A student is asked, "Who is Anne Frank?" after finishing The Diary of Anne Frank. The learner just has to recollect the details from the reading to respond to the question.
With the advent of Common Core, teachers want pupils to think critically rather than merely repeat information from texts. Teachers must include students throughout education by posing higher-order questions if they are to realize this potential and be ready for success.
A few things need to be kept in mind while
1. As long as the learner is engaged, the question will trigger thinking. If not, the question will trigger irritation or will be ignored.
2. Questions should not have an expectation for response, as expectation will create pressure and kill any thinking in progress. Worse, it will make the learner averse to future questions.
3. Just because the learner hasn't given a response, doesn't mean the question is ignored. As a facilitator connected to the learner, one will be aware of the thinking in progress. In this case, move away and don't interrupt.
4. Questions as a tool work best when they are made 1 on 1, as questions to the group will generally be answered by 1 or 2 learners.
5. Thinking questions work best when the question is contextual and has multiple potential answers. For example, "How big is the earth" Vs "If Sun is the size of a basketball, what would represent the earth".
6. When the learner gives a response, it doesn't mean the thinking is over, it is just paused. Facilitators should extend their thinking by chaining follow-up questions. I would keep asking questions until the learner gets disengaged or loses interest.
7. Under no circumstances should a learner be forced to respond or engage, as that will make the learner averse to questions and activities themselves.
To learn how questions can be used as a powerful tool, please review our activities at www.mitsei.com.
Some of the guidelines we follow when using thinking questions in our activities are
1. All activity steps are accompanied by in-context thinking questions.
2. Thinking questions are open-ended and usually trigger HOTS
3. Facilitator would get the activity started and while the learners are engaged in doing the activity, the facilitator would go around asking thinking questions.
4. facilitators are encouraged to engage with follow-up questions if there is a response, if not they just move on to the next learner.
5. Thinking questions provided with activity are only indicative and the facilitator is free to use different or additional as they see fit.
In conclusion, Questions can be used as a very powerful tool, if one knows how to use it. At the same time, it can be quite detrimental if one doesn't know how to use it effectively.
Also read: Higher Order Thinking Skills