Transcript Critical Thinking and Active Learning

Any Questions?:
How Asking the Right Questions Can Promote
Critical Thinking
Nancy Burkhalter, PhD
Senior English Language Fellow
INTERNATIONAL METHODOLOGICAL
SCHOOL FOR THE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH
Kaliningrad, Nov. 6-8, 2012
Effect of ‘dead’ questions
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Students’ thinking turns off.
They give up responsibility for thinking.
Questioning stops.
No more investigation is needed.
Curiosity dies.
Lower Order vs. Higher Order
At what temperature does Why does water near bridges
water freeze at sea level?
and in cities freeze later in
the winter than water in
lakes in rural areas?
What year did Mexico
obtain its independence
from Spain?
How did Mexico’s movement
for independence from
Spain affect people in
neighboring countries?
How do higher level questions
help learning?
Students learn how to inquire,
question, seek, and examine
information.
Why is questioning important?
The quantity and quality of questioning that
teachers engage in is thought to influence the
quality of classroom learning.
Donald C. Orlich
How do I make PINK?
Which do I satisfy?
My ego
My student’s brain
Definition: Critical Thinking
Using methods that employ
analyze
synthesize
evaluate
Six kinds of questions
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Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Bloom’s Taxonomy
of Levels of Abstraction
of Questions
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Cognitive
Difficulty
HIGH
Knowledge Questions
aka Remembering
• observe and recall information
• know dates, events, places
Question Cues:
list, define, tell, describe, identify, label,
collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name
Examples of Knowledge Questions
1. When did the Berlin Wall fall?
2. Where is Kaliningrad located?
3. What year was
Socrates killed?
Comprehension Questions
aka Understanding
• understand information
• grasp meaning
• translate knowledge into new context
Question Cues:
summarize, describe, contrast, associate,
distinguish, differentiate, discuss, paraphrase,
explain, demonstrate
Examples of Comprehension
Questions
1. Summarize Pushkin’s poem, “I loved you
once.”
2. Explain why St. Petersburg has had three
different names throughout its history.
3. What is the main idea of War and
Peace?
Application Questions
aka Using
• use methods, concepts, theories in new
situations
• solve problems using skills or knowledge
Question Cues:
apply, demonstrate, calculate, show, solve,
examine, relate, change, classify, experiment,
assess, chart, construct
Examples of Application Questions
1.Chart the growth of population
in Russia since 1917.
2. Demonstrate the best way to get your child to
behave at the dinner table.
3. Write a guidebook about the most important
historical sites in Kaliningrad.
Analysis Questions
• see patterns
• organize parts
• identify components
Question Cues:
analyze, order, explain, compare, explain,
infer, discriminate, illustrate, outline,
distinguish, why
Examples of Analysis Questions
1. What are some possible outcomes of
the U.S. presidential election?
2. Write a commercial using the
information you just learned about the
harm of smoking.
3. Distinguish between a
good and a bad essay.
Synthesis Questions
• use old ideas to create new ones
• generalize from given facts
• relate knowledge from several areas
Question Cues:
combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, plan,
create, design, invent, what if?, compose,
formulate, generalize, revise
Examples of Synthesis Questions
1. Create a new product. Give it a name
and design a marketing campaign.
2. How many ways can you study for a
test?
3. What if President Truman had never
dropped the atomic bomb on Japan?
Evaluation Questions
• compare and discriminate between ideas
• assess value of theories, presentations
• predict, draw conclusions
Question Cues:
assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure,
recommend, convince, select, justify, explain,
discriminate, support, conclude, compare
Examples of Evaluation Questions
1. Form a panel to discuss how to use
questions in the classroom.
2. Justify the use of nuclear power.
3. Convince me you
deserve a good mark
on this paper!
A lesson using Bloom’s taxonomy
of questions
“The Global Child”
International adoption and parental
responsibility
Knowledge
list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label,
collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name
• What country is Raquel from?
• What does the word indigenous
mean?
Comprehension
summarize, describe, contrast, associate,
distinguish, differentiate, discuss, paraphrase,
explain
• Why did Raquel’s mother give her up
for adoption?
• What did her old house look like?
Application
apply, demonstrate, calculate, show, solve,
examine, relate, change, classify, experiment,
assess, chart, construct
• What questions would you ask Raquel’s
birth mother about giving her daughter
up for adoption?
• Can you relate any of Raquel’s feelings to
your own life?
Analysis
analyze, order, explain, compare, explain, infer,
discriminate, illustrate, outline, distinguish
• Why do you think Raquel dropped
her camera?
• Do you think the parents were right
to take Raquel back to Guatemala?
Synthesis Questions
combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, plan, create,
design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate,
generalize, revise
• Statistics show that Russians want Russian
orphans to be adopted by Russians. If that is
so, why are so few adopted by them?
• Imagine you are Raquel. Write a diary entry
from her perspective on the day she went to
her old house.
Evaluation Questions
assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend,
convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support,
conclude, compare
• Do you agree that adopted children should
visit their country of birth?
• What problems do you think they may have
as a result of being adopted?
Assessment
Answers to open-ended questions can be judged
on originality, completeness, organization, and
other factors.
Perhaps students could grade each other’s
answers.
To summarize
• Foster critical thinking with questions
requiring higher order skills: analysis,
synthesis and evaluation.
• Higher level questions do not have a right or
wrong answer.
• Empower your students. Ask them to think for
themselves.
Any questions?
References
Bartel, M. (2004). Encouraging creative thinking with
awareness and discovery questions. Retrieved November 1,
2012, from http://www.bartelart.com/arted/questions.html#tests
Bloom's taxonomy. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/blooms-taxonomy.html
Dalton, J. & Smith, D. (1986). Extending children’s special abilities
– Strategies for primary classrooms, pp 36-7. Retrieved
November 1, 2012, from
http://www.aisa.or.ke/uploaded/downloads/aisa2010conference/Judy_Wooster_Wor
kshop_Handout_Applying_Blooms_Taxonomy.pdf
Numrich, C. (2010). Raise the issues. White Plains, NY: Pearson,
pp. 47-48.