Any Questions?: How Asking the Right Questions Can Promote Critical Thinking

1. 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

2. Effect of ‘dead’ questions • Students’ thinking turns off. • They give up responsibility for thinking. • Questioning stops. • No more investigation is needed. • Curiosity dies.

3. 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?

4. How do higher level questions help learning? Students learn how to inquire, question, seek, and examine information.

5. 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

6. How do I make PINK?

7. Which do I satisfy? My ego My student’s brain

8. Definition: Critical Thinking Using methods that employ analyze synthesize evaluate

9. Six kinds of questions • Knowledge • Comprehension • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation

10. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Levels of Abstraction of Questions

11. Knowledge Questionsaka Remembering • observe and recall information • know dates, events, places Question Cues:list, define, tell, describe, identify, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name

12. Examples of Knowledge Questions 1. When did the Berlin Wall fall? 2. Where is Kaliningrad located? 3. What year was Socrates killed?

13. Comprehension Questionsaka Understanding • understand information • grasp meaning • translate knowledge into new context Question Cues:summarize, describe, contrast, associate, distinguish, differentiate, discuss, paraphrase, explain, demonstrate

14. 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?

15. 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

16. Examples of Application Questions • 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.

17. Analysis Questions • see patterns • organize parts • identify components Question Cues:analyze, order, explain, compare, explain, infer, discriminate, illustrate, outline, distinguish, why

18. Examples of Analysis Questions • What are some possible outcomes of the U.S. presidential election? • Write a commercial using the information you just learned about the harm of smoking. 3. Distinguish between a good and a bad essay.

19. 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

20. Examples of Synthesis Questions • Create a new product. Give it a name and design a marketing campaign. • How many ways can you study for a test? • What if President Truman had never dropped the atomic bomb on Japan?

21. 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

22. Examples of Evaluation Questions • Form a panel to discuss how to use questions in the classroom. • Justify the use of nuclear power. 3.Convince me you deserve a good mark on this paper!

23. A lesson using Bloom’s taxonomy of questions “The Global Child” International adoption and parental responsibility

24. Knowledge list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name • What country is Raquel from? • What does the word indigenous mean?

25. Comprehensionsummarize, 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?

26. 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?

27. 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?

28. Synthesis Questionscombine, 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.

29. Evaluation Questionsassess, 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?

30. Assessment Answers to open-ended questions can be judged on originality, completeness, organization, and other factors. Perhaps students could grade each other’s answers.

31. 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.

32. Any questions?

33. References Bartel, M. (2004). Encouraging creative thinking with awareness and discovery questions. Retrieved November 1, 2012, fromhttp://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.