Productive Questioning:

Hilda Taba Interpretation of Data

Dr. Shelagh A. GallagherEngaged Education

sagallag1@gmail.com Slides: http://www.rfwp.com

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How to you judge the health of wheat?

The ROOTS

Section 1

Why Questions?

Why don’t we talk about questioning more often?

Teaching is an ART

Requires paradigm shift in lesson planning

Requires more extensive content knowledge

Questions are small, focusing on them is picky

Highly, Deeply Personal

is just a bookCurriculum

Without Quality Instruction

...[students] are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

Jacob Brownowski

Questioning is the most frequently used teaching technique in the

classroom

Meta-Analysis of 20 studies on Questioning

...gains in achievement can be expected when higher cognitive questions assume a predominant role

during classroom instruction

(Redfield & Rousseau, 1981)

90% of all questions asked by instructors are low level questions

Teachers ask questions that require students to respond with facts

Students ask questions to clarify homework assignments

Study11 Social Studies Teacher

5 Consecutive Days 1 Hour Each

Self-Contained Classroom of Gifted Students

Cognitive Memory 52%

Divergent Thinking 6%

Evaluative Thinking 20%

Convergent Thinking 22%

Study210 Teachers of the Gifted Self-Contained Classes

5 Subjects 3 Hours Each

Groups Routine Cognitive Memory

Convergent Thinking

Evaluative Thinking

Divergent Thinking

Baker F 0 61 23 9 6Baker S 1 59 26 8 7

Charlie F 2 54 26 6 12 Charlie S 0 76 16 3 5

Dan 0 70 21 3 6Easy 1 65 24 5 6 Fox 1 45 50 3 1

George 1 49 45 3 3Hat 2 55 22 15 7

Idea 2 65 16 12 6Jack 1 54 35 8 0King 0 52 36 11 0

Classification of Teacher Questions: Percent of Questions in Each Category

Gifted students are like experts in their preference for inquiry

but NOT in their experience with inquiry

Improved Thinking Requires

Sustained, Rigorous,

Intentional

Discourse

revealing the relationship between Facts

and Big Ideas/Themes/Concepts

Productive QUESTIONS Come in Sequences

that systematically build

Hilda Taba, Goddess of Questioning

Four Structures for Organizing Questions to Achieve Higher Order Thinking

Concept Development Interpretation of Data

Application of Generalizations Resolution of Conflict

Interpretation of Data

or

Investigation of

Cause and/or Effect

A Model Lesson

Ground Rules

Raise Hands

Speak Respectfully to Others

Speak to Each Other as Well As To Me

EVERY Idea Belongs to the Entire Class

Disagree with Ideas, Not with People

What are some actions people takewhen they are prejudiced

against another person or group?

Data

scapegoating

to blame someone

else for a prob.

unaware

x

xxx

CausePrior Cause

x

x

x

fear

different from “me”

stability of “my” culture

actively exclude

ignore

spread negative

information

pass laws

Overt acts of violence

x

x

x

x

xxx

mocking

restricting mobility

stereotyping

legitimize my prejudice

to fit in with dominant culture

control

lack of trust

prevent perceived harm

purposeful marg.

lack of exposure

I might have to change

comfort

safety

fear being scapegoated

overgeneraliation of action

learned behavior

What did you Notice?

FeelingsThoughts

When Could you Use this Strategy?

What are some topics where you discuss cause and effect?

1. A Lesson Structured to Achieve a Specific Goal

2. A Plan or Cognitive Map

3. Effective Questioning Technique

PRODUCTIVE Questioning

where

... teachers ask questions that target key concepts and build carefully to enable students to find their way

around.

The Magic Effect of Taking

Small,

Systematic

Steps

Away

from Data

Structure

Prior Causes Causes DataConclude/

Generalize

For Rigorous Thinking Stick to the Source

Careful Delivery

How to Sequence During Delivery

to Get from

One Stage

to

the Next

How to Sequence During Delivery

What Does it Mean?

Why?

What?

Student 3Student 2Student 1

What? What?

Why? Why?

What Does it Mean?

What Does it Mean?

What Does it Mean?

Why?

What?

Student 3Student 2Student 1

Follow

Teachers

Students

ather

sk

ift

LAG Principle

GATHER Firsta richer field of information

opportunity for you to see relationships, anomalies, and other points worth pursuing opportunity for students to work with more

informationASK Second

LIFT Third one step away from the previous step groundwork has been laid

lift everyone in the same ‘direction’ at once

ather

sk

ift

LAG Principle

Clarification Accuracy Example Evidence (Infer)

Compare/Contrast Inconsistency/Error Classify/Patterns/Themes Perspective

Summary Evaluate Conceptualize

Structure

Prior Causes Causes DataConclude/

Generalize

Gather: Questions to produce Data or Inferences ...and then Justify

Prior Causes

Causes DataConclude/ Generalize

Gather Gather GatherLift AskAsk AskLift Lift

The

G

A

L

Principle

ather

sk

ift

Clarification Accuracy Example Evidence

(Infer)

Compare/Contrast Inconsistency/Error

Classify/Patterns/Themes Perspective

Summary Evaluate

Conceptualize

USE the

BOARD

Capture Ideas!

Create Distance Between Ideas and Individuals

Encourage Objectivity

ARROWS

ROLOC

Think-Pair Share Round Robin

Popsicle Sticks Phone-a-Friend

Inserting Effective Methods

Time to Reflect ESPECIALLY before Higher Order Questions

Classroom Interaction Analysis

Teacher T A M A A A T T M A AStudent T T A T

T = Talk A = Ask

M = Manage

CRITERIA COUNT

Focuses or Refocuses Students on Task

Ask for Reasons

Seeks Many Ideas, Encourages Student-to-Student Talk

Seeks depth with follow-up (why, consequences)

Seeks Clarification/Extention (examples, detail, etc.)

Asks closed or rhetorical question (requires ‘right’ answer, yes or no, no answer)

Gives opinion or value judgement

Does the task students were asked to do

Edits or changes a student’s idea

Rejects, ignores, or cuts off student response

Asks runon questions

Part 3:

Planning Interpretation of Data

Creating a

COGNITIVE MAP

Cognitive Map: Interpretation of Data

Prior Causes Causes Data/Facts Effects Subsequent

Effects

What data do you want to work with?

What Question will Elicit the data/facts I want?

or

Purpose: The Causes and/or Effects of Prejudice

Why is there prejudice?

What are some actions people take when they are prejudiced against another person or group?

Cognitive Map: Interpretation of Data

Conclusion Generalization

Prior Causes Causes Data/Facts

Stay Away

Make fun

Insult make jokes

Fight

Take away names

Make rules to keep away

...how will they answer?

“what do you suppose are some reasons, negative or positive, why someone would choose to ‘stay away from

others’

Anticipate...If I ask my students

You select 2-3 They select 1

Anticipate as many as you want Plan to Pursue 2-4

Then, When Teaching…

Cognitive Map: Interpretation of Data

Conclusion Generalization

Prior Causes Causes Data/FactsStay Away

Make fun

Insult make jokes

Fight

Take away names

Make rules to keep away

Desire for safety Maintain lifestyle

Keep traditions Comfort

Was made fun of Feels threatened

To feel better about self

Maintain order Fear of conflict

What makes someone feel threatened?

Cognitive Map: Interpretation of Data

Conclusion Generalization

Prior Causes Causes Data/FactsStay Away

Make fun

Insult make jokes

Fight

Take away names

Make rules to keep away

Desire for safety Maintain lifestyle

Keep traditions Comfort

Was made fun of Feels threatened

To feel better about self

Maintain order Fear of conflict

Feel threatened Want survival

Fear of unknown Fear of losing control

Low self-esteem Past experiences

Fear of change Not understanding Need for structure

To feel superior

“It’s all about Power”

Taba’s Research: Students with teachers trained in her strategies

showed...

Greater number of thought units

More complex thought

Convergence of lower and higher level thought

Using the Cognitive Map was critical to facilitating students’ cognitive development (1966)

Remain Open

Risk Imperfection

Identify Areas of Resistence

Welcome Feedback

Willing to be a Novice

Teaching that begins with questions is both a moral and a pedagogical choice. A teacher teaches with

questions because she or he believes that it is a better way to teach and a better way to

be a

teacher.

Nicholas C. Burbles, essay: “Aphoria: Webs, Passages, Getting Lost, and Learning to Go On”

Improving your Questioning Practice may be the SINGLE MOST POWERFUL

Change you can Make in your Classroom

It Costs VERY LITTLE

It requires NO new books, consumables, or computers

you WON’T sacrifice student achievement

You can start...TOMORROW

We find that some teachers ask surface questions that do not take

students deeper into...issues; we think of those students as walking

on a path that surrounds a beautiful forest without ever stepping into

the forest to look at the trees. Other teachers ask questions that

[probe but] do not build carefully toward key concepts. We think of

these students as stepping in and out of the forest, catching glimpses

of trees and flowers but not learning where they are...or how they may

navigate their way through the forest. Other teachers ask questions

that target key concepts and build carefully to enable students to find

their way around. Those students experience the forest fully--they

walk through, looking at the trees and flowers, and they also climb

some trees and look at the whole terrain, getting a sense of where

they are...the questions that teachers use to guide students become

the pathways that students walk along and that shape their

experience of the terrain. (Boaler & Humphries, 2005)

What Path will YOU Take?