During the pandemic the
need for effective virtual instruction became paramount. Teachers needed to adapt to conducting
classrooms that seemed to be comprised of students framed in two-dimensional
rectangles. Educators embracing Invitational
Education theory and practices seek to develop effective connections and
therefore mindful that each virtual rectangle is actually a whole child contributing to
the patchwork quilt that comprises the learning community.
Before students
fully return to the brick-and-mortar classroom, there will be a time when many teachers
will be concurrently instructing and managing Roomers and Zoomers. Whether the need to teach both Roomers and
Zoomers becomes the next phase of recovery or a longer-standing option within
the continuum for providing Free and
Appropriate Public Education is yet
to be determined. Presently, educators
need to embrace the educational needs presented by the reality of concurrent Roomers
and Zoomers.
The need to manage both
in-person and virtual learners in a concurrent model was addressed in a
wonderful, must-see webinar presented by Mclaughlin and Borup (2021). The need to facilitate the Roomers and Zoomers concurrent
model certainly creates previously unknown stressors upon students and
teachers. However, educators embracing Invitational Education theory KNOW
success is optimized when we bring a mindset guided by intentionality, care,
optimism, respect, and trust (ICORT) to examine the people, places, policies,
programs, and practices (5Ps) of any teaching and learning dynamic.
The
planning for and implementation of instructional dynamics involving Roomers and
Zoomers invites analysis of the 5Ps. The
metaphor of herding cats might seem apropos.
However, observation of the most effective teachers interdependently
exhibited elements of the seven correlates of Effective
Schools Research. Specifically, while teaching both concurrent Roomers and Zoomers the
most effective educators intentionally exhibited: a safe
and orderly environment, a climate of high expectations for success, clear opportunity
to learn with focus upon student time on task, and frequent monitoring of
student progress. The latter three became increasingly obvious through the types
and levels of questions planned and presented to both groups of students. Therefore, the balance of this article details
the importance of understanding the nature and purposes of diverse questions.
Crucially, for concurrently
teaching Roomers and Zoomers, an ICORT-driven teacher promotes vibrant
discussions and active interactions. This setting promotes higher
order thinking skills (HOTS). The foundation for this environment is the teacher’s
ability to plan and implement effective questions that lead not only to answers
but to more questions. Questions can be classified by:
I.
Convergent and
divergent,
II.
Effects of questions
upon people,
III.
Bloom’s taxonomy,
IV.
Types of questions
(Lehnert (1978), and
V.
According to the purpose
of the question.
I. Convergent
and divergent questions:
In theory the perfect convergent (closed-ended) question would
have only one answer and the perfect divergent (open-ended) questions would
have infinite answers. However, most question will fall on a
continuum between having more than one answer and a finite limit. In
most situations the better question is probably the one that will provide the
most answers. For example: if I start a lesson on trees by making an overhead
statement to involve the students in a visualization activity I could make the
following statements: “Close your eyes and imagine a silver maple tree” or “Close
your eyes and imagine a tree.” The first statement would probably
have few students with mental images of a silver maple tree, but the second
would probably have all students with mental images of a tree. If I
were to have them describe their tree, the information would suggest the range
of understanding of trees the students have. Open-ended or divergent
questions can be used to encourage greater involvement and provide a more
accurate assessment than closed-ended or convergent questions.
Convergent questions (closed) have direct answers (What is 2 +
2?). They are generally used to focus on something. For example:
- What
is your name?
- What
is in that container?
- What
are you doing?
- What
is three groups of four?
- What
kind of animal has six legs?
- What
is the last book you read?
Divergent questions (open-ended) have indirect answers (How can we
use this battery?). They are generally used to try and encourage a
number of answers and lead to critical thinking, creativity, and problem
solving. For example:
- What
does the name Miranda make you think about?
- What
could you put in the container?
- What
else could you be doing?
- What
different representations can be made for three groups of four?
- If
we go outside and find an animal with six legs, what will it look
like?
- How
were the last two books you read different?
II. Effects a question
has on the person answering the question.
Cognitive opportunity to gain information or understanding
Affective or emotional cost or benefits related to the question
and attempts to answer it.
Focusing attention or expanding attention or distracting the
students' attention.
Stimulating more questions or answers: A convergent question is
less stimulating than a divergent question because divergent questions have
many answers.
Difficulty related to the complexity of the question’s syntax,
sophistication of information needed to answer the question, the difficulty of
the process needed to answer it, students’ interest, and ability.
Motivation related to the need of the question to be answered by
the individual. Is it their question? Are they
curious? What is the duration of curiosity? Curiosity
increases when the individual believes they can find a solution, should know a
solution, need to know a solution, and want to know a solution.
Ability of the student to process the
question: Variables which affect this are the student’s ability,
interest, developmental level, background, resources available, time, and
community mores. If a question can’t be answered should it be asked?
III. Bloom’s taxonomy:
Can be used to classify the type of question as to the level of
cognition that is required to arrive at an answer (see handout) and the
affective response the person may have as a result of it. Bloom’s
taxonomy can be used to guide an inductive and deductive
investigation. If students start with questions from the knowledge
level, answer those questions, then ask questions from the comprehension level,
answer those, and continue up the hierarchy to evaluation that would be an
inductive inquiry. Conversely if they start with an evaluation
question, answer it, then ask a synthesis question, answer it, and proceed down
the hierarchy it would be a deductive inquiry. This does not mean
that the hierarchy needs to be moved along in a linear fashion. It
could be used to evaluate a series of questions to see if other questions could
be formulated to provide a more detailed analysis of a topic.
Knowledge questions.
- Where
are the major fishing grounds?
- What
is the quantity of fish caught?
- Where
are the major whales?
- What
do the major whales eat?
Comprehension questions.
- What
are some reasons why fish are plentiful in these regions?
- What
relationship is there to fish and whales?
Application questions.
- If
you went fishing where would you fish?
- If
you were a whale where would you fish?
Analysis questions.
- What
are the characteristics of a good fishing place?
- What
are the environmental factors for whale survival?
- What
trends are there in fish populations?
- What
trends are there in whale populations?
Synthesis questions.
- What
needs to be done to maintain the fish population?
- What
needs to be done to maintain the whale population?
Evaluation questions. Simple
evaluation questions which can be answered with a yes or no need to have
follow-up questions which ask the student to give reasons for their decision or
consequences of the decision. As students begin to write reasons and
list consequences new questions at different levels will arise and need to be
answered. For example many students would think that all whaling
should be stopped. However, they may ask the question, "Who is
whaling?" (comprehension). The answer of Japan, Eskimo
cultures, and Norwegian cities will lead to higher level questions and probably
to an evaluation of should any or all of these continue?
- Should
something be done to maintain the fish population?
- Should
something be done to maintain the whale population?
IV. Types of questions have been classified by Lehnert (1978)
according to the first word of the question.
A. Questions beginning with what, when, where, why, who, and
which. Most of the time these questions are divergent (open-ended).
1. “What questions” ask
for a determination of cause, judgment, and properties. What caused
something to happen (antecedent)? What did something cause to happen
(consequence)? What enabled something to happen? What
opinion does a person have for an action (judge)? What are the
properties of an object or concept?
2. “Why questions” ask
for goals, expectations, and requests. Why did you do
that? Why don’t you do this?
3. “Where questions” ask
for location or process. Where is it? Where would you
begin to solve it?
4. “Which questions” ask
for identification of a person, place, event, or object.
5. “When questions” ask
for time of an event or process. When was he born? When
do you capitalize nouns?
6. “Who questions” ask
to identify a person or group of people. Who was the first person on
the moon? Who should be elected class president?
B. Questions beginning with how and have.
1. “How questions” ask
for a procedure and quantity. How would you solve this
problem? How much do you have?
2. “Have questions” ask
for yes and no responses.
C. “I questions” begin
with is. They ask for verification, permission, and
clarification. Is this the answer? Is it all right for me
to go? Is this the way to solve the problem?
V. According to the purpose of the question.
Categories such as:
·
Factual questions: Used
to get information. Usually started with what, where, when, why,
who, and how.
·
Explanatory questions:
Used to get reasons, explanations, broaden discussion, get additional information. Such
as: What other aspects are related to this issue? Should you
consider...?
·
Justifying / Probing
questions: Used to challenge old ideas, develop new ideas, and to get
reasoning, and proof. Such as: Why do you think so? How
do you know?
·
Leading questions: to
introduce new ideas, and advance ideas. Such as: Should we consider this?
·
Hypothetical questions:
Used to infer what if, and if this, then what?
·
Decisional questions:
Used to make decisions between alternatives, to get agreement, and to move the
discussion along or close it.
An effective classroom that exhibits cooperative
learning, high expectations, and utilization of higher order thinking skills
(HOTS) does not occur by happenstance. Effective classrooms plan for
success. A foundation of planning for academic success is having
awareness of question approaches and willingness to implement diverse
questioning strategies. Ideally, this article increased awareness, elevated
knowledge, and promoted willingness to plan for increased academic
success!
To cite:
Anderson, C.J. (April 30, 2021). Building a patchwork quilt comprised of roomers & zoomers:
effective questions matter. [Web log post] Retrieved from
http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
References
McLaughlin, C. & Borup, J. (April 26, 2021). Roomers and zoomers: Tips for working with in-person and virtual students concurrently [Webinar recording] retrieved from: https://home.edweb.net/webinar/commonsense20210426/
Sweetland R, (n.d.) Ways
to classify questions. Revised by Anderson (2012) Retrieved from http://www.huntel.net/rsweetland/pedagogy/teach/question/classify.html
