Questioning as a Foreign Idea

After class I began thinking about the whole role of questioning and curiosity that is an integral part to the learning of science and other content areas as well. From my own personal experiences in school, and interactions with adults as a child it is no surprise that children may have trouble understanding and participating in some of the core strategies of science. It is ingrained in our heads from an early age that we are to do as we are told, don't ask questions, and that the teacher is always right. Even I still sometimes find it hard to question things when I was taught to whole heartily believe what it is that a teacher told me, it was almost as if it was breaking the rules to question what your teacher was telling you. It is such a foolish idea now that I think about it because how can one person know everything. Of course we should teach students to question respectfully, but why is it that we are all taught to sit and be passive learners. Of course times have changed since even I was a young elementary student, but it is a common practice for children to hear the words "because I said so." This led me to question how I could create a classroom in which children were taught to question, taught to be curious, and as an end result learn to enjoy science. I think the teacher's role needs to be slightly shifted so that they are a facilitator but not the end all, be all of knowledge. Children have a lot to bring to the class, can learn from each other, and create their own ideas about science. Perhaps they need to build a foundation of trust within the classroom to know that their new and different ideas will not be shot down by others. This notion of questioning information and ideas is a part of all the core subjects, and with a greater focus on teaching this we could not only help children become more comfortable within the culture of science, but across the board. I think a very crucial step to teach the culture of science is to teach and allow students to practice questioning. I know that I really want to provide my students with this opportunity. Someone recently told me the quote"Don't just answer the question, question the answer," which seems to so fitting to science and scientific inquiry. I plan to have this be one of my "rules" in my own classroom one day.