Asking Powerful Questions Mike Stein - Instructional Designer

How do students learn?

We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience. - (attributed to) John Dewey

Objectives At the end of this workshop, I can: Identify & address why students don’t answer questions Identify 15 techniques to help students reflect Define & create HOT questions Asked students to share ideas and experiences with others whose backgrounds and viewpoints differ from their own Encouraged students to reflect on and evaluate what they have learned

Why don’t students answer questions? http://edc.polyu.edu.hk/help/HELP_Answer.pdf

What can you do? Wait Cold call Rephrase the question Break the question down Display the question Give a lifeline

What can you do? How long should you wait for students to answer after asking a question? What should you do if you call on a student and they can’t answer your question? What are the most important factors in establishing an academically safe classroom? How can you provide opportunities for non-native English speakers to participate? Wait at least 10 seconds. You can even enforce this by asking students to think for 10 seconds “I’m going to give you 10 seconds. I want you think about…” This will even the odds for slower thinkers and build in time for reflection. Own the awkwardness and silence. Silence is GOOD! It means reflection is happening. It’s harder to reflect with noise! Do NOT let students opt out. I don’t know is an acceptable answer but ask another student and then come back to the first and ask them to rephrase or add to what the other student said. This will promote active listening AND show the students that they can’t escape your questions with I don’t know or trying to out-wait you. (Norman Eng – Teaching College) Validating mistakes and not embarrassing students is an important part of establishing an academically safe classroom environment. Thank students for answering but never say WRONG! or that’s not what I’m looking for. Instead use words like, does anyone else have anything to add to what John said, or that’s an interesting perspective, does anyone disagree with this perspective? Challenging students to question each other (and you) is an important part of critical thinking. Repeatedly asking for other answers or responses will ingrain this into your class. (Jennifer Gonzalez – Academically Safe Classroom). ESL & International students may feel shy or embarrassed to answer in front of the class (even if they have really good ideas!). Talk to them before or after class and encourage them to participate – build some rapport with them and make sure the class knows that we should respect everyone. In addition to that, utilize small group and pair activities to lower the stakes. You can also allow them to write responses if they are really struggling with English. Consider adding a discussion board component to your class to give these students more opportunities to gain participation points.

Keepers What are the main take-aways from this workshop so far?

What’s the difference between these two questions: Do the questions you ask affect the way your students learn course content? How do the questions you ask affect the way your students learn course content?

Open vs. Closed Questions Are you… Why does… Do they… Who is… In what way… Where was… Which of the… What does… When have you… How could… Open Closed Closed Open Closed Closed Closed Open Open

Open vs. Closed Long Answer Perspective Require Thinking Higher Order Thinking Short Answer Factual Require Remembering Lower Order Thinking

Blooms Taxonomy of Learning Higher order thinking skills Judge Summarize Design Differentiate Lower order thinking skills Use Identify Source Learn NC: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4719

Trick Questions! Should you strive to ask ONLY higher order thinking (HOT) questions? What is the role of LOT questions? Is Bloom’s Taxonomy linear? i.e. do you have to start at remembering and work your way up through understanding and applying before being able to evaluate or create something?

Whiteboard Stations In groups, you will travel to each station and ANALYZE the question written there. DISCUSS which level of BT you think it falls under. Then WRITE a related question using another level of BT (you can choose but try to vary your questions!). Then when you hear the signal, MOVE to the left to the next station and ANALYZE ALL questions there. DO NOT WRITE the answers, just questions!

HOT Questions Recall Apply Evaluate Create Understand Analyze Who was the 16th president of the United States? How could you use the theory of relativity to describe how planets orbit the sun? Do you think Jack made the right choice by climbing up the beanstalk? Why or why not? How could you modify the development process of consumer goods to make it more efficient? Can you explain why -10 is less than 3? How would you categorize depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder? Apply Evaluate Create Understand Analyze

Self Evaluation What types of questions do you usually ask your classes? What are you going to start doing or start doing differently now?

Objectives At the end of this workshop, I can: Identify & address why students don’t answer questions Identify 15 techniques to help students reflect Define & create HOT questions

Thank You! Schedule a consultation with an instructional designer mstein@howardcc.edu or imfacultylab@howardcc.edu Course design Confidential observations Rubrics & assessment design Active teaching ideas Classroom orientations & technology training