I am desperate to expand childrens thinking and questioning skills and we have begun some work on this - not getting very far up until swimming finished. So far, we have really only just touched the surface, discussing briefly: what questions are, why we need/use them, what question words can we use and we've started gathering some exemplar questions using the 3-2-1 method (What would you ask Maui/Easter Bunny?).
My results have confirmed the need to have a focus in this area. Of the 60 questions asked...
- 20 were yes/no
- 30 were one word/closed questions
- 10 were open questions
The most popular question words were did/do/does (11), how (11), what (10) and was (8).
12 questions were asked by one student and 5 each from another 2 students.
Where to?
- Integrate questioning into everything!!!!
- Discuss questioning types, probing for extra information
- Encourage thinking and give plenty of opportunites for students
