Asking the Right Question?
Questions That Inspire Students
To Think At A Higher-Level

A Presentation by Matthew Durant 

Question  |  Tasks  |  Background Information |  Resources  |  Activity |  Revisit the Question

 

 

Question

Can I design a good essential question that will inspire my students to think at a higher-level?

Tasks

A.     Introduction
Wrap up yesterday's lesson by sharing your Inspirations outline of your theme ideas.

B.    Essential Questions: Can I design a good essential question that will inspire my students to think at a higher-level?

C.  Design Your Essential Question Activity

Background Information

Questions allow us to make sense of the world. They are the most powerful tools we have for making decisions and solving problems, for inventing, changing and improving our lives as well as the lives of others. Questioning is central to learning and growing. (McKenzie, 1999).

The Essential Question:

At the heart of every webquest is an open-ended question. The question creates a clear purpose for the webquest, inspires students to access prior knowledge, creates a level of excitement that motivates students to explore further and should guide their studies to higher-level thinking.

"Webquests use a central question that honestly needs answering. When students are asked to understand, hypothesize or problem-solve an issue that confronts the real world, they face an authentic task, not something that only carries meaning in a school classroom."  -Tom March

 

Can a Good Question Inspire students to think at a higher-level?

Questions play an important role in many classrooms.  I ask questions for a number of reasons.  

• First, I ask questions to get students to share their "prior knowledge" (Knowledge).
• Second, I ask questions to push students to see if they understand a concept (Synthesis).
• Third, I ask questions to guide students to apply their knowledge to real life situations (Application).

--but, most importantly--

• Fourth, I ask questions to lead my students to see patterns and recognize hidden meanings (Analysis).
• Fifth, I ask questions to get students to use old ideas to ma generate new ideas (Synthesis).
• Sixth, I ask students questions to push them to access the value of their theories (Evaluation).

 

The questions that I ask guide my classroom discussions.  Try to imagine the conversations that would follow these two very different questions on the same topic.

Example 1:
If  I asked a lower-level thinking question:
During what span of years did King Tut rule Ancient Egypt? (Knowledge)

Example 2:
 If I asked a higher-level thinking question:
What conclusions have you developed on whether King Tut was murdered?

 

By using Bloom's Taxonomy, you too can develop questions that lead your students to think at a higher level. 

How can I use my Essential Question in the classroom?

I usually begin the webquest by posing my essential question to the students.  This is a great way for me to find out more information about my students' understanding knowledge, and skills they possess.  All to many times, I want to jump in and tell them the answer or ask them questions to guide their thought process but I have found it most productive to wait and let them have a shot at it first. When I first began this, it was agonizing.  I thought, "I'm the teacher! I need to tell them." but when I really waited they began to feel safe and share their ideas.  I always allow students to engage me and each other in a conversation about the topic.  You'll be amazed at how this inspires students to access prior knowledge, and creates a level of excitement that motivates them to explore further.  If my students are getting bogged down I try to ask them well-thought-out, lower-level questions that will provide a scaffolding to lead them to answer the higher-level thinking question.  More often than not my questions trigger something that gets them moving in the right direction again.  I always roam the room during these group discussions to ensure that the discussion is productive.  If it is not, I will ask open-ended questions or prompts ("I didn't think about it that way," and "Can you tell me more?"...) to get them moving again.

When posing the essential Question (Review):

1. Wait!  Give your students a chance before you tell them the answer.

2. Engage your students in dialogue and allow them to engage each other in dialogue.

3. Prompt students inquiry by asking them open-ended questions and allow them to ask each other questions.

4. Monitor their progress and guide with prompts or open-ended questions when necessary?

 

(Click here to learn more about questioning to prompt higher-level thinking)

 

Essential Question Resources

Asking the Essential Question
Three Story Intellect
Elicit Higher-Level Thinking with Questions
The Art of Questioning
Effective Questioning Techniques
Framing Essential Questions
Asking Good Classroom Questions
Coping with Inquiry
Learning Questioning
TIPS for Teachers- Asking Good Questions
The Power of Questioning
From Trivial Pursuit to Essential Questions and Standards-Based Learning
Sample Essential Questions
A Questioning Toolkit from FromNowOn.org
Grazing the Net: Raising a Generation of Free Range Students

 

Applying Bloom's Taxonomy: Creating Higher-Level Thinking Questions

Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
Tasks for Bloom's Penthouse
Bloom's Taxonomy
Application of Bloom's Taxonomy
Question Types Based on Bloom's Taxonomy 
Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking
Task Oriented Question Construction Wheel Based on Bloom's Taxonomy
Who is this guy, Benjamin Bloom, and why all the fuss about his Taxonomy?

 

Activity

Design Your Essential Question:

Using the guiding questions from Bloom's Taxonomy develop an essential question for your webquest.  Remember, your question is a work in progress and will probably change many times.  If you have time, get feedback from a fellow teacher on your question.

Revisit the Question

Can I design a good essential question that will inspire my students to think at a higher-level?

Course Home Page

Question  |  Background Information |  Webquest Resources  |  Activity |  Revisit the Question

Created: March 20, 2001
Updated: June 6, 2006

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