Any Questions?: How Asking the Right Questions Can Promote

Critical Thinking

Nancy Burkhalter, PhD

Senior English Language Fellow

INTERNATIONAL METHODOLOGICAL SCHOOL FOR THE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH

Kaliningrad, Nov. 6-8, 2012

Effect of ‘dead’ questions

• Students’ thinking turns off.• They give up responsibility for thinking.• Questioning stops.• No more investigation is needed.• Curiosity dies.

Lower Order vs. Higher Order

At what temperature does water freeze at sea level?

What year did Mexico obtain its independence from Spain?

Why does water near bridges and in cities freeze later in the winter than water in lakes in rural areas?

How did Mexico’s movement for independence from Spain affect people in neighboring countries?

How do higher level questions help learning?

Students learn how to inquire, question, seek, and examine information.

Why is questioning important?

The quantity and quality of questioning that teachers engage in is thought to influence the quality of classroom learning.

Donald C. Orlich

How do I make PINK?

Which do I satisfy?

My ego

My student’s brain

Definition: Critical Thinking

Using methods that employanalyze

synthesize evaluate

Six kinds of questions

• Knowledge• Comprehension• Application• Analysis• Synthesis• Evaluation

Evaluation

Synthesis HIGH

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

Cognitive Difficulty

LOW

Bloom’s Taxonomyof Levels of Abstraction of Questions

Knowledge Questionsaka Remembering

• observe and recall information • know dates, events, places

Question Cues:list, define, tell, describe, identify, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name

Examples of Knowledge Questions

1. When did the Berlin Wall fall?

2. Where is Kaliningrad located?

3. What year was Socrates killed?

Comprehension Questionsaka Understanding

• understand information • grasp meaning • translate knowledge into new context

Question Cues: summarize, describe, contrast, associate, distinguish, differentiate, discuss, paraphrase, explain, demonstrate

Examples of Comprehension Questions

1. Summarize Pushkin’s poem, “I loved you once.”

2. Explain why St. Petersburg has had three different names throughout its history.

3. What is the main idea of War and Peace?

Application Questionsaka Using

• use methods, concepts, theories in new situations

• solve problems using skills or knowledge

Question Cues: apply, demonstrate, calculate, show, solve, examine, relate, change, classify, experiment, assess, chart, construct

Examples of Application Questions

1.Chart the growth of population in Russia since 1917.

2. Demonstrate the best way to get your child to behave at the dinner table.

3. Write a guidebook about the most important historical sites in Kaliningrad.

Analysis Questions

• see patterns • organize parts • identify components

Question Cues:analyze, order, explain, compare, explain, infer, discriminate, illustrate, outline, distinguish, why

Examples of Analysis Questions

1. What are some possible outcomes of the U.S. presidential election?

2. Write a commercial using the information you just learned about the harm of smoking.

3. Distinguish between a good and a bad essay.

Synthesis Questions

• use old ideas to create new ones • generalize from given facts • relate knowledge from several areas

Question Cues:combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, plan, create, design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate, generalize, revise

Examples of Synthesis Questions

1. Create a new product. Give it a name and design a marketing campaign.

2. How many ways can you study for a test?

3. What if President Truman had never dropped the atomic bomb on Japan?

Evaluation Questions

• compare and discriminate between ideas • assess value of theories, presentations • predict, draw conclusions

Question Cues:assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, justify, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare

Examples of Evaluation Questions

1. Form a panel to discuss how to use questions in the classroom.

2. Justify the use of nuclear power.

3. Convince me you deserve a good mark on this paper!

A lesson using Bloom’s taxonomy of questions

“The Global Child” International adoption and parental

responsibility

Knowledge list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect,

examine, tabulate, quote, name

• What country is Raquel from?

• What does the word indigenous mean?

Comprehension summarize, describe, contrast, associate,

distinguish, differentiate, discuss, paraphrase, explain

• Why did Raquel’s mother give her up for adoption?

• What did her old house look like?

Application apply, demonstrate, calculate, show, solve, examine, relate,

change, classify, experiment, assess, chart, construct

• What questions would you ask Raquel’s birth mother about giving her daughter up for adoption?

• Can you relate any of Raquel’s feelings to your own life?

Analysis analyze, order, explain, compare, explain, infer, discriminate, illustrate, outline, distinguish

• Why do you think Raquel dropped her camera?

• Do you think the parents were right to take Raquel back to Guatemala?

Synthesis Questions combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, plan, create, design,

invent, what if?, compose, formulate, generalize, revise

• Statistics show that Russians want Russian orphans to be adopted by Russians. If that is so, why are so few adopted by them?

• Imagine you are Raquel. Write a diary entry from her perspective on the day she went to her old house.

Evaluation Questions assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support,

conclude, compare

• Do you agree that adopted children should visit their country of birth?

• What problems do you think they may have as a result of being adopted?

Assessment

Answers to open-ended questions can be judged on originality, completeness, organization, and other factors.

Perhaps students could grade each other’s answers.

To summarize

• Foster critical thinking with questions requiring higher order skills: analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

• Higher level questions do not have a right or wrong answer.

• Empower your students. Ask them to think for themselves.

Any questions?

References

Bartel, M. (2004). Encouraging creative thinking with awareness and discovery questions. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://www.bartelart.com/arted/questions.html#tests

Bloom's taxonomy. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/blooms-taxonomy.html

Dalton, J. & Smith, D. (1986). Extending children’s special abilities – Strategies for primary classrooms, pp 36-7. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from

http://www.aisa.or.ke/uploaded/downloads/aisa2010conference/Judy_Wooster_Workshop_Handout_Applying_Blooms_Taxonomy.pdf

Numrich, C. (2010). Raise the issues. White Plains, NY: Pearson, pp. 47-48.