"I have no answers, only questions."
Socrates, c. 300 BC
Questioning is an important part of learning. It is an essential component of the thinking culture within schools that should be developed in order for students to engage in a range of thinking, decision making and problem solving.
Gifted and talented students should be supported to move beyond basic question and answer techniques. They need recognition of prior learning and the challenge to go beyond what they already know through learning and teaching experiences that match their different learning styles and rates of learning.
Gifted students can be intensely curious, exhibiting a 'questioning attitude' that reflects an understanding of language beyond their age peers. Appropriate curriculum differentiation will support these students to understand and value the questioning process as a tool for critical thinking and inquiry.
Questioning Techniques
Blooms Taxonomy outlines structured levels of questioning that provide opportunities for gifted and talented students to engage in higher order cognitive processes.
Another successful strategy to develop students questioning techniques is the Developed by Tony Ryan (1990) in Australia, Thinkers Keys are twenty thinking strategies designed to encourage divergent thinking. Each 'key' encourages students to challenge and develop their thinking and thereby extend their learning.
Ryan's Thinkers keys include The.
| Reverse | Picture | Brick Wall | Forced Relationship | |||
| What if. | Ridiculous | Construction | Alphabet | |||
| Disadvantages | Commonality | Combination | Different Uses | |||
| BAR | Question | Prediction | Inventions | |||
| Variations | Interpretation | Brain Storming | Alternative |
Divergent questioning activities
Ideas in this section can be modified or adjusted to suit the phase of development, learning area, group or class and the learning needs of the students
Headfirst
This site provides free downloads of the currently out of print books Mindlinks, Thinkers Keys and Clever Country Kit 1, articles from Tony Ryan's workshops (including a planning matrix and 'Six Steps in Surviving and Thriving in Teaching')
Question matrix
The California Military History Education Project website provides links via Teaching Aids/Teaching Strategies to The Question Matrix - orginally designed by C Wiederhold (1991). 'This gives the students structure to facilitate generating and answering questions. The teacher creates a Question Matrix:'
Questioning techniques for gifted students
In this article, author Jo Painter (1996) provides a concise overview of why questioning is important for gifted students and includes a range of question types and tools. Presented at the Australian Association for the Education of Gifted and Talented 1996 Adelaide conference.
The Question Mark
"Questions may be the most powerful technology we have ever created. Questions and questioning allow us to make sense of a confusing world. They are the tools that lead to insight and understanding." Jaimie McKenzie has produced this educational magazine, devoted to questions, questioning, sound intelligence, strategic reading and quality teaching.
A selection of resources to support Questioning Techniques
Castiglione LV (2002) Questioning Methods for Gifted Students. Victoria : Hawker Brownlow Education
Johnstone N (2002) Questioning Makes the Difference. Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education
Pohl M (2002) Teaching Thinking Skills in the Primary Years. Victoria : Hawker Brownlow Education (Questioning posters available from the publisher, HBE: April 2004)
Widderhold C (1991) Co-operative learning and critical thinking. The question matrix. San Juan Capistrano, CA : Resources for Teachers.