Growing Thinking Schools From the Inside Out thinkingschoolsinternational

1. Growing Thinking Schools From the Inside Out www.thinkingschoolsinternational.com

2. 6 Starting Points Collaborative networking Visual Mapping Thinking skills Developing dispositions Reflective questioning Structuring environment

3. Why are we asking the question below? What are the purposes of asking pupils questions ?

4. Consider the following outcomes for students from teachers’ use of quality questioning articulated by Jackie Acree Walsh and Beth DankertSattes (2011, p.3): • Focus their thinking on specified content knowledge • Use cognitive processing strategies to develop deep understandings and long-term retention of content • Askquestions to clarify or extend understandings • Monitor progress (toward learning targets through self-assessment and use of formative feedback) • Develop personal response-ability by using structural supports for thinking • Contribute positively to the creation of a classroom learning community in which thinking is valued

5. Developing Effective Questioning Practices • “Effective use of questioning is a critical asset in every good teacher’s toolbox. But just as a good mechanic selects the right tool for the job and uses it correctly, a good teacher uses questions at the right level and follows good questioning techniques.” • William G Camp • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

6. “If you should ever be charged in actual fact with the upbringing and education of these imaginary children of yours, so you will make a law that they must devote themselves especially to the technique of asking and answering questions.” - Plato’s Republic

7. Wait time is essential to the development of higher order thought processes when pupils are asked to answer a questions. It is the amount of time that elapses between a teacher asking a question and asking pupils to answer. The average teacher’s wait time is 1 second! 'Wait time'

8. Wait time is essential to the development of higher order thought processes when pupils are asked to answer a questions. It is the amount of time that elapses between a teacher asking a question and asking pupils to answer. ‘Wait time’ Are you aware that… The ‘average’ teacher asks c. 400 questions a day, allowing less than a second for an answer,before throwing the question to someone else, or answering it themselves. Steven Hastings TES, 04/07/2003

9. Impact of Increasing “Wait Time” for pupils

10. Impact of Increasing “Wait Time” for teachers

11. Developing Effective Questioning Practices • Research shows overwhelmingly that: • Teachers use memory questions in over 70% of their teaching time; • Teachers overemphasise fact questions in tests and exams; • Questions in textbooks are predominantly memory or fact questions. KarronG Lewis ~ Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, • University of Texas • A review of 37 projects in 1988 suggested that increasing the proportion of higher-order questions to 50% brought significant improvement in student attitude and performance • Source: Steven Hastings TES, 04/07/2003

12. Blooming Thinking Creating Evaluation Evaluating Synthesis Analysis Analysing Applying Application Comprehension Understanding Knowledge Remembering Bloom Anderson

13. Developing Effective Questioning Practices “If we expect pupils to engage in more creative and stimulating thought processes, we, as teachers must encourage them by asking higher level questions.” Karron G Lewis ~ Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Texas

14. Purposeful (asked to achieve a specific purpose) Phrased clearly (pupils understand what they mean) Brief (stated in as few words as possible) Thought provoking (they stimulate thought and response) Probing (involve follow-on or leading questions and ‘digging deeper’) Limited in scope (multiple part questions are confusing) Adapted to the level of the class (appropriate and differentiated) Art Costa and Bena Kallick Effective questions are:

15. Plan your questions, however… Be prepared to ask follow up questions that are logical and sequential Decide if the question is directed at the whole class, a group or an individual Pose questions that allow the pupils to have ‘thinking time’ Balance your questions between fact and thought Ask questions in a conversational tone Design questions that elicit sustained responses Other Possible Effective and Engaging Questioning Practices…

16. Stop asking so many questions yourself! Expect pupils to pose more questions both spoken and written Encourage pupils to question other pupils during discussion Welcome questions when they come Give time to allow students to pose follow up questions Collect, discuss, categorise and develop pupils’ questions Other Possible Practices To Stimulate Students’ Questioning

17. Questions that develop Bloom's levels of thinking Level of Thinking and Questioning Description ThinkingLanguage QuestionStarters Complex Questions Creating Combining information to create something new Invent Produce Design Compose Invent Construct Improve How could we design…? Could we add …? What would happen if …? Evaluating Making judgements and assessments and coming to conclusions Rank Conclude Evaluate Assess Decide check Why do you think about…? Why do you prefer this? What is the best …? Analysing Break into parts to examine more closely and understand relationships Compare Contrast Classify Order Examine Analyse How are they similar/different? How does it work ...? What is the evidence …? Applying Applying knowledge to a new situation or experience Show Use Apply Construct Illustrate What other examples are there of this? Understanding Rephrasing and interpreting to show understanding Restate Explain Interpret Translate Summarise infer What does this mean? What is the point? Can you explain …? Simple Questions Remembering Factual answers, recall and recognition Repeat Name Recall State List Count Who…? What …? Where…? When…? Which…?

18. Isidor Rabi (1898 – 1988), a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, is reported to have said that when he was at school, his mother did not ask him at the end of the day what he had learnt, but what questions he had asked. “The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will readily answer, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer.” - Alice Wellington Rollins (1847 – 1897)

19. Responding to pupils' questions Analyse the question ~ What do you mean by…? Rephrase the question ~ Are you saying …? Turn the question back to the pupil ~ What do you think? Ask a supporting question ~ I wonder whether …? Suggest a line of enquiry ~ Perhaps we could …

20. Q Matrix (Spencer Kagan)

21. “Children often come into school adept at asking questions but leave 13 years later with a much atrophied question-asking muscle.” Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask their Own Questions, 2011