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FERTILE QUESTIONS

FERTILE QUESTIONS. A closer look at using fertile questions to engage students in rich learning. What are the 6 criteria for a fertile question?. Is it an open question?

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FERTILE QUESTIONS

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  1. FERTILE QUESTIONS A closer look at using fertile questions to engage students in rich learning

  2. What are the 6 criteria for a fertile question? • Is it an open question? • It cannotbeanswered by a ‘yes / no’ response, or a short 2 or 3 wordresponse. In fact, an open ended question always has severaldifferentresponses (whichcouldevencontradict one another). Couldprayer help shapemy life? (Not an open question.) How couldprayer help shapemy life? (Just slightrewording and itisnow an open question.)

  3. Is it an undermining question? • If so, itwillmake the learners question coreassumptions or ‘fixedbeliefs’. • Whyis the Eucharist important for us, in a Catholicschool? (Test: WouldyourlearnersthinkthatEucharistwasconsidered to be important in yourschool? If so, the question does not challenge whatyourlearnersthink.)

  4. Top Tip 1! • Whenyou are trying to develop a fertile question, startwith the question: What are the assumptionsthatmylearnerswillwalkinto the class with about thistopic? Name someassumptions, then come up with a question to challenge coreassumptions. • E.gEucharist – ‘Myyear 5 studentsthinkthatEucharistissomethingthey observe, ratherthanparticipate in. They do not thinkit has anyconnectionwiththeirlives ’.

  5. So whatcouldour fertile question be? • What does the Eucharist offer me? What can I offer the Eucharist? TOP TIP 2: Ensure the question is open-ended, and then personalise it with a word such as ‘I, we, me, us…’ and you’ll probably find that your question now covers all six criteria for a fertile question.

  6. What are the other 4 criteria?A fertile question is also: • Rich (requires grappling with rich content, that could be broken up into sub headings) • Connected (relevant to the lives of the learners and their context) • Charged (has an ethical dimension and challenges students’ thinking about how they live their lives) • Practical (the question can be researched because there is plenty of information available)

  7. Let’s take a look at some examples: Topic: The Bible Major assumption of students in the class: ‘The Bible is a book written a long time ago that does not have anything to do with our lives today’.

  8. Possible fertile questions: The Bible: What’s in it for me? Why would we bother reading the Bible today? How could the Bible offer anything to us?

  9. Let’s take a look at some examples: Topic: Images of Jesus Assumption of students in the class: ‘Jesus was a person who lived a long time ago so he is not very relevant today, and the Gospels tell us the same things about Jesus, so everybody understands Jesus in the same way’.

  10. Possible fertile questions: How does the image of Jesus inspire / affect me? Who is Jesus for me? Why could my image of Jesus make a difference in my life today?

  11. Let’s take a look at some examples: Topic: Faith is a gift from God. Information about students in the class: 2 year six classes – one class would describe themselves as ‘believers’, but not everyone in the other class would say they were ‘believers’.

  12. Possible fertile questions: What difference does faith make in my life? (No – assumes all students are believers when they are not.) How do I experience faith? (No – assumes all students will experience religious faith) How do I, as a human being, experience faith? (Better question – can begin the unit of work looking at what we have faith in – sporting teams etc. and then go deeper into exploring religious faith.)

  13. Why use fertile questions? • To engage students in deeplearning – not surface levelresponses / learning. A good fertile question paves the way for richresearch and exploration of topics, in order to articulate a wellthought out responsethatdemonstratesdeeplearning.

  14. What are the characteristics of a ‘Thinking Curriculum’? • Supportive individual relationships • Secure environment for risk-taking in thinking and learning • Emphasis on motivation, cognition and self-regulation • High levels of student decision-making • Explicit teaching and infusion of thinking and learning strategies through all teaching • Focussed in-depth learning • Challenging tasks, complex thinking,appropriate assessment • Time for sustained thinking and learning • Task- and effort- focused culture • Shared student and teacher beliefs. (Russell, 2000) Taken from Fertile Questions as the core to curriculum innovation, An implementation case study at Glen Waverley SC, Victoria.

  15. Fertile questions - Facilitating the process of rich learning Helping students connect religious knowledge with their own lives Helping equip our students for life.

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