Students Generating Their Own Questions

Hello friends, In what ways do you structure opportunities for students to generate their own questions about the content you are teaching? When students ask their own questions, they are likely to be motivated to discover the answers to these questions, so I'm curious how teachers are supporting students to raise their own questions. KWL is one tool many teachers use for this purpose. Has KWL worked for you? What other techniques do you use?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

Comments

Hello colleagues, I am very interested in having adult learners generate their own questions. I believe having students generate their own questions can be a powerful way to build motivation for learning and self-efficacy and well as critical thinking skills. These are among the essential skills outlined in the College and Career Readiness Standards.

I read Rothstein and Santana’s (2011) --VERY BRIEF -- check it out! -- article on this topic, which is available online here http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/27_5/helarticle/teaching-students-to-ask-their-own-questions_507,  a couple of years ago, and I revisited it just recently. The authors explain that there are many ways to contextualize the question-generation activity. Teachers can use it to assess learners’ prior knowledge on a topic, as preparation for research, as a way to generate ideas for solving a math word problem, or even as a way to assess students’ learning and prepare for the next round of study, etc.

Here are the steps as outline by the authors:

1. Four essential rules for producing questions:

  1. Ask as many questions as you can.
  2. Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions.
  3. Write down every question exactly as it is stated
  4. Change any statement into a question.

2. Improve the Questions

  1. Categorize the questions as closed- or open-ended.
  2. State the advantages and disadvantages of each type of question.
  3. Change questions from one type to another.

3. Priortize the Questions

  1. Choose your three most important questions.
  2. Why did you choose these three as the most important?
  3. Next Steps: How are you going to use your questions?

I would love to hear what members think about this process. I have not yet tried it out with my class, but I plan to in the near future.

Please share your thoughts and ideas about the usefulness of having students generate their own questions.

Cheers, Susan

Source: Rothstein, D. & Santana, L. (2011). Teaching students to ask questions. Harvard Education Letter, 27(5) Retrieved from http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/27_5/helarticle/teaching-students-to-ask-their-own-questions_507

tracks what a student knows (K), wants to know (W), and has learned (L) about a topic, For a printable chart, see http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/printouts/chart-a-30226.html

HI Kate, Julie and all, Thanks for the link to the KWL graphic organizer, Kate. Many teachers have used the KWL , often before jumping in to read a text, as a useful way to assess students' prior knowledge, i.e., what students already KNOW about a topic. The questions students pose about what they WANT to know provides a focus and the motivation to find the answers to their questions. The LEARN column, gives students the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned from the lesson.

Years ago, I came across an idea that has stuck with me. In my experience, it seemed that sometimes the things students thought they knew were actually misconceptions. Tony Stead in his book Reality Checks suggested adding a column to a traditional KWL to confirm what we think we know. This additional step gives learners an added focus and motivation for their reading as they read specifically to confirm what they know. Sometimes they discover that they need to adjust their thinking.

Can you say more about how KWL has worked for you, Kate? What does everyone think about adding a column to a KWL to confirm what we think we know?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

I absolutely love the idea of using the KWL chart and adding a column for students to identify any misconceptions. As a part of our classroom instruction, we need to provide direct instruction on HOW to use graphic organizers as independent learners. These reading strategies are a significant part of preparing students for college and careers. But they also offer teachers a strategy for remediation. I can often look at a students KWL chart and quickly see what main concepts they are missing and help guide the student through key areas. Thanks for the idea of the added column. 

Kathy Tracey

Participated in a very interesting webinar yesterday: "Inquiry Learning Big6-Style: Good Questions = Good Learning!" You can view the webinar recording at: http://home.edweb.net/inquiry-learning-big6-style-good-questions-good-learning/  Big6 stresses process and could easily tie in with KWL, especially with your question concerning 'confirmation' of knowledge.

Thanks for the link to the Big 6 webinar, Kate. I have encountered the Big 6 concept before. It is basically a process for "information problem-solving" that requires critical thinking. It involves searching out information to answer important questions. You can find a quick outline of t at this link http://www.hcpss.org/f/academics/media/factsheet_big6.pdf.

The six steps include: 1) Task definition, 2) Information-seeking strategies, 3) Location and access, 4) Use of information, 5) Synthesis, 6) Evaluation.

Kate, if you have used the Big 6 process in your teaching, please let us know how it has worked for you. Have others used this process? How about other processes for helping students generate questions and seeking out answers to their questions?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP