Questions and Critical Thinking.
How can you stimulate critical thinking with the questions you ask in the classroom? Can these questions motivate students? Indeed, there are practical techniques, which work, that can help educators ask questions to stimulate critical thinking in class. Those of you with a strong background in education literature will recognize the influence of the critical thinking literature, teaching techniques of Madeline Hunter(1), and techniques of teaching(2). Imaging Technique. Imagine that you are teaching your favorite class. Things are going well, and you decide to ask a question. Picture what you would do in the classroom. You look out over the whole class, you hear the sounds of papers rustling and students settling into their seats, you smell that chalk-overheads-classroom smell you’re familiar with, you see and hear yourself ask a question that is personally relevant to each student in the class, you pause as they consider their answers, you feel that tension to say something and resist, you ask who wants to answer, watching as almost everyone’s hand goes up, you note that Pat one of the quieter students has raised his/her hand, you ask Pat, get a great answer, and praise Pat for the response—secretly hoping to see Pat’s hand up again in the future, the class is energized, excited about the topic, and wants to learn more. That is my hope for you as you understand and implement these techniques. What are the key components of that scene? Did you achieve what you wanted from that question? Some of the goals in asking the question were to get the interest of the students, to start them successfully working with the material—thinking critically, and to get feedback from the class. Similarly, some of the things that motivate students include: things of interest to the students, success experiences, and feedback about how they are doing. Not every question achieves these goals. Avoid This Approach. You name the person and ask a question: “Linda, what is the most important political aspect of health care?” Notice how all the rest of the students are secretly saying “Phew, I’m off the hook.” When the student gives an answer that is different from the one you were searching for you say, “No” and ask another, when s/he gives an answer other than the one you hoped for you decide to give a hint—”remember this is a class on critical thinking.” You have been playing that mind-numbing game called “Read the teacher’s mind”. Consider This Approach. Now, class, I want each of you to think about what you consider to be the most important