Questioning for Gifted Students
One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything.
Parents often ask how they can enhance the education of their students at home. Teachers often ask how they can help gifted students in the classroom. Teaching children good questioning techniques is one of the many ways to address these dilemmas.
When children first start school, adults ask the questions and pose problems. Over time, we want to shift to students asking questions and finding problems for themselves. Questions should also become more complex as young people grow. “What evidence do you have...?” or “How do you know that’s true?” or “What do you think would happen if…?” or “If that is true, then what might happen if...?”
Children should look at their environment and inquire. “Why do frogs croak?” “How high can a bird fly?” “What use is the hair on my arms?” “How can we stem pollution?”
When going out on an errand or a vacation or a field trip together, query young people with “What questions will you ask yourself?” “What do you wonder about?” “What more could you learn about...?”
On August 26, I posted a blog entry titled Critical Thinking for Gifted Students. In that entry, I talked about some techniques that adults can use when questioning gifted students. By modeling these methods, young people will soon start using some of the same techniques.
Parents can always modify classroom suggestions for use at home. Never feel that it is just the school's responsibility to teach children. Parents play the major role in developing the minds of young people.
Parents and teachers are invited to post ways that they encourage young people to ask good questions. Just click on the “Add Comment” section below this blog entry. Also, feel free to post some of the interesting questions your students have asked.