Why does a child ask about forty thousand questions between the ages of two and five (Berger, 2014, p. 40)?
Why should you drink about half your body weight in ounces? Is that even possible without going to the bathroom EVERY hour?
Why is wearing black on a hot day a bad decision, especially if you live in a warm climate?
Why is pizza crust, after it is warmed in the microwave, so hard to eat, but when you put bread dough in the oven, it becomes softer?
Why is there not a recess for teachers during the school day?
Why did it take me at least ten minutes to think of some questions for this post?
Why is…
Stop right there. No more questions.
"You Can't Ask That" by CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions
This is the route that educators seem to take. When our students want to learn more about a certain topic, we typically shut them down because “we do not have time for extraneous questions” (Berger, 2014, p. 46).
“Alright, we can’t ask questions right now. However, are there any questions about the assignment you are about to work on?”
“We have a test coming up guys. We cannot talk about the Grand Canyon right now. Maybe when we have some free time. Now let’s get ready to take that test.”
Dead silence.
The spark in their eyes dwindles. Their curiosity is silenced.
Now why would anyone want to do that when children are so innocent at this age and curiosity keeps their minds working?
Let me think… Assessments, tests, content standards, quizzes, progress monitoring, testing, AzM2, can I just stop right there?
Reading Warren Berger’s (2014) book, A More Beautiful Question opened my eyes to the lack of inquiry in myself and in my own classroom. As I mentioned, children between the ages of two and five are firing away with questions. Forty thousand! Now why is that? The curiosity of the new world around them. They see a ladybug and ask, “What is this?” then proceed to ask, “Why is it that color?” and then “Why is it called a ladybug?” Their questions lead to answers and those answers lead to more questions (remember Louis C.K.’s story with his own daughter?) [Berger, 2014, p. 40]. But that questioning diminishes as they go through their schooling. More correct answers are given, and the lack of questioning is silenced.
I took the idea of questioning (or lack thereof) to the test with a quickfire activity. A simplified version goes like this: Set a timer, grab some post-it notes, and write as many questions along the lines of your professional context that you can think of. I was nervous to start the timer because five minutes can go by fast. I focused on stream of consciousness and started writing my questions. Even when the timer went off, I added more questions. Here are some takeaways from this activity:
"Quickfire Activity Screenshot" by Stephanie Check
I wrote seventeen questions during this activity. QUESTION: If there was a young child in my place, what would their number of questions have been?
It was hard to think consciously of questions pertaining to my professional context. It was a bit difficult to center my questions around that parameter. QUESTION: Without a parameter, how many questions could I have written down in five minutes?
It looks like my questions were not centered around one sole topic, but many topics in the educational realm. QUESTION: Why can’t I integrate this quickfire activity into an activity my students could do about a topic I am teaching?
We, as educators, may be asking our students the wrong questions. I can attest to that. But what can we do to spark student curiosity and inquiry in the classroom WHILE still attending to understanding content and not just giving answers to memorize? As I continue to read Berger’s (2014) book, I will figure out how to ask beautiful questions, support my students in asking beautiful questions, and spark that interest in my students who may not know that their skill of questioning could be declining.
References
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions. (2021). You can't ask that [Photograph].
Check, S. (2021). Quickfire activity screenshot [Screenshot of quickfire activity].
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