The Art of Asking Questions

Typically, our students begin their school careers as preschoolers or kindergartners brimming with questions that overflow into every interaction. Sadly, somewhere along the way they lose that zest for wanting to know...everything. The constant questioning dwindles to a trickle until getting students to ask questions feels like shouting into the void.

Inspiring Inquiry

While I find that trend to be disheartening on many levels, it is especially difficult when approaching inquiry. Questions are the heart and soul of inquiry. Without questions, our inquiry has no purpose, no direction. It is easy to supply students with ready-made questions for the sources we provide them, but this does not encourage ownership or engagement.

To develop a culture of inquiry, students need encouragement not only on the asking of questions, but also on the how of asking and using questions effectively. Students in every grade, from kindergarten to seniors in high school, can benefit from learning the art of asking questions.

Instead of being a question-free zone, the library should be a free-to-question zone. To get there, asking questions should be woven into the fabric of as many lessons as possible throughout a student's school years.

A Foundation for Complex Questions

For our youngest learners, simply understanding the difference between a question and a statement is important. I know many elementary librarians are familiar with this scenario. The librarian asks, "Do you have any questions about the book we just read?" A student responds with, "I got a new puppy this weekend." Another student replies with, "We can't have cats. My brother is allergic." The librarian says, "Thank you for sharing, but does anyone have a question?" Another hand goes up, and the student asks, "Why do bees have wings?" The book had absolutely nothing to do with bees or wings. How do we get from here to students asking thoughtful questions on their own that are not only on topic but that stretch their thinking? As with everything else, we build a foundation that supports more complex structures.

My kindergarten students and I practice asking questions. We discuss that we ask questions when we want to learn more about something. I give them examples and non-examples. We continue to practice over and over and over. My first and second grade students build upon that foundation of knowing the difference between a question and a statement to learning about question words. We practice asking questions using Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. In the intermediate grades we discuss the difference between thick and thin questions, the subject of the elementary lesson this month. In it, students in grades 3–6 brainstorm together to create thick and thin questions on a given topic, then they work in pairs or on their own to ask questions on a topic of interest to them.

Questioning as a Sustained Practice

These are not one and done lessons. Just like you cannot teach how to paint in one class, teaching how to ask questions is a skill that is developed over time through intentional practice and connection through personal choice. We ask questions after we read storytime books. We ask questions before we encounter information in books or online resources. We ask questions about what we still want to know after reading, hearing, or listening to information. Sometimes we brainstorm lists together, sometimes we think-pair-share with a table partner, and sometimes they just write them in their library journal. Primary-age students can draw a picture of what they want to know more about in their journal with a word or phrase included, based on ability level. Older students can craft complete sentences that might include a question stem or be entirely of their own creation.

It is important to remember that just as with learning pottery or drawing, students can continue to refine their skill of asking questions after learning the basics. Somewhere between the primary and secondary grades, students begin to answer many more questions than they ask. The goal should be for students to become masters at asking questions by the time they leave high school, not just masters at answering them. As such, direct instruction and practice with questioning is just as important for older students as it is for younger.

Questioning with Older Students

Let's fast forward a few years in grade levels to my current high school students. Our work with asking questions hasn't stopped. The way we work together to develop questions hasn't stopped. Asking questions is not always a solo art form, and we can learn so much from each other. This month's secondary lesson features an activity I have used a few times with an AP Seminar class, but it could easily be adapted to any content area in a secondary school. Hopefully, this lesson will help students move away from the desire to seek out the right answer and push them toward questions they truly want to spend time exploring.

To make that happen, we need to have an undercurrent of "What do you want to know?" in as many of our lessons as possible, at all grade levels. The more students feel personally involved and invested in an activity, the more engaged they become. The more engaged, the more they retain. Asking the same base-level questions, so we all have a general understanding is important; but asking questions we individually are curious about makes learning personal. By encouraging students to develop their own questions, and to seek answers to those questions, we are setting up our students to not only be successful adults and productive citizens, but we are also, hopefully, setting the stage for a life-long learning quest.

A few other great resources to check out about working with students to ask better questions:

• The Right Question Institute (RQI) (https://rightquestion.org/) offers resources and trainings on their straightforward questioning strategy that aims to help people ask better questions.
• John Spencer provides a wide range of resources related to inquiry, including questioning (http://www.spencerauthor.com/ask-better-questions/).