This week, I spent several evenings reading the book A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. Truthfully, I don't spend much of my time reading, and when I do, it's not usually novels. Typically, I enjoy activities in the evening that help turn off my brain, not stimulate it. But this book had me thinking and questioning myself about questions!
As a newbie to this profession, I periodically attend educational conferences and seminars. I try to implement and understand this new material and suggestions I acquire. This profession is complicated. We want our students to ask questions because the students need to be engaged in our course content, show creativity, and take control of their learning through creative and alternative avenues. None of this can be accomplished without questions being raised.
I can wrap my head around a student-centered classroom which provides students various modes of technology and resources to help them succeed. But, how can I spark their curiosity and get students to ask more questions and act as innovators? And once they've done that, how do I continue to foster their learning experiences? Perhaps my first step to better understand the idea of questions is to write down my own questions. When I take time to pause and actually think about the profession, and the daily questions I have, my brain becomes muddled. Below are my questions that surfaced in a five-minute quickfire challenge. I set a timer for five minutes and wrote down any question pertaining to my profession that I could think of. This task was easy, as I developed loads of questions pertaining to myself, my students, and our program as a whole.
Many of these questions do not prompt a simple definition or answer, which I believe adds to the complexity of my profession. I often try to solve a question without taking time to break the process into doable steps. However, some questions might be easier to answer if I consider the Why/What If/How sequence of problem-solving suggested by Berger. He postulates that one first arises at a situation asking "why". Then, potential solutions begin to surface, forming the "what if" questions. And finally the solutions are implemented, the "how". (Berger, 32).
Another professional question I face involves students asking questions. Students in our veterinary nursing program do have questions, but not many go beyond the typical "why do I have to learn this" question. It is my colleagues and I who provide the majority of questions to our students. As stated by Berger, "Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana of the Right Question Institute say it's no mystery what's going on here: Even in the most progressive schools, questioning is still primarily the domain of the teacher" (Berger, 60). As an educator, it's difficult for me to envision how the required content in my courses will be covered through the student curiosity and questioning, not mine.
How will their curiosity develop and lead them to asking questions? I have observed that my students are less likely to ask questions if they are uncomfortable or uncertain about the content being shared. I can create a learning environment that is comfortable, where students are not intimidated and feel supported. In some situations, I believe it takes too much thought to process the content and then compose a supporting question. How do I then provide them with knowledge so they "know more" and present with more inquiry? Here lies another question I must answer.
In closing, I feel I now have more questions than when I started this blog. Perhaps my students' question of "why do we have to learn this" will lead to more investigation than I had originally thought. At first, this question seemed generic and very easy to answer, but when pondering it, I realized this could be a stepping stone to additional questions and self-exploration, maybe even using Berger's WHY/WHAT IF/HOW sequence. The topic of questions in education will continue to challenge me, but I'm excited to learn more about their place in education and how my students and I can explore this together using Berger's progression of problem-solving.
References:
Altmann, G. (2013, February 10). Questions Students Child [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/questions-students-child-boy-4444458/.
Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. New York, United States: Bloomsbury USA.
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