Inquiry Based Learning: Step Two--Developing Questions for Investigation

"The important thing is to not stop questioning. 

Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

~Albert Einstein

This is the second in a series of posts which explore the steps of implementing an inquiry based learning project. In my last post, I explained the process of choosing a topic. Once a topic has been chosen and appears to be viable, the next step is to develop questions.

Developing Questions for Investigation
Prior to developing questions which will guide the investigation of the chosen topic, the teacher should find out what experiences students have already had related to the topic, and what they already know about it.  The easiest way to do this is to make a list of what the students know. Other ways to discover what students already know include making a web, watching students show what they know in their play, having students draw what they know about a topic, having the students write what they know (if they are able), or having students represent their prior knowledge through construction or art.  If you are wanting to quickly move into the development of questions, making a list or a web are your best bets. Once you have determined what experiences the students have had and what knowledge they already possess, you can proceed into the development of questions, which will ultimately guide your project.

Questions are a key component of inquiry based learning projects. In her book, Becoming Young Thinkers, Judy Harris Helm states that, "Questions determine the direction of a project or what particular aspect of a topic will be most productive for deep project work."  She goes on to explain the benefits of focusing on children's questions during an inquiry based learning project.  These benefits include:

• The process of collecting questions provides a purpose for interesting and authentic conversations between children and their teacher and among children. Generating authentic questions provides a clear vision of what children want to know and makes conversations student-centered and dynamic.

• Because questions come from children based on what they already know and want to know, the questions are more likely to have meaning for the children.

• Children's questions utilize the three systems of long-term memory: associative memory, value-laden memory, and survival-value memory. By learning to constantly ask questions, storing and retrieving information become habits of mind.

• Because the questions are the children's, they are more attentive and will persist for a longer time in tasks involved in finding answers.

• Since the teacher can use the students' questions as the basis for decisions about which experiences and which experts to include in the project, the teacher can individualize the project to accommodate the differences in brain processes and preferences of the students. Because questions come from individuals, each child can approach and connect with the topic at his/her own level of understanding.

• Finding answers to questions generated by the children engages learners and makes projects active rather than passive. By encouraging children to develop and answer their own questions, a teacher helps children develop investigation and representation skills that they will be able to use in other learning experiences.

• When a child is asked if he/she has a question, he/she has to think about what he/she knows and does not know.  This is beginning metacognition, or "thinking about our own thinking."

• When children ask and answer their own questions, and answer thought-provoking questions by their teacher, they provide information to the teacher about where they are on the continuous progression of learning.

Children must be taught how to ask questions.  This can be done by modeling curiosity and asking questions ourselves as teachers. Also, the teacher can provoke questions by asking the students: "What do you suppose this if for?" or "What would you like to know about...?"

Once the students know how to ask questions, and have come up with a list or web of questions, it is important to make sure the questions you choose to lead your inquiry project are truly inquiry questions. Inquiry questions, according to Helm, are "questions whose answers can be discovered by young children in the ways that they learn best. These include opportunities for children to independently investigate by touching, feeling, listening, smelling, or looking closely."

When the students have a good list or web of their questions, step two is ended, and the stage is set for investigation. Children's questions are reviewed and analyzed by the teacher as field site visits are planned, experts are chosen, and investigations are designed. Using questions to shape these learning experiences assures that they will make sense and have meaning for the children.