Inquiring Minds Want to Learn: Posing Good Questions to Promote Student Inquiry

Outline

1. (2 Min) Entry Activity: Participants will write a declarative statement that states what is essential to learn, important to understand, or "nice to know" about the subject or skill they are teaching. They will also choose an grade level academic standard or content area learning target students must achieve. They will rephrase these into good questions later in the presentation.

2. (3 min) Introduction: Present the objectives and outcomes. Request the participants to submit and share what they want to be addressed as part of the participation and what they would like to take away from the presentation in a Goggle Doc. They will be informed this is one way to teach and learn with an inquiring mind.

3. (5-7 min) Discussion: Participants discuss amongst themselves, "What is a good question?" They will then be asked to share what someone told them what they think a good question is. After they share, the participant will be asked to share what someone told them. After they shared, they will be asked, "Choose someone whom you want to hear or learn from." The participants will either pick the next to speak or volunteer to share their own responses or reasoning. The participants will discover this is another way how teaching and learn through inquiry and by questioning encourages student voice, choice, and action.

4.(5 min) Presentation: The presenter will share the Inquiring Minds a Framework, a method and model teachers can use to deliver their instruction and engage students in inquiry by questioning with good question. The participants will learn how to "hook 'em" with a good question that informs the focus of the instruction and initiates the inquiry. They will then learn how to use good questions to guide students down four different pathways to inquiry: Foundational, Understanding, Deep, and Expertise

5. (5 Min) Demonstration / Activity: The presenter will model how to "hook 'em" into inquiry with a good question and encourage students to explain or justify their responses or reasoning by asking, "You're right, but why?" or, "What do you mean?"

6. (5 Min) Explanation: The presenter will explain how directing students to "Talk Amongst Yourself. Discuss." after the teacher asks a question, explain a process, or sharing information engages and encourages students to share and summarize what they are learning to each other. It also allows the teacher to check for understanding.

7. (5 Min) Presentation: The presenter will explain how the rigor of a good question depends on the extent of the response students must provide. The presenter will also show four different ways students could respond to a good question and how the response determines the level of Depth of Knowledge (DOK) students must comprehend and communicate.

8. (10 min) Activity: Participants will place the question stem "What if I told you" before the declarative statement they made that informs what's essential to learn, important to understand, or "nice to know". They will then walk the room sharing their rephrased question with other participants, asking, "What if I told you" and then sharing what's essential to learn, important to understand, or "nice to know". They will note and share how the participants react and respond to their question.

9. (15 min) Activity: Participants will rephrase the academic standard or learning target they chose into a good question by placing in front of the objective or replacing the "I can" statement with one of three questions: "How do you" for assessment, "How can you" for instruction, or "How could you" for inquiry.

10.(5 min) Demonstration: Participants will learn how to use generative AI to come up with good questions that can be used to teach and learn through inquiry and by questioning. They will be provided with the prompt, "What are good questions students could inquire and investigate through a deep inquiry into..." and choose a standard, subject, or skill that will serve as the focus of the inquiry.

12. (5 min) Closure: Review of what a good question does and provide time for Q & A.

Supporting research

Berger, W. (2016). A More Beautiful Question: The Power to Spark Inquiry. London: Bloomsbury USA

Francis, E. M. (2016). Now That's a Good Question: How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Francis, E. M. (2022). Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Francis, E. M. (2024). Inquiring Minds Want to Learn: Posing Good Questions to Promote Student Inquiry. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

McTighe, J. and Wiggins, G. (2013). Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Rothstein, D. and Santana, L. (2011). Make One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.