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Solve a problem

“We need to teach knowledge or content in context with the tasks and activities the students are undertaking. Our students respond well to real world problems” (Churches, 2009).

Professors solve a problem

Write one-to-two things that are wrong with the world today.

What is one “real world” problem you try to address in your specific content area? As a table, list three-to-four real world problems professors can address in the classroom.

List ways you can use lectures to teach students the correct solutions to this problem (or problems).

List ways you can use lectures to teach students where to research to find the answers to these problems.

Define “critical thinking.” List ways you can use

lectures to teach students critical thinking.

Students solve a problem

If you surveyed students, what would they say is wrong with the world today?

What is one “real world” problem your content area can address? As a table, list three-to-four real world problems your students might want to address in classroom discussion.

How can you use classroom discussion to allow students to find answers to this problem (or problems)?

How can you train students to research where to find their answers to these problems?

Define “critical thinking.” How can you use classroom discussion to give students opportunities to think critically?

Effective Questioning Jesus Christ & Benjamin Bloom

Calvin G. Roso, Ed.D.

Statement of the problem

►Up to 75% of classroom teaching via questioning (Doyle, 1986)

►300 to 400 questions per day (Leven & Long, 1981)

►Majority of questions are

knowledge-level questions

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief in action” (Scriven & Paul, as cited in MacKnight, 2000).

“One basic fact of life cannot be escaped in grappling with pedagogical reform—our love affair with the lecture” (Weigel, 2003).

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“How am I going to get the students to be actively involved? How am I going to get them to develop insights, understandings, knowledge, and ability that are essential? How am I going to get

them to learn to ‘reason’ their way to the answers to questions in the field?” (Critical Thinking . . . ).

“The Wise Man” principle – doing brings permanence (Matthew 7:24; James 2:18, 26)

►“In machine-gun fashion, [teachers] pose an average of 40-50 questions in a typical 50-minute class segment. However, most of these questions are not well-prepared and do not serve the purpose of prompting students to think” (Appalachia, 1994).

Review of the literature

►Critical thinking and questioning encourages students to think beyond their own experiences and resources

Wait time

Multiple cognitive levels

Characteristics of great questions

► No one “right” answer

► Open-ended

► Call for reflection

► Can be answered based on students’ knowledge

► Interesting to students

► Motivate or stimulate thinking

► Demonstrate a search for understanding

► Allow for individual input based on prior knowledge

► Provoke more questions

► Raise students’ curiosity

► Challenge preconceptions (Chuska, 2003)

Methodology

► Jesus’ questions in Matthew analyzed according to Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge questions – factual response

Comprehension – understanding response

Application – problem-solving response

Analysis – synthesis of foundational ideas

Synthesis – creative application to new settings

Evaluation – assessment or critique

Bloom’s Taxonomy

► Knowledge –

Know, define, memorize, repeat, record, list, recall, name, relate (Who, what, when, where, name, list, identify questions)

► Comprehension –

Restate, discuss, describe, recognize, explain, tell, express, identify, locate, report, review (Do students understand the meaning?)

► Application –

Translate, interpret, apply, employ, use, dramatize, demonstrate, practice, illustrate, operate, schedule, shop, sketch (Use the information to solve a problem)

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Bloom’s Taxonomy

► Analysis –

Distinguish, inspect, appraise, question, test, examine, diagram, differentiate, inventory, experiment, solve, contract, analyze, debate, calculate, relate, compare, criticize (Use the information to formulate ideas)

► Synthesize –

Compose, plan, propose, set up, prepare, collect, construct, design, assemble, manage, formulate, create, arrange, organize (Create something new based on the information learned)

► Evaluation –

Judge, score, rate, assess, measure, revise, evaluate, choose, value, appraise, select, compare, estimate (Make a judgment statement)

► Also analyzed according to Walsh & Sattes (2005) Rubric for Formulating and Assessing Quality Questions

Purpose Content Focus Cognitive Level Wording & Syntax

Directly relates to one or

more learner objectives

Challenges listener to

think about concepts and

to formulate personal

responses (gets listener’s

attention and interest)

Has a clear and

important role and

function in the objective

Elicits knowledge

related to the concepts

being discussed

Elicits knowledge that

the listener(s) have had

the opportunity to learn

Logically and directly

builds upon previous

questions and answers in

the discussion (i.e., is

properly sequenced)

Engages listener

thinking at a cognitive

level that is clearly

specific and modeled by

the teacher

Includes words of

phrases that cue listeners

to respond at the

intended cognitive level

Asks listener(s) to

process knowledge at the

highest level, according

to their readiness

Prompts listener(s) to

see relationships and

patterns, demonstrate

understandings, and

make connections

Uses words that are

unambiguous and

precise

Structures, organizes,

and sequences words

and phrases to make the

question clear and to

help the listener

understand what is

expected in a response

Uses (a) the fewest

possible number of

words and (b) the

simplest possible

structure

Assessing Jesus’ questions

► Jesus used all levels of questions with several overlapping

Knowledge – 16%

Comprehension – 73%

Application – 33%

Analysis – 76%

Synthesis – 38%

Evaluation – 47%

► Jesus frequently used comprehension and analysis questions

► Ranked high in purpose, content, focus and cognition

Application to classroom

Encourage students in the

thinking you want

Hold students responsible for

the thinking they do

Model the thinking you

want

(Paul & Elder, 2007)

Application to classroom

►Increase the frequency of questioning

►Focus on higher-level thinking skills

►Focus on practical knowledge

►Focus on application to real-life situations

►Ask questions at multiple levels of thinking

►Ask questions aligned to the purpose and content of the lesson

►Ask questions that are clearly stated

Essential question descriptions

► Have no simple “right” answer; they are meant to be argued

► Are designed to provoke and sustain student inquiry, while focusing learning and final performances

► Often address the conceptual or philosophical foundations of a discipline

► Raise other important questions

► Naturally and appropriately recur

► Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006).

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Essential question examples

► History: What can we learn from the past?

► Literature: Can fiction reveal truth?

► Math: When is the “correct” answer not the best solution?

► Music: What roles does music play in the world?

► PE: Is pain necessary for progress in athletics? (“No pain—no gain”)

► Language Arts: How do your read between the lines?

► Science: To what extent are science and common sense related?

► Technology: In what ways can technology enhance expression and communication? In what ways might technology hinder it?

► Writing: What is a complete thought?

“To question well is to teach well. In the skillful use of the question more than anything else lies the fine

art of teaching" -- Degarmo