (2009) questions
prime [the] cognitive process of learning
through helping students
– select the relevant material from the lesson
– organize a coherent representation of that
material in working memory
– integrate that representation with existing
knowledge in the long term memory
Asking Questions =
http://www.orgsites.com/oh/gsteph/
No Questions =
http://beyondbitsandatomsblog.stanford.edu/spring2010/categ
ory/freire-piaget-papert/
Research
• Barnes (1983) found that
– college instructors spend less than 4% of
class time on questions
– 82% of questions asked were of the
“cognitive memory” type
– Findings held true across various conditions
(public/private, small/large,
beginning/advanced)
How questions are typically used
Research
• Braxton (1993) found that faculty at more
selective colleges and universities ask more
“higher-order” questions (questions without
memorizable “cognitive memory” or easy-tofigure out “convergent thinking” answers)
• Renaud & Murray (2007) found a positive
correlation between the frequency of higher
order questions and measures of critical
thinking in three different conditions.
Questions for Today
1. What does the research say about questions in the
college classroom? ✓
2. How can you incorporate this research in the way
you design and deliver courses?
a. What are some helpful best practice strategies for
using questions that transcend disciplines and
course types?
3. What questions do you have about using questions?
Course Design
http://classweb.gmu.edu/
Course Design
• Create high-order course goals
– analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Provide opportunities for active learning
– Practice integrating, applying, and thinking
about course content (McKeachie, 2006)
• Align activities, assignments and
assessments with course goals
– http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/cou
rsedesign/tutorial/index.html
Course Delivery
Good questioning practice?
Question Typologies
• Gallagher & Aschner (in Barnes, 1983)
–
–
–
–
–
Routine thinking
Cognitive memory
Convergent thinking
Divergent thinking
Evaluative thinking
http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips
/promoting_and_assessing_critical_thinking.html
Question Typologies
• Brookfield & Preskill, 2005 (discussion)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Qs that ask for more evidence
Qs that ask for clarification
Open Qs
Linking or extension Qs
Hypothetical Qs
Cause/effect Qs
Summary/synthesis Qs
Question Typologies
• Andrews in Nilson, 2005 (high mileage)
– brainstorm
– focal (viewpoint)
– playground (opinion, hypothetical, etc.)
http://misslwholebrainteaching.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html
Question Typologies
• Nilson, 2003 (poorly designed questions)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
analytic convergent
programmed-answer
rhetorical
quiz show
dead-end
fuzzy
chameleon/shotgun
put down/ego stroking
http://www.tricitypsychology.com/back-to-school-or-back-toburnout/
Questioning Process
Adapted from Davis, 2001 & Wood, 2010
• Cold call or volunteer?
• Wait 10 seconds
• Mindfully respond (listen & use verbal and non-verbal
cues)
• One at a time
• Low-order should be brief, early, and spiced-up
• Allow for student interaction
• Teach how to construct high-order
Student Generated Questions
• Design an entire course around student generated
questions (inquiry based teaching)
• Justice et al. (2007) describe such a course and offer the
following criteria for evaluating inquiry questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Interesting
Analytical
Problematic
Complex
Important
Genuine
Researchable
http://www.kentlaw.iit.edu/
A Closing Thought
• “Whereas some professors might see their job as
teaching the facts, concepts, and procedures of their
subject, the teachers we studied emphasized the
pursuit of answers to important questions and often
encouraged students to use the methodologies,
assumptions, and concepts from a variety of fields to
solve complex problems”
– (Bain, 2004, p. 45)
http://www.montclair.edu/news/article.php?ArticleID=1728&ChannelID=2
8
Questions for Today
1. What does the research say about questions in the
college classroom? ✓
2. How can you incorporate this research in the way
you design and deliver courses?
a. What are some helpful best practice strategies for
using questions that transcend disciplines and
course types? ✓
3. What questions do you have about using questions?
Questioning Resrouces
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Barnes, C.P. (1983). Questioning in college classrooms. In Ellner, C.L. & Barnes, C.P., Studies in college
teaching: Experimental results, theoretical interpretations, and new perspectives. Macmillan
Publishing Company
Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. New
York: Longman.
Braxton, J.M. (1993). Selectivity and rigor in research universities. The Journal of Higher Education 64:
657-675.
Brookfield, S. & Preskill, S. (2005). Discussion as a way of teaching: Tools and techniques for democratic
classrooms (second edition). San Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass
Davis, B.G. (2001). Tools for teaching. San Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass
Justice, C. et. al. (2007). Inquiry in higher education: Reflections and directions on course design and teaching
methods. Innovative Higher Education 31: 201-214.
Mayer, R.E. et. al. (2009). Clickers in college classrooms: Fostering learning with questioning methods in large
lecture classes. Contemporary Educational Psychology 24: 51-57.
McKeachie, W.J. & Svinicki, M. (2006). McKeachie’s Teaching Tips. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Middlecamp, C.H. & Nickel, A. (2005). Doing science and asking questions II: An exercise that generates
questions. Journal of Chemical Education 82: 1181-1186
Nilson, L.B. (2003). Teaching at its best (second edition). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.
Nygren, K. (2007). Elevating knowledge from level 1 to level 3. In Beyerlein, S.W., Holmes, C., & Apple, D.K.
Faculty Guidebook. Pacific Crest.
Renaud, R.D. & Murray, H.G. (2007). The validity of higher-order questions as a process indicator of educational
quality. Research in Higher Education 48: 319-351.
Wood, E. (2010). It is yours for the asking: Using questioning to promote discussion in the classroom. In Black,
C. The Dynamic classroom: Engaging students in higher education. Madison, WI: Atwood
Publishing.