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"Expecting children to ask good questions without being curious is like expecting a plant to grow without sunlight and water. We don't tend to ask questions about things that don't interest and intrigue us. We ask at a point of need or fascination. When we provoke, simulate and sustain curiosity, students are more naturally inclined to wonder and articulate questions for further investigation" (The power of Inquiry Kath Mordoch.)
Our passion as teachers for Inquiry and provoking ideas/research/exploration is one of our best strategies for getting children and ourselves to ask powerful questions. Think deeper.

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"Perhaps the most powerful thing we can do is to be more aware of our questioning as we teach.... Developing quality questioning techniques means considering not just the questions them selves but the ways in which we choose to ask questions - our questioning style and 'behavior'." (The power of Inquiry Kath Murdoch)

Make sure you reflect on your own questioning regularly. Do you ever fall into the "Common Questioning Traps" listed below from Kath Murdoch?

Questions designed to embarrass or humiliate the learner: asking a question to test whether someone is listening is unnecessary and demeaning.

Questions that answer themselves: 'So, can you see the way adding these three numbers makes it easier to solve the problem?'

Over-use of closed questions or those with yes/no answers: 'So, who can tell me the name of this part of the world?'

Rhetorical questions: 'Are we ready to begin?'

Disjointed question s that fail to follow through a line of thought, and therefore keep the conversation at the shallow end.

Playing the 'guess what's in the teachers' head' game: asking a question and only expecting/accepting one answer.

Lack of wait time' before and after a question is asked.
Asking a limited range of questions that mainly focus on recall rather than deeper analysis and reflection.

Opting for whole-class discussions rather than the more effective small-group or one-to-one discussions where questioning can be more personalized.

Asking all the questions rather than encouraging students to question each other.

Poor listening to students' response s and not making eye contact with the student who is talking. Inauthentic listening.

Marginalizing students (often unconsciously) by directing questions only to students we suspect will know the answer.

Praising 'correct response s in a way that decreases student risk taking or the sharing of alternative viewpoints.

Waiting until the end of an instructional period to ask questions rather than asking before and during.

Negative or judgmental feedback to what are deemed poor or incorrect responses rather than seeking more information or constructively challenging and probing to scaffold thinking.

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What further information or tools do you think you need to promote powerful questioning in your classroom? Feel free to add your questions and to respond to those of others.

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What makes you say/think that?

How do you know?

Why do you think that?

Can you tell me more?

What are some of the causes that led to…?

How does that compare to….?

What will you do next?

What did you observe happening?

What makes it meaningful to you?

Where can you use this knowledge?

What skills will you need to use/develop to find the answer?

What steps will you take?
What if . . ?
Suppose . . ?

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-Questioning for feedback and feedforward
-Establish a culture
-Celebrate different opinions
-Question tokens: give students tokens which they use each time they ask a question. This helps students to reflect on their question before asking it and think more deeply about the value and meaning of their question

-Question sort: sort questions into categories (different themes, open vs closed etc.)

-De Bono's: 6 thinking hats (each is a different category of questions)
-Questions train: for every question, ask another question pertaining to the previous answer
-Questioning for feedback and feedforward
-Thinking charts (notes on one side, questions/wonderful in the other column about new infomration)
-Be an inquirer yourself, model questions - factual, conceptual, debatable
- Plan metacognition as a goal in your questioning technique - 'if' and 'suppose' questions
-Celebrate different opinions
use a language of questioning and not answering
- Turn statements into questions
- Use 'Headlining' to sort questions using different lenses

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-Create a wonder journal that students take with them to capture their thoughts and ideas
-Activate students senses with multisensory provocations and lessons
-Create a wonder wall of student ideas to guide the inquiry learning
-Come back to the initial inquiry questions throughout the unit
-Model questioning strategies and explicitly teach how to ask a thoughtful question
-Create concept-based questions: "How does it work?" "What is it made of?"
-Frame questions from different conceptual perspectives, such as empathy: "How would this make them feel?"
-Ask "Why do you say that?" or other clarifying questions
-Turn thoughts or ideas into questions: "Insects have 6 legs" changes into "Why do insects have 6 legs?"
-Pick 1-2 questioning or thinking strategies and use them consistently to help model and teach them to students as well
-Create a genius hour where students explore their inquiry interests on a deep level

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Contact us!

Helen: h.barrow@aics.espritscholen.nl
Vandna:
vandna.arora@aics.espritscholen.nl
Olimpia:
o.brzozowski@aics.espritscholen.nl
Macy: m.mccabe@aics.espritscholen.nl

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The Amsterdam International Community School is a Dutch International Primary and Secondary School offering international education in English.

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https://padlet.com/amritamukherjee/questions

https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines

https://www.twinkl.fr/resource/pyp-powerful-provocation-prompts-in-en-21

https://sonyaterborg.com/2012/03/28/didyouaskagoodquestiontoday/

http://blogs.ubc.ca/stevemcg/files/2014/09/inquiry-questions.pdf

https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/creating-a-culture-of-questioning-inquiry-in-lower-elementary

https://wonderopolis.org/home

https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/IZX1JFyjvfWI3w/thick-thin-questions

Working Theories: https://padlet.com/lattanzio/lw96ckvvqrvk16za (password: Concepts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf1W2Qoh028

https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/creating-a-culture-of-questioning-inquiry-in-lower-elementary

Guiding Questions by Trevor Mackenzie -  (Assessment Focus)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdtK7ZZUin_2ip04Qm1gRZ-5Q2Yyeq4J/view?