There are many challenges that can be faced when your
students begin developing questions to guide their inquiry projects. “Because inquiry is not the norm in many
classrooms, students need to be taught how to formulate interesting questions”
(Thornburg, 2004, p.8). Although
students find it easy to ask questions about things as they cross their mind,
asking them to develop questions does not always come easy. They tend to come up with thin questions
where the answer is only yes, no, or another one word response.
It is also difficult to have students take the time to
create good questions. “Some students
are impatient with this planning stage and eager to get going on the computers”
(Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p.
84). We must work with the students to teach
them what makes a good question. Some
things to remind students are that we want a question that can be
researched. “Inquiry means not just
questioning, but questioning into something” (Thornburg, 2004, p.2). Dr. Thornburg shares that good questions
should also be
·
Ones we do
not know the answers too
·
Have
answers that are defensible
·
The door
is opened for more research and projects that are in-depth
·
Anything
can be created from a class project to a doctoral thesis
·
The focus
is not on the surface knowledge but on the understanding
·
Other
questions will develop
These are
important things to remember when teaching student how to create good
questions. They need to know that thin
questions will not develop a new level of understanding.
Another
challenge has to do with helping students focus their topic. Often they want to do inquiry projects with a
very broad topic such as dinosaurs. This
can sometimes result in their questions being too broad or not meaningful.,
especially when told they have a set number of questions to come up with. Surprisingly though, it is often the
questioning that allows you to help them focus in on their topic. “Focus areas can be derived by having students
brainstorm as many questions as they can about their topics, then grouping
similar questions together by using 3x5 index cards. Most students find that obvious categories of
questions emerge” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 89).
One
strategy that can be used to help students develop good questions can be with the
use of K-W-L charts. “The K stands for
‘What I already Know’, the W stands for ‘What I Want to know’, and the L is
used to record ‘What I Learned’ during and after reading and/or inquiry” (Eagleton
& Dobler, 2007, p. 90). I like to
use the updated chart that incorporates the H for “How do I find out” (Kuhlthau,
Maniotes, & Caspari, 2007). The use
of this chart helps students to take their background knowledge and build upon
that to create questions that will be meaningful to them.
Another
strategy I like to use is modeling.
Going through the inquiry process with your students can be very
valuable. They can see the steps you
take and questions you create. At a
younger age, this is more important in helping them develop questions. “An extremely powerful use of modeling is the
teacher think-aloud” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 19). As you also embark on your inquiry journey,
thinking aloud as you develop your good questions can model for students ways
to create more meaningful questions.
This shows the opportunity students have to really dig deep into a topic
that they want to know more about and it is not just creating questions for the
sake of creating questions.
There are many great resources available to help you begin teaching your students how to create good questions. LearnZillion has a whole unit designed around the Common Core. Check it out: LearnZillion Research
Resources
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the
web: strategies for internet inquiry. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari,
A. K. (2007). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century.
Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Inquiry: The art of helping
students ask good questions. Executive Briefing No. 402, pp. 1-14.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/inquiry.pdf
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