Sunday, August 31, 2008
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.
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3 comments:
Britt,
What you have touched upon is how anti-science schools can become. As kids we want to know how things feel and taste. We wonder about everything and we can become fascinating by looking at stuff. And maybe seeing what happens when we add water or move it around or blow on it like a birthday candle.
Luckily some kids find ways to remember how to be curious despite the oppressive efforts of school. What a great classroom yours will be if asking questions becomes something that people other than the teacher are allowed to do.
An interesting wrinkle to this is that students may come from homes where they are instructed to never question the teacher. Without disputing what they've learned from their parents, it will become your responsibility to help them recognize the value of questions and how asking those does not violate the rules of respect.
John…
Britt,
I really liked reading your posting. I definitely agree that kids too often are told "I told you so" and are not encouraged to be skeptical and ask questions. Especially with younger students, they love to explore and ask questions and are just so curious about everything! They don't have the walls that a lot of older middle school and high school students have.
Kids just don't know how to ask questions, or that it is okay to ask questions. I agree with you, as a teacher it is very important to make your classroom a safe and trusting environment so kids can feel that they can ask questions.
Another important factor in teaching kids to ask questions is to not be afriad to admit when we, as the teacher, are wrong. It makes us more "human", especially in the sciences. From personal experience with my student teaching, when my kids saw me admit a mistake, they were more willing to ask questions and inquire. They even taught me a thing or two!
Questioning is sooooo imnportant to science!
~Meg
I loved the issues that you bring up. I think it is too common and too easy to fall into asking questions that only have one right answer and not challenging students to not only open ended critical thinking questions, but also to come up with their own questions and ways to answer them. I don't think classes are democratic and open minded when teachers guide students to answer or talk about things that the teacher already decided and steers them too. I think truly democratic and inquiring classrooms really let the students take responsibility for their education and making the most out of their learning. It takes a lot of courage to let go of the reins like that but it is so important if that is the kind of students you want to foster in your classroom.
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