Inquiry and Costa’s Levels of Questions

1. Inquiry and Costa’s Levels of Questions

2. What is Inquiry? Inquiry (noun) Searching for answers by asking questions

3. Costa’s Levels of Questions • A system to group questions/statements by level • 3 levels • Progresses from simple questions that address lower-level thinking skills (like memorizing facts) to complex questions that address higher-level thinking skills (like inventing your own college)

4. Level 1 Questions • The answer can be found in the text • Very concrete and relates only to the text • Asks for facts about what has been heard or read • Information is recalled in the exact way it was heard

5. Level 1 Questions • Level 1 Words: • Define – tell what the meaning is • Describe – tell about • Identify/Name • List • Observe • Recite – say aloud from memory

6. Level 1 Questions Examples • What is photosynthesis? • Define exposition. • Identify the starting date of the Civil War. • Recite the first two stanzas of the poem. • List all the steps in the scientific method in any order.

7. Level 2 Questions • The answer can be inferred from the text. • Infer: to conclude or judge based on the information available • Information can be broken down into parts • Involves examining in detail, analyzing causes, making inferences, finding information to support big ideas or decision making • Questions combine information in a new way

8. Level 2 Questions • Level 2 Words • Analyze – to break a big idea into parts • Synthesize – to put small parts together • Compare – to show the similarities • Contrast – to show the differences • Categorize/Group/Classify – to put into a group based on similarities • Sequence – to put in order

9. Level 2 Questions Examples • Using a plot diagram, analyze the plot of the short story. • Compare the square root of 49 to the square root of 64. Which is greater? • Diagram and order the stages of photosynthesis. • Compare and contrast the two main characters. • Group the different questions according to Costa’s levels of questions.

10. Level 3 Questions • The answer goes beyond the text or lecture. • Ask that judgments be made from information • Gives opinions about issues, judges the validity of ideas or other products and justifies opinions and ideas

11. Level 3 Questions • Level 3 Words • Apply – to use knowledge/skills in a new setting • Evaluate/Judge – to judge, grade, say whether something is good or bad • Imagine • Hypothesize/Predict – to say what will happen next based on the information available

12. Level 3 Questions Examples • Can you predict what will happen to the main character as she grows up? How will moving away from her home change her perspective about life? • Apply your knowledge of geometry and ratios to create a perfect scale model of Campbell Middle School. • Imagine you were in the main character’s situation. What would you do and how would you feel? • Evaluate your binder using your knowledge of organization. • What would life be like today if the South had won the Civil War?

13. Level THREE Require us to APPLY/EVALUATE information evaluate, judge generalize, predict, hypothesize, imagine, speculate, forecast Level TWO Require us to PROCESS information compare, sort, infer, contrast, classify, distinguish, explain (why?) analyze Level ONE Require us to gather information complete, identify, recite, define, describe, list, observe, select

14. Level 3 Level 2 Can you build a second or third story without having the first story? Level 1