How to Inspire Your Learners With Powerful Questioning

Think for a moment about the best question someone has ever asked you.

As soon as it was posed to you, what happened?

It may have caused you to stop and ponder what was being asked. It may have inspired you to think about related events in the present and possibilities for the future. Maybe you were so ignited that finding the answer became a focus of inquiry. It's also pretty likely that the best question you've ever been asked opened the door to some pretty meaningful and animated discussion.

That's what was supposed to happen, and we can keep on making that happen in our classrooms.

The aim here is to look at some approaches for using purposeful and essential questions in any inquiry or project-based lesson. What follows may be refreshers for some teachers and interesting new ideas for others. Either way, it's meant to help and support you and your learners by using essential questions for your best learning exploits.

The Purposeful Questioning Techniques That Make a Difference

Using purposeful questions means more than just asking it. It means embedding its essence into your learners’ imaginations.

It's about creating a desire to see the challenge met or the problem solved by innovative and effective methods. When assessing and implementing an essential question has been done right, it will push learners to think more critically, stretch more creatively, and work more collaboratively and productively—often more than they thought possible.

Explore Your Learners' Assumptions

When we first put the driving question of a lesson to the learners, the goal is to begin a lively discussion with them. In this discussion, we guide them starting with what they think or assume they already know about what the question is asking. Encourage learners to speak openly and share ideas about the issues posed by the question.

The learners realize that finding an answer is not always easy but also not impossible with the right mindset. As things begin to pick up steam, think about using essential questions to moderate and expand the discussion. These are questions meant to elicit varied responses from learners:

•  What do we know (or believe we know) about what this question is asking?

• What do we know as fact and as opinion?

•  What can't we know for sure, or how could we possibly discover this?

•  Have we seen this problem before in some other version?

• Do we know of any past problems or issues related to this? How were those challenges met?

• How can we restate or rephrase the question to deepen our understanding of it?

• Can we achieve a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) solution to the problem?

A good exploration of our learners' assumptions will foster curiosity for the question. It means the learners have a personal stake in the outcome of solving the problem. The discussion has challenged their thinking and opinions. It encourages a more profound interest in the issue presented by the question.

“When we first put the driving question of a lesson to the learners, the goal is to begin a lively discussion with them. Encourage them to speak openly and share ideas about the issues posed by the question.”

Let Them Own the Question

In any inquiry or project-based challenge, we want to shift responsibility for the learning to the learners. We want to guide them towards owning the learning by owning the question. It can be done in any subject and at any grade level because it's not specifically about the topic itself. When we pose the essential question, it's meant to help learners understand that it both involves and extends beyond the curriculum.

Any purposeful question is designed to obtain a solution and develop a process—a critical-thinking mindset within learners.

Critical thinking capacity will enable them to solve problems and ask thoughtful questions throughout their lives. Such a process makes them better thinkers, more efficient and productive collaborators, and more successful in every facet of their lives. The idea is to foster this deeper skill-building while at the same time fulfilling our obligations as educators to the curriculum.

Shift the Responsibility

When using essential questions in the classroom, there are many ways we can begin to shift responsibility for learning to the learners. Here are six ideas for you to consider.

1. Keep it visible: Place the essential question in a location where they can always refer back to it, even if you've asked them to write it down. This visual trick is a simple reinforcement tool that has stood the test of time in many classrooms.

2. Encourage feedback: When you pose the question, ask learners to share their initial thoughts verbally or in writing. This ties in with the assumptions exploration we discussed earlier.

3. Constructive Redirection: When learners ask about the question, encourage deeper thinking by asking them in return, "That's an excellent question. What do you think? Where might the answer be? How can you work together to find out?" The teacher is the most accessible source for answers, but redirecting the responsibility for finding that answer will go a long way toward critical thinking skill development.

4. Set Goals and Milestones: Learners work with deadlines regularly. Nudge them towards establishing their own learning goals and milestones while responding to the essential question. Self-regulating habits like setting goals are a way to show responsibility that can be rewarding for learners.

5. Foster the Mentorship Mindset: Every learner learns at a different pace and in a different way. Part of the collaborative process is all learners supporting each other every step of the way. Let the natural-born leaders in your class support others who need help and encouragement, where appropriate.

6. Use Student-Driven Assessment Techniques: This involves allowing learners regular windows to critique the lesson and the driving question and their learning processes. It's a way of checking in with them and keeping them aligned toward taking responsibility for their learning. It also helps them develop a sense of independence in their thought and rely less on an external source of authority.

Full Steam Ahead

All the best is ahead of you and your learners. It's a great time to be living and to be learning. Go forth and ask outstanding questions!

Any great question, like any other great piece of writing, deserves respect and consideration. Our learners' questions are some of the most meaningful and rewarding learning tools we have at our disposal.

As you create these fabulous works of inquiry and challenge for your learners, we hope that the strategies and ideas listed above will help you get the most from using purposeful questioning in the classroom.