The Questioning Project has been developed by children’s educational charity the Learn2Think Foundation. Aimed at cultivating students critical thinking skills through the development of good questioning habits, it is a methodology that works within existing lesson formats rather than as a stand-alone bolt-on or an entirely new curriculum approach.
Why questioning?
Questioning can be seen as a measure of engagement and of depth of thinking. By pupils asking the questions they get to own their own ‘knowledge goals’. Ashwin Ram, whose background is in computer science, states: “The ability to ask questions is central to the process of learning, reasoning and understanding,” supporting Jill Anne Chouinard’s claim that, “The content of children’s questions parallel their conceptual advances.”
It is telling that levels of questioning fall off from the age of 5, and continue to diminish as children move through the school system. Is this because they’ve just stopped asking questions or because their motivations and engagement have plummeted?
Is it because we assume that asking questions is something children are born with, so we don’t need to teach it? Is it just a thing we do naturally? Does asking questions imply a degree of ‘not knowing’, which pupils are reluctant to admit to? Do teacher’s find the asking of questions disruptive?
At Learn2Think we believe that if teachers are given a framework for question generation at certain points of the lesson and pupils learn to use questions to further their own learning, questioning can be a powerful tool for increasing levels of engagement whilst teachers still lead the teaching process.
‘Handing over’ elements of question generation to students is a mind-set change for the teacher, and yet it is a practical, learnable skill for the student that will provide lifelong benefits.
The Theory
We work with schools to share the theory behind the role of student generated questioning in the learning process, so that practitioners and students can understand why it’s worth doing and how to implement the habit.
The Questioning Toolkit
We provide a set of tools for teachers to practice and apply the techniques. Starting with fun games and easy question-storms to get students familiar with asking questions, the toolkit then moves onto encouraging higher-order thinking with more complex question-stems and answer/question paths.
The aim is that students will learn to ask regular, confident and thoughtful questions, own their own knowledge goals and gaps, and become adept problem-solvers.
Why questioning?
Questioning can be seen as a measure of engagement and of depth of thinking. By pupils asking the questions they get to own their own ‘knowledge goals’. Ashwin Ram, whose background is in computer science, states: “The ability to ask questions is central to the process of learning, reasoning and understanding,” supporting Jill Anne Chouinard’s claim that, “The content of children’s questions parallel their conceptual advances.”
It is telling that levels of questioning fall off from the age of 5, and continue to diminish as children move through the school system. Is this because they’ve just stopped asking questions or because their motivations and engagement have plummeted?
Is it because we assume that asking questions is something children are born with, so we don’t need to teach it? Is it just a thing we do naturally? Does asking questions imply a degree of ‘not knowing’, which pupils are reluctant to admit to? Do teacher’s find the asking of questions disruptive?
At Learn2Think we believe that if teachers are given a framework for question generation at certain points of the lesson and pupils learn to use questions to further their own learning, questioning can be a powerful tool for increasing levels of engagement whilst teachers still lead the teaching process.
‘Handing over’ elements of question generation to students is a mind-set change for the teacher, and yet it is a practical, learnable skill for the student that will provide lifelong benefits.
The Theory
We work with schools to share the theory behind the role of student generated questioning in the learning process, so that practitioners and students can understand why it’s worth doing and how to implement the habit.
The Questioning Toolkit
We provide a set of tools for teachers to practice and apply the techniques. Starting with fun games and easy question-storms to get students familiar with asking questions, the toolkit then moves onto encouraging higher-order thinking with more complex question-stems and answer/question paths.
The aim is that students will learn to ask regular, confident and thoughtful questions, own their own knowledge goals and gaps, and become adept problem-solvers.