COURSE DOCUMENT 19
by: William Pelz
URL: http://sln.suny.edu/courses/2004/spring/31/sln/26131011102.nsf/web?openview
Downloaded June 5, 2004
Subject: The Role of Questions in Thinking, Teaching, and Learning
The primary teaching and learning activity in this class is active
participation in the Student Led Discussions on
each chapter of the textbook. In these discussions, each student poses a
"critical thinking" question based on some important issue from the
course readings, then facilitates a class discussion on that issue. For each
chapter in the textbook, every student must facilitate a discussion based upon
their question, and also participate in the discussions facilitated by other
students. By being an active 'discussant' in a minimum of three content-related
discussions per chapter, each student must engage in depth with the content of
every chapter, although it is unlikely that any two students will participate
in the same discussions in each chapter.
CLICK
HERE to read a short paper on the role of questions in thinking, teaching
and learning, then click on the RESPOND button below and state your reaction to the way this course uses
student-generated questions and student-led discussions in the teaching /
learning process. After you have stated your opinion, read and respond to the
reaction posted by at least two other students.
The Role of Questions in
Thinking, Teaching, & Learning*
When instructors lecture, they
tend to overemphasize "coverage" over "engaged thinking"-
that is they assume that answers can be taught separate from questions. Indeed,
so buried are questions in established instruction that the fact that all assertions-all statements that this or that is so-are
implicit answers to questions is virtually
never recognized. For example, the statement that "water boils at 100
degrees centigrade" is an answer to the question "At what temperature
centigrade does water boil?". Hence every declarative statement in the
textbook is an answer to a question. Hence, every textbook could be rewritten in the
interrogative mode by translating every statement into a question. To my
knowledge this has never been done. That it has not is testimony to the
privileged status of answers over questions in instruction and the
misunderstanding of many instructors about the significance of questions in the
learning process. Instruction at all levels now keeps most questions buried in
a torrent of obscured "answers".
1. Thinking is Driven by Questions
Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Had no questions been asked by those who laid the foundation for a field-for example, Physics or Psychology-the field would never have been developed in the first place. Furthermore, every field stays alive only to the extent that fresh questions are generated and taken seriously as the driving force in a process of thinking. To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate our thought.
Questions define tasks, express
problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full
stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought
continue its life as such. This is why it is true that only students who have
questions are really thinking and learning. It is possible to give students an
examination on any subject by just asking them to list all of the questions
that they have about a subject, including all questions generated by their
first list of questions. That we do not test students by asking them to list
questions and explain their significance is again evidence of the privileged
status we give to answers isolated from questions. That is, we often ask
questions only to get thought-stopping answers, not to generate further
questions.
1. Feeding Students Endless Content to Remember
Feeding students endless content to remember (that is, declarative sentences to remember) is akin to repeatedly stepping on the brakes in a vehicle that is, unfortunately, already at rest. Instead, students need questions to turn on their intellectual engines and they need to generate questions from our questions to get their thinking to go somewhere. Thinking is of no use unless it goes somewhere, and again, the questions we ask determine where our thinking goes.
Deep questions drive our thought underneath the surface of things, force us to deal with complexity. Questions of purpose force us to define our task. Questions of information force us to look at our sources of information as well as at the quality of our information. Questions of interpretation force us to examine how we are organizing or giving meaning to information. Questions of assumption force us to examine what we are taking for granted. Questions of implication force us to follow out where our thinking is going. Questions of point of view force us to examine our point of view and to consider other relevant points of view.
Questions of relevance force us to
discriminate what does and what does not bear on a question. Questions of
accuracy force us to evaluate and test for truth and correctness. Questions of
precision force us to give details and be specific. Questions of consistency
force us to examine our thinking for contradictions. Questions of logic force
us to consider how we are putting the whole of our thought together, to make
sure that it all adds up and makes sense within a reasonable system of some
kind.
3. Dead Questions Reflect Dead Minds
Unfortunately, many students ask virtually none of these thought-stimulating types of questions. They tend to stick to dead questions like "Is this going to be on the test?", questions that imply the desire not to think. Most teachers in turn are not themselves generators of questions and answers of their own, that is, are not seriously engaged in thinking through or rethinking through their own subjects. Rather, they are purveyors of the questions and answers of others-usually those of a textbook.
We must continually remind ourselves that thinking begins with respect to some content only when questions are generated by both teachers and students. No questions equals no understanding. Superficial questions equals superficial understanding. Most students typically have no questions. They not only sit in silence; their minds are silent at well. Hence, the questions they do have tend to be superficial and ill-informed. This demonstrates that most of the time they are not thinking through the content they are presumed to be learning. This demonstrates that most of the time they are not learning the content they are presumed to be learning.
If we want thinking we must stimulate it with questions that lead students to further questions. We must overcome what previous schooling has done to the thinking of students. We must resuscitate minds that are largely dead when we receive them. We must give our students what might be called "artificial cogitation" (the intellectual equivalent of artificial respiration).
*(Based on the following website: http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/univclass/roleofquest.html)