Creating an "Inquirer," One Question at a Time

Teachers at Independent Day School-Corbett Campus create classroom experiences that enable students to practice formulating high-level questions. It's a fundamental skill for developing a lifelong love of learning and is at the center of the International Baccalaureate Programme.

Oct. 12, 2011 (TAMPA, Fla.) – For weeks, students at Independent Day School-Corbett Campus in the third/fourth grade multi-age class known as the "All-Stars" wondered what was in the two large glass jars on their teachers' desks. But whenever they asked about them, the teachers remained mum.

Students were excited about formulating high-level thinking questions after observing an unknown object: a "mummified" apple.

Finally, the day came when the teachers unscrewed the lids. Without revealing any information about what was inside, they dumped the contents – a now shriveled brown apple slice covered with baking soda, borax and salt – onto a plate. By the time they started to walk around the classroom to give everyone a close look, curiosity was so intense the room buzzed.

The suspense and mystery over the "mummified" apple caused the precise reaction the teachers had intended: it engaged students and inspired them to ask questions to learn more. They jotted questions down on sticky notes as quickly as they could write, and the sticky notes began to cover the desks. "Why does it look gross?" "Why is it white?" "Is it living?" "Why is it rotten?"

In the fourth-grade "Going Places" classroom, student teams created mummified apples. Third-grade "Navigators" used their imaginations as they looked at an ordinary water bottle through the eyes of a creature from outer space trying to figure out the unknown object.

Yet the reaction in all classrooms was the same: students were excited about asking questions.
Children exhibit a natural curiosity about the world, and all IDS-CC teachers, beginning in the youngest pre-kindergarten classes, use student-generated questions to help guide lessons.

"The International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) places importance on inquiry because asking questions engages students in the learning process," said multi-age teacher Bettyann Pitti. "It gives them ownership over their learning, and it helps them be more successful at understanding and remembering challenging concepts."

In third and fourth grades, teachers encourage students to take their critical-thinking skills and learning to new levels by formulating deeper questions. "Like any other skill, asking more meaningful questions requires practice," said third-grade teacher Tracey Price. “We, as teachers, initiate that process by modeling it for them.”

Teachers took the introduction of the "How We Express Ourselves" IB unit of inquiry on ancient civilizations as an opportunity to start honing this skill using concept questions as a tool. That meant that as students developed questions, teachers asked them to identify what type of question it was. Questions about form or function, for example, are the most basic types of questions. Questions focused on issues of causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, and reflection are questions that represent higher-level thinking.

Students are taking their critical-thinking skills and learning to higher levels by practicing how to formulate deeper questions.

“Students naturally ask basic types of questions related to form or function,” said fourth-grade teacher Kim Rostick. “Asking the broader, deeper questions requires nurturing. As teachers, we model those types of questions for students. And then as students research and reflect on the topic, they can develop those more sophisticated questions themselves.”

Students in the All-Stars, Navigators and Going Places classes will continue to strengthen their inquiry skills as they move further into the study of ancient civilizations.

"As we move forward with our ancient civilizations unit, students will remember how exciting it was to ask really good questions,” said multi-age teacher Ann Cashen. “And I know that they will come up with things that they want to know that will take their learning to whole new levels."