Asking Questions
Edm 310 is based around project based learning (PBL). How will we as educators promote, use, and implement PBL into our classrooms? Well, asking questions is how we get started. Getting students to think is the main goal, and asking them questions will do that. However, it is very important to know what, when, and how to ask. Ben Johnson, high school principal, author, and instructional learning coach says that "asking 'do you understand?' does not work, because often, students do not know that they do not understand." Such questions leave students behind and teaches them "learned helplessness" to just say yes to move on. Another approach to shy away from are yes and no questions. When you ask a question that can be answered with one word, that does not get the students to think on a wider scale.
Asking questions should increase student participation and encourage active learning! For a long time, and still today, the average student in America is just fed facts and never learns to actually think on their own. School should be a place to think. It should be an environment for opinions, debates, and new ideas. Asking questions should be a crucial part in assessment. Ask questions to assess what students have learned, develop thinking skills, and even to study for exams. When a student is asked a question it tells them that you are interested in what they think. Every question should be clear, direct, and specific. No question should be used more than once, and it is very important to wait paitently for their response.
Lastly, Whenever you get answers, respond with another question! This will keep students thinking and eventually it will teach them to go through the same thinking process with every problem in life.
Well done.
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